The big difference between a t5 fluorescent light and a COB light is the profile. A t5 lamp is long and skinny where the COB lights are very compact. Most of the chips up to about 10w are roughly the size of a postage stamp. The 25w to 100w chips are maybe as big as a poker chip. They are more of a point source, like a halogen or arc discharge lamp.
All the chips I have been using are built on an aluminum substrate and have mounting holes drilled in them. They all need to be mounted to a heat sink using heat sink grease. The chips also have no current limiting or regulation mechanism built in, so if you do anything stupid with them they can quickly die. I have found that processor heat sinks from obsolete desktop computers work awesome. The fans that go on them run off 12 volts, too, and the nice fans have pwm speed control just like the drive boards for the chips. Highly tinkerable.
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