A few weeks ago I started considering the possibility of a water cooling system for my overclocked 1700+. I was reading all the reviews for waterblocks online and started thinking about all the cash I spent on my Alpha 8045 that I was going to throw away for anothner expensive cooler.
I was also concerned about reliability, paticulary the pump failing not as much as a leak because I'm a pretty good plumber.
So I decided to make my 8045 into a waterblock. I drew up some plans and proceded to my milling machine. I made a pretty short maze with a cold water inlet directly over the core. The passages are about 3.4mm deep and 1/4" wide. I am about 10 thousandths from breaking through the 3.5mm copper plate into the aluminum. I got a bunch of fittings and made up an inlet and outlet that clears all the capacitors on my 8KHA+ and also clears the now backup fan on the 8045. I soldered a 1/8" copper plate onto the 8045 (took about 10 minutes with my acetylene torch on full blast just to heat it up) to cover the water passages and soldered the brass fittings all together. Then I cleaned it with gas and lapped it it 1000 grit sandpaper.
I am also going to pipe the system with 3/8" copper pipe, which I hope will look better than silicone tubing.
I know most of the system's main faults has to do with the water flow will be extremely low because of such small waterblock passages and small tubing, but would very much appreciate suggestions. Since I have yet to recive my pump and resivor, but have a Danger Den cooling cube installed into the HDD space in my PC-60, what I would like to know is how well you think the system will work and any suggestions before I finally start it up.
I have most of the pics up on a makeshift server, so please give me a yell if you would like to see them.
I was also concerned about reliability, paticulary the pump failing not as much as a leak because I'm a pretty good plumber.
So I decided to make my 8045 into a waterblock. I drew up some plans and proceded to my milling machine. I made a pretty short maze with a cold water inlet directly over the core. The passages are about 3.4mm deep and 1/4" wide. I am about 10 thousandths from breaking through the 3.5mm copper plate into the aluminum. I got a bunch of fittings and made up an inlet and outlet that clears all the capacitors on my 8KHA+ and also clears the now backup fan on the 8045. I soldered a 1/8" copper plate onto the 8045 (took about 10 minutes with my acetylene torch on full blast just to heat it up) to cover the water passages and soldered the brass fittings all together. Then I cleaned it with gas and lapped it it 1000 grit sandpaper.
I am also going to pipe the system with 3/8" copper pipe, which I hope will look better than silicone tubing.
I know most of the system's main faults has to do with the water flow will be extremely low because of such small waterblock passages and small tubing, but would very much appreciate suggestions. Since I have yet to recive my pump and resivor, but have a Danger Den cooling cube installed into the HDD space in my PC-60, what I would like to know is how well you think the system will work and any suggestions before I finally start it up.
I have most of the pics up on a makeshift server, so please give me a yell if you would like to see them.
