DIY GPU and NB waterblock worklog

[killernoodle]

Ok, I have a thread going on the procooling forums and I thought I should show you guys what I am up to. Basically, I want to watercool my Nforce 2 and 9800pro, so I naturally checked dangerden and dtek (as well as others) and found that the cost of 2 chipset waterblocks from any of these companies hovers around $80. That is rediculous. So here is what I did:

I purchased a Dynatron DC1206BM-V 1U (review here) 1U skivved heatsink from ajump for 20 dollars. I should be able to make both of the blocks out of a single heatsink.

Next, I went on ebay and found this, essentially a very dense plastic that is waterproof, impact resistant, scratch resistant, easily machined, and better yet: black. Plus, it was very cheap for how much I will be getting... this stuff ain't cheap.

Then I went to McMaster and bought 10 black poly. 1/2"tube to 1/4"npt pipe fittings (the standard 1/2" fittings), a tap so I can make threads for those fittings in the top, and 5ft of 1/2" tygon high purity tube so I have a lot of leftovers.

All this stuff adds up to about $79 shipped, so that is 2 high performance waterblocks and 5ft. of tygon for the same price as the dangerden blocks without shipping. Plus, I have lots of stuff leftover so I can build many blocks and possibly a TEC CPU block

So, where does this leave me? Waiting on a lot of stuff in the mail. Right now I am basically planning the design of the blocks. I will take the heatsink, cut it in half, trim the fins to fit in an area I will hollow out in the plastic top, bolt it to the plastic to check the fit, tap the fittings for the top, and then take it apart and do a little dremel action on the fins

I will use a cutting wheel to cut slots perpendicular to the fins to create hundreds of little pins for added turbulence and hopefully added cooling potential.

I will probably end up posting potential top designs later today as I start messing with the design a little more, but I will probably have to wait until the heatsink gets in until I can really start work.

Any additional feedback will be well recieved

The final version of the worklog and the test results and the other stuff will be posted on my website, so be sure to check that out.

Wish me luck

 

[Koslov]

hehe not a bad idea.
I don't have the time nor tools to do that kind of stuff. That's why I prefer to buy it (waterblocks)

 

[killernoodle]

These are the stainless steel screws I intend to use for the blocks:

And the brace plate I will cut out tomorrow on my dad's metal band saw. This will keep the 9800pro from flexing when I really wrench the block on there

I will probably end up cutting the KN out of carbon fiber and glue them to the back there once I polish the thing. It is gonna look snazzy

 

[killernoodle]

A pic of the back plate retention mechanism for the GPU. Made this today on my dad's bandsaw out of some scrap aluminum.

Looks better in person, my camera makes all the scratches very obvious.

I get my heatsink tomorrow, so prepare for some dremel action

 

[rogue_jedi]

looks like your going to have fun. keep us posted.

 

[killernoodle]

The victim...

Can we say surface area

It should be pretty simple to cut into appropriately sized pieces. The bandsaw should work perfectly for this purpose. The base is very well finished, but I couldnt seem to take a good photo of it without it blending into the desk. The base is 4mm thick, the surface area of the thing is 1216 cm squared (I calculate) unmodified, and the resulting SA of each waterblock (without the slots cut) will be 350-400 cm squared. Each fin is 7mm high, .5mm thick, and 37cm long. They are spaced about 1mm apart.

The height of the fan attached to the heatsink is approximately how thick the entire block will be, so I can use it to see how many pci slots I will need to use.

Also, I have decided to not use that particular retention system as I dont want to damage the PCB. Instead, I will use a twin screw design that will be bolted from the back plate to the top with some #4-40 x 1" SS screws I bought today.

I cant do any cutting today because I have lots of homework, but wait for later

 

[killernoodle]

Wow, 130+ views and 2 posts... you call yourself [H]?

 

[diredesire]

Originally posted by killernoodle
Wow, 130+ views and 2 posts... you call yourself [H]?

oh, i absolutely LOVE posts like that... what do you want me/us to say?

GJ ol' chap, i applaud the bravery of DIY, but i want to see construction! (seriously)

Keep the pics comin'

 

[killernoodle]

Delivery!

Thanks McMaster!

I figured out why the Tygon was so expensive there... It is 3/4" OD!!! Sweet christ this stuff is thick!. It is supposed to be the "high purity" stuff, so I dont know if all tygon is "high purity" or not. The 1/4" NPT tap is nice and sharp, the barbs look good, overall I'd say it was a good purchase.

I have also decided to change my loop slightly. I bought a 1/4" NPT brass ball valve that I intend to put on the bottom of the resevior for super easy draining so I can simply connect a tube to the outlet and put a bowl under the tube and open the valve. Also, I will have the water split from the whitewater and go through the separate blocks in parallel. There will no longer be a Y adapter to bring them together before the res... I will simply tap two lines into it. Also, the pump outlet will go directly to the radiator first because the lines would have to recombine in the radiator, which is something I dont want to do.

As soon as I get the plastic for the tops, I will post some actual build pics.

 

[diredesire]

sweet, you've got some good ideas.. i like the splitting off the white water, if you've ever seen BladeRunner's work, he's got a block out that is "X" shaped, and i thought it was a pretty good idea. Most people go for the super high flow super beefy systems, but i think water has a enormous heat capacity, so one could afford to lose a little flow for a little more convenience. No one said breakneck performance has got to be a pain...

