• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Simple block design, comments/suggestions.

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

slaya

Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2004
Location
NY
Edit: PICS BELOW


Hey, one of the main reasons I was interested in water cooling was to get a quieter computer, aswell as being able to overclock my mobile barton. I have a Swiftech MCW6002-A for my CPU but I would like to water cool my GPU and NB aswell but don't want to spend $40.00 for each block, so I am considering making my own. I am not looking for much of a performance gain on my GPU or NB so I would like to design to be very unrestrictive..
The most basic idea came to mind when thinking of the design, a hole, I would like to make many small drill holes half way down on the center of a peice of copper making each drill hole a centimer or two different in height for turbulance. would this work out well, surely it would be better than air cooling and wouldn't be too restrictive, would it?

Is my description hard to understand I can try to make something in 3D Studio Max to help show my design..

If anyone has a custom design can they please show it off here so I can learn from them?

Thanks, all comments and suggestions welcome :)
 
Last edited:
If you can solder copper, this type has some potential: Owen's Copper Cap DIY Block

For a cheap graphics block (since you have a Ti4200), go to www.swiftnets.com and look for MCW40 VGA block in the discontinued products section. On the front page in the lower left is a "Clearance Sale", they have MCW40 blocks for $15. Those were designed for 3/8 OD tubing using quick connects. You can cut 2 short pieces (about an inch) of 3/8 inch OD copper tubing (nominal 1/4 inch) and insert them into the quick connects. That gives you 3/8 OD barbs for cheap and they won't leak if the copper tubes are smooth and round. You could then use 3/8 ID tubing for your entire system and strech it over any 1/2 barbs.

For the chipset block, just get a good passive chipset heatsink like the Zalman and don't worry about watercooling it; that would only complicate the water system for little return. You need some airflow through the case anyway so a passive chipset heatsink will cool enough.
 
gungeek said:
If you can solder copper, this type has some potential: Owen's Copper Cap DIY Block

For a cheap graphics block (since you have a Ti4200), go to www.swiftnets.com and look for MCW40 VGA block in the discontinued products section. On the front page in the lower left is a "Clearance Sale", they have MCW40 blocks for $15. Those were designed for 3/8 OD tubing using quick connects. You can cut 2 short pieces (about an inch) of 3/8 inch OD copper tubing (nominal 1/4 inch) and insert them into the quick connects. That gives you 3/8 OD barbs for cheap and they won't leak if the copper tubes are smooth and round. You could then use 3/8 ID tubing for your entire system and strech it over any 1/2 barbs.

For the chipset block, just get a good passive chipset heatsink like the Zalman and don't worry about watercooling it; that would only complicate the water system for little return. You need some airflow through the case anyway so a passive chipset heatsink will cool enough.

Hrmm it says $28.00 for me. I kind of also wanted to go through the experience of building my own waterblock.
 
Since my main post I have been doing some major researching and have many new ideas in my head, and am much more knowledgeable..

For my design I am probably going to go with something like a Lumpy Channel but I wan't to have my barbs on the side to not block my PCI slots, i'm not sure how well the two work together so if I have problems with that I will go with an R-Type design.

Since my barbs are going on the side, and the barb size are 1/2" I am going to need about 1" thickness, and the width/length I am looking for is 3" and 2.5" I am looking at the prices on OnlineMetals.com and for a the size I need it's $18.00 for the main peice and $2.88 for the cover peice, and then I need to buy barbs, mounting hardware, ect. I didn't know building your own block was so expenive.

edit: Oh and I cannot solder at all, I will probably use epoxy or something.
 
If you click on the "clearance sale", it'll take you to less than a dozen items that are actually for sale. The $28 was the retail price when they were active parts.

It is an experience alright. BTDT You might also search for "#rotor" or "3rotor". He has a waterblock style for DIYers with a drill press and dremel tool. If you don't have a drill press and can't solder, then just buy a block.
 
Slaya, Radioshack has a compound that is like sand in vaseline, you smear it on, put your pieces together, then pop it in the oven for about five minutes. Solders them together quite nicely.
 
Hey, this is what I came up with for very low restriction block, its simple, very.
Would this be a very poor water block because of, vga chip>thin copper plate>waterblock (the waterblock and thin copper plate will be connected sealed together, and the pins of the waterblock will be touching copper plate)

take a look at the pictures..

bottom peice(connects to mounting holes) dimensions:
thickness: 0.125"
width: 2.5"
length: 3"

top peice (actuall waterblock) dimensions:
thickness: 1"
width: 1.5"
length: 1.5"

in 4.gif, the red lines are just basicly copper rods that i didn't drill out.
 

Attachments

  • 1.jpg
    1.jpg
    40 KB · Views: 81
  • 2.jpg
    2.jpg
    20.5 KB · Views: 73
  • 3.jpg
    3.jpg
    33.2 KB · Views: 74
  • 4.gif
    4.gif
    30.5 KB · Views: 73
what you could do is have an inlet top center, strait down and out the side, that should perform MUCH better. otherwize what you could do is drill a grid of 1/8" holes and have them line up out the side for much more surface area. drill the grid then drill in with a larger drill just a little ways.


Jon
 
Oh ok, thanks, so the only two holes I will drill will have barbs on them, so no need cap off extra holes right?
 
Back