This is why people buy from Cathar

I read on his site that the Cascade is lapped to 600 grit... I've always heard that his original WhiteWaters had immaculate lap jobs... but I was simply blown away by what I unwrapped this afternoon.




It's almost unbelievable that he stopped at 600 grit. We all know that he knows his water-block design, but I'm giving him an honorary PHD in heatsink lapping. I always lap my heatsinks down to 1500. I have access to what the engineers at my work called a 'standard flat block'. I *know* I can get a mirror like finish, but this STILL surprised me. I had originally planned on taking it down to 1500 but I know I won't need to. I've already spent a few hundred on all my chrome, yet I can't stop thinking of ways to show this block off. It *should* be the highlight of my computer... not a buried-away component hidden from view.

The item arrived in perfect condition, from clear across the other side of the world. I think it would be odd to leave feedback on resellerratings for LRWB... I also know that he has a flawless reputation on the OC forums. I simply wanted people to know that there IS a standard for quality manufacturing and in MY opinion, Cathar has significantly raised that bar.

Cheers!

The first thing I knowticed was that you have a SS!!! Congrats man congrats! Anyways his lap jobs look incredible and I cannot wait to recieve my Cascade regular

Very Very Nice. That is something to be proud of, having such high quality work.

Actually for the SS's, I wet-lapped each down to 2000-grit, and then did a quick dry-lap over the dried-out and clogged up 2000-grit paper, which gives the near-mirror finish. The finish still has extremely fine lap marks in it, and I recommend using Arctic Silver 5 for best results with the finish that it has.

{Edit: Glad that the block arrived safely, and even happier that the work is appreciated. }

God... good thing I decided not to try out the 1500 grit =p. I just bought a nice thick tube of AS5... I'm hoping for the same unexplained silver-to-silver phenomenom you experienced . Plus, I haven't found anything that is as fine as AS5 and with that flat of a finish I knew I'd need as fine as possible.

Wow that block looks awesome! I thought all Cathars blocks were made of copper not aluminum.

Is that a cascade or a white water? ...and where'd you get it from?

Thanks...

That is a special SILVER cascade block... major bling bling.

you buy them Direct... from Cathar
http://www.employees.org/~slf/lrwb/index.html

hmmm I looked all over and I dont see a silver block with 3 barbs anywhere

9mmCensor said:

That is a special SILVER cascade block... major bling bling.

Click to expand...

My wife has told me on a number of occasions that it's like her watching a scene out of Pulp Fiction when I describe the silver as being "0.9999 pure and not the thermally crap Sterling stuff".

NO LIFE said:

hmmm I looked all over and I dont see a silver block with 3 barbs anywhere

Click to expand...

You won't find them listed. They came about as a result of a number of people who were waiting for a copper one basically asking if I could make a silver one instead. For a while I said "no" as I had trouble finding silver in the size necessary, but eventually found that there was enough interest to spark off a batch, which was then helped by a particularly resourceful individual who was (and still is) able to assist me in obtaining the silver.

woah woah.....The block is SOLID pure silver?? I thought it was just plated!!

Are you still offering it??

PS- should we speak through PM? You made it sound like the silvers ones should be kept on the "down-low"

NO LIFE said:

hmmm I looked all over and I dont see a silver block with 3 barbs anywhere

Click to expand...

I "think" there are 2 in existance. I might be wrong... I know of 3 other people on OC that have the SS though.

Originally posted by Cathar
My wife has told me on a number of occasions that it's like her watching a scene out of Pulp Fiction when I describe the silver as being "0.9999 pure and not the thermally crap Sterling stuff".

Click to expand...

haha...

Actually, the conversation *was* fairly similar...

Cathar:
Now this is Panda(Aluminum), from Mexico. Very good stuff. This is Bava(molded copper), different, but equally good. And this is Choco(milled copper) from the Hartz Mountains of Germany. Now the first two are the same, forty-five an ounce – those are friend prices – but this one... (pointing to the Choco) ..this one's a little more expensive. It's fifty-five. But when you use it, you'll know where that extra money went. Nothing wrong with the first two. It's real, real, real, good stuff. But this one's a freakin madman.

Vonkaar:
Remember, I just got back from Amsterdam (the water-cooling capitol of the world).

Cathar:
Am I a Noob? Are you on HardOCP? No. You're in my house. Overclockers.com people who know the difference between good stuff and bad stuff, this is the house they come to. My stuff, I'll take the Pepsi Challenge with Amsterdam crap any ol' day of the freakin' week.

Vonkaar:
That's a bold statement.

Cathar:
This ain't Amsterdam, Vonk. This is a seller's market. Aluminum is freaking dead as disco. Silver's comin' back in a big way. It's this whole seventies retro. Bell bottoms, silver, they're as hot as hell.

Vonkaar:
Give me two hundred worth of the madman. If it's as good as you say, I'll be back for a GPU block.

LOL... I LOVE Pulp Fiction and all of Terintinos movies... he is a freaking genious.

I heard its not ideal to mix metals in a watercooling loop. Would the silver and copper in a system accelerate any corrosion?

scanido said:

I heard its not ideal to mix metals in a watercooling loop. Would the silver and copper accelerate any corrosion?

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Silver and copper are galvanically safe from corroding each other in a liquid environment as they are fairly close in nobility. The barbs are nickel plated, and nickel is about identical to copper/brass for galvanic nobility, so the barbs are just plated for appearance sake.

The reason why mixed metals are so bad is because everyone is used to see aluminium getting mixed with copper. These two metals have a galvanic nobility separation in the "extremely reactive" range.

The upshot of it is that silver, copper, nickel and brass are all fairly safe, even without corrosion inhibitor. It's the aluminium that's the worry. If you were ever worried about putting aluminium in with a copper system, then run for the hills when it comes to mixing it with silver as the galvanic separation is even higher than with copper to aluminium.

I'd be a little hesitant about chromed items though, as chrome vs silver falls into the lower edge of the galvanic reactivity range.

thanks for clearing that up Cathar!

Looking forward to getting one of your master pieces one day for sure!

jeez, how much did you have to fork out for that beauty, vonkaar? also, @Cathar, how much would the amount of silver you needed to make that cost?

hahaha PULP FICTION!!!!! lozl lolz I love your work man.

Pure nerd pr0n as its been said. Awsome. Just awsome cathar.

You know X-mas is comming up. How about Silver Cascades in every stocking for the whole of www.overclockers.com

i like that idea.....


or maybe just reduced prices?

How much does the actual block cost per block, if you dont mind me asking.