As long as you are satisfied, that's what matters.
I'm just asking myself why did you drill the table when the tubes could be routed through the back of the table.
I would be worried about automotive stop-leak. There is a high probability that it will clog your water block. If/when that happens you will notice it in your temps, if you're monitoring them.
As far as mixing aluminum and copper, it's not recommended but those that remember the roots of water cooling can tell you as long as you use an anti corrosive it can be done effectively.
I don't think i can clog this water block i found on youtube someone, who opened it. There's literally 5 or 8 ribs inside, a lot of space. Of course i won't be using it with better block.
Hmm, so anti corrosive would work? My liquid says it is anti corrosive. In fact, if i remember correctly chillers in cars are made from aluminum, but heaters are from copper. Not sure if they share the same liquid though.
I will look for some more info, thanks
Many Vehicles mix metals. My old Silverado had a copper radiator, aluminum trans cooler and aluminum engine block. It required Dex-cool Antifreeze. It will not cool your system as well as water alone, though I don't know how much difference there would be.
Yeah, after some reading, it looks like coolant just needs pH 8.5 or more. And from the start i had anti freeze car coolant, so i don't even have to change it i already borrowed copper block from a friend, and will test it today.
They say that it is anti corrosive. I will also buy pH meter, because i have too add anti corrosive additives from time to time anyway. Just to stay above 8.5 pH.
Ok, so i borrowed Cu block form a friend, who was using it in the past, and was rather happy with it. He replaced it with something better, but get only 3 degress lower temp.
So the block should be good.
I installed it with plastic straps, just to do quick test. Cu block was 5-7 degress worse, then aluminium.
But it was poorly installed, so i made new mounting. Two springs gives somewhere around 100-120 Newtons of force. Not awfuly much, but should be enough.
I still have 5-7 degress worse temps, compared to 3$ aluminium block!! I'm not really sure what is going on....
I was wandering if this coud be because car coolant, but my friend told me, that in the past he was using a lot of different car coolants and mixes, and they weren't doing that much of a difference.
Any ideas?
I wanted to buy cheap water block from aliexpress anyway, so i think i will do that and do another tests in a month or so.
Photos below
I have 10mm distance between the bar and mounting.
Even if it's flexing, i still have 10kg pushing on the water block.
Also, my aluminum block was mounted the same way.
Also, i didn't saw any difference between plastic straps and printed mount
Maybe the cu block from your friend is gunked up with some residue from the anti-freeze.
Also from the looks of it, i wouldn't put too much hope because it looks a cheap design much like your cheap al block, so it could be that in fact is worse than your block.
so i decided to do what every idiot would do, and made myself a water block. I already had sand casted Cu block (from pure Cu). It's ~10mm heigh and cuts are ~5 mm.
It's soldered together, and tinned on the outside (not on the bottom).
The performance is the same as cheapest aluminium block from aliexpress. I'm getting 60 degress on 4,5 Ghz FX8350.
Now, i'm wandering if i can achieve anything better from handmade ****.
Mounting is ok, because i tried to push the block harder to the CPU, and it didn't make a difference. It looks like the weak spot is transferring heat from water block to liquid.
Any suggestions? I really don't know what to do next (except buying a better water block). Thank for any help
From the looks of it your fins are very thick as are your cuts. You would get better results from a much thinner blade and doubling or tripling the number of cuts. I understand this is a difficult thing as most people don't have the manufactuing tools (or ability) to achieve this.
Another suggestion would be to locate your inlet directly over the center of the block. Most high end block manufacturers are doing it this way but certainly not all.
Finally check your mounting. I don't see the mounting method in those pics but mounting is crutial. Propper mounting pressure and TIM application are the prime reason for poor temps. I'm not suggesting yours are poor, just that they might be improved by these two aspects.
Cuts are thick, because i have cutting disc of that thickness. I can't go any lower. I could have few more ribs, if i made them thinner, but i was afraid that i will brake them while cutting. I didn't have another one to practice on.
I should have ribs a 1 mm lower (or sides of block 1mm higher), and add additional vertical cuts. Didn't thought about it earlier.
I don't think inlet above middle would help. I think manufacturers do that, to minimalize flow restriction. From thermal perspective it makes almost no difference. If you assume that overclocked FX have 200 W TDP (which is quite a lot), you need flow 1 l/min, to have 3 degress differance between inlet and outlet. If you have 3 l/min flow, water is heated up 1 degree.
To summarize, with low flowe restriction blocks it should make no difference.
Mounting is ok. i may have to little thermal paste, i will be buying today more and reinstall water block.
Right now i get better temps by:
-dilluting Ethylene Glycol with demineralized water 50/50 (right now i was using pure Ethylene Glycol). Sadly, i can go lower because of mixed metal loop. I need at least 33% glycol, and i want to be on the safe side.
-Reducing CB/NB voltage and CPU VDD voltage.
I don't think that block will be terribly effective as all the 'microchannels' aren't there. The surface area isn't close to other blocks.
Inlet above the middle is done to make sure the coolest water hits the important parts and flows away from the channel. Flow has something to do with it too.
As you will find, in a properly flowing loop, temperatures don't vary much at all so long as you are around the 1-1.5 GPM flow rate.... at least that is what testing has shown from skinee labs back in the day. If you have 1 GPM flow, it isn't sitting in any block for very long.
A fun project either way. If I had some spare copper blocks laying around I would consider doing this too. Mostly to challenge myself and see if I could.
Another option you can do to increase the surface area is to add cross cuts. I think diagonally would have been best but it likely won't matter if it's horizontal on that block. It should still make for improvements.
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looks terrible, but works quite ok
