Anyone try converting a Stock VGA cooler?

Jas · Jan 3, 2008

I was browsing around, reading on some VGA coolers, and stumbeled on this guy, the Hydra 8800 from Coolermaster. After looking into it, it turns out this is basically a hack up of the reference cooler, with a pipe soldered on to run water through.

So I got to thinking, hey, whats stopping me form trying something similar at home?

Before I start whiping out the dremel, and blow torch, I thought I would consult wiht the forum and see if anyone has tried this before, and if they may be able to offer some insight, or advice on doing so?

bryan_d · Jan 3, 2008

When you take into consideration the performance level of GPU blocks that you can purchase, at B&M stores like Microcenter or on-line, a DIY solution just seems like a troubled task. Sure it maybe fun to build it, but you might get disappointed in the end when you find out that you spent more time and money building a poorly designed block rather than opting for prefabbed block like the Maze4/5 or Swiftech variant; these blocks are also tried and true.

Looking at the cooler master block, it looks restrictive, and inefficient. If costs, are your concern then scour the classifieds, because that Cooler master design just makes me cringe; do you really want to spend hours hacking about just to run one copper tube over the core? Think about the actual surface area of the planned design, and how much heat it can actually take away?

I have built a DIY system (GPU, CPU, and RAD from copper cabs and stock), and in this time of age where watercooling is close to mainstream, it is just a waste of time in my opinion.

Either way good luck, and post back if you do continue on with the project.

bryan d

EmAn · Jan 3, 2008

You may want to go back and fourth or make an oval to go across the entire thing once... it may not work as well as a prefab'ed block but it will be fun to try!

Jas · Jan 4, 2008

bryan_d said:
When you take into consideration the performance level of GPU blocks that you can purchase, at B&M stores like Microcenter or on-line, a DIY solution just seems like a troubled task. Sure it maybe fun to build it, but you might get disappointed in the end when you find out that you spent more time and money building a poorly designed block rather than opting for prefabbed block like the Maze4/5 or Swiftech variant; these blocks are also tried and true.

Looking at the cooler master block, it looks restrictive, and inefficient. If costs, are your concern then scour the classifieds, because that Cooler master design just makes me cringe; do you really want to spend hours hacking about just to run one copper tube over the core? Think about the actual surface area of the planned design, and how much heat it can actually take away?

I have built a DIY system (GPU, CPU, and RAD from copper cabs and stock), and in this time of age where watercooling is close to mainstream, it is just a waste of time in my opinion.

Either way good luck, and post back if you do continue on with the project.

bryan d

This is purely for fun, experimentation. The idea being could I design something, that is easy to build, relatively cheap, that most people could build as well, that performs "good enough"?

I have a BFG 6800 and a BFG 6800 GT sitting in a box and I think I'll start with the coolers for those blocks. Those BFG coolers on the 6800 series were large full coverage type coolers using heatpipes, somewhat similar to the coolers on the 7900 and 8800 series cards.

I'll start there, see what I can come up with, and then I'll move on to a 7950 gt cooler. Then We'll do an 8800 Gt cooler.

I'm thinking that if you just cut away some of the fins, and use some soft coil 3/8" or 1/2" copper tubing, soldered to the fins, base plate, and heat pipe(s) you could get a halfway decent performing air/water hybrid similar to that Coolermaster cooler.

Anyone try converting a Stock VGA cooler?

Jas

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bryan_d

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EmAn

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Jas

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