I've got the same type of thing going on in my res, there's 1 inlet, 1/2", and then 2 outlets, 1 1/2" and 1 3/8" outlet. The 3/8 goes to my video card because cascading off the CPU -> NB -> video is a PITA, and the tygon/clearflex (i use clearflex) puts a surprising amount of stress because it's so resilient, so i try to avoid major bends (i'm a bit lazy to boil all the sections of my tubing to good shapes.)

Also: on McMaster what part number are those barbs? Do they have white nylon? You can find just about any OTHER barb at home depot or Lowes, but i can NEVER find the 1/4" -> 1/2" barbs... my dad made me some (he's a machinist). Pain in the ass man

How much did that bag of barbs cost you?

Nice pics, keep 'em comin.

 

[killernoodle]

Those barbs are called 1/4" NPT, which is about the same size as the ID of the tube, 1/2". It is not a 1/4" tube to a 1/2" tube thing. It is measured all funny. Basically, it is part # 5463K465 and they sell black and natural (white). They are great because they are basically straight through and do not reduce the flow, but they are also not too large to use in normal situations. Bags of 10 are $4.05, which is reasonable.

 

[diredesire]

Originally posted by killernoodle
Those barbs are called 1/4" NPT, which is about the same size as the ID of the tube, 1/2". It is not a 1/4" tube to a 1/2" tube thing. It is measured all funny. Basically, it is part # 5463K465 and they sell black and natural (white). They are great because they are basically straight through and do not reduce the flow, but they are also not too large to use in normal situations. Bags of 10 are $4.05, which is reasonable.

Yeah, i know what NPT is, i use the same types of barbs. I've never seen them before @ Home Depot or Lowes (not even on their websites), which is why i ask... $4.05 is a pretty killer price... i'll have to pick some up next time i buy clearflex... which might take a while (i bought 25ft initially ;D)

 

[killernoodle]

Starting construction...

Basically, as my dremel is recharging, I am taking needle nose pliars and folding the fins back and forth until they come off. Pretty easy, and a lot less messy than the dremel cut that I attempted. As you can see, I have decided against a peltier setup for the GPU or NB, so I will be doing a direct core-oriented design with SA directly over the core and high velocity flow through the fins. The blue stuff is what I am cutting out. I will file the leftover stuff off, or maybe just take it to the grinder.

Since I have nothing to machine O-rings with, I will be using a blue RTV silicon bead around the perimeter of the fins for a good seal. This should be re-usable because it is not like glue and basically forms an O-ring wherever it sets. I wont go crazy with it like other people and glue anything that moves, so the end result will look clean.

Note to self: next time, buy an AC dremel, even if the cordless is on the sale rack for $30...

 

[kleptophobiac]

yeah, I have the corded dremel, and I wouldn't dream of letting it go for a cordless one. The cordless is a supplement, not a replacement.

 

[blindviper]

where did you get that heatsink?

 

[killernoodle]

It is this one, pretty good for $19 and now I have yet another useless fan to put in a box somewhere I will have a full collection of various fans sometime, just gotta keep buying stuff that comes with an excess of fans .

Anyways, finished the second one:

As you can kinda see (sorry about having a crappy camera), there is a pretty cool feature of skivved heatsinks: one side of each fin is rough, the other is mirror smooth. Should keep the turbulence up.

 

[Spidey329]

Good work. I love DIY stuff. Keep us lookin

Is it just me, or is anyone else thinking that any scraps from that heatsink will make some mighty good ramsinks? If not to just snazzy the card up. Hehe.

<edit>Whole scraps, not just fins I mean. Hehe.

 

[killernoodle]

You mean like this stuff

I was actually thinking about buying some more of these heatsinks just for the ramsinks I could make, but that is another day

 

[__Maad__]

do you have any drawings / diagrams done up of how you want to put this all together ? It would be neat to have a more specific idea of where you're going with this.. Good stuff so far

 

[killernoodle]

Not yet. I dont do cad stuff very well, it almost always ends up me doing it by hand just using a good ruler to measure everything out. I have a CAD program in my head Essentially, the plastic wil be hollowed out to accomidate the fins and the barbs will be drilled in. The water will flow through the fins and exit the block. That is all I know so far

I'll try to make a sketch when I get the plastic and try a few configurations.

 

[Spidey329]

I could be wrong, but I think he's going for something like this:



.O.
|||||
|||||
.O.

 

[killernoodle]

Something like that

The video card will have the barbs cross drilled through the side of the plastic, the NB through the top, but the paths of the water will be about the same.

 

[killernoodle]

I dont think I got enough plastic...

Gonna make some designs today and see how they work out. I have plenty of stuff to experiment with.

 

[weapon--]

nice work. keep up the pics.

UHMW is cool stuff - I have some that I am using to build a mounting device for a supa-cold phase change block.

the qualities of UHMW make it fairly unique:

[snippage]
HIGH SLIP, SELF LUBRICATING, NON STICK SURFACE, ABRASION RESISTANT, MOISTURE RESISTANT, CHEMICAL RESISTANCE, ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE, GOVERMENT AGENCY APPROVAL, LOW TEMPERTURE RESISTANCE (CRYOGENIC), APPROVED BY FDA, USDA, & SANITARY 3A. TYPICAL APPLICATIONS: MINING, MATERIAL HANDLING, FOOD PROCESSING, BOTTLING, MEDICAL, BEARINGS ETC, GLASS BACKED SHEET FOR BONDING, LUMBER, CONSTRUCTION (CEMENT, CONCRETE), RECREATIONAL.
[/snippage]

 

[killernoodle]

Yeah, it is pretty soft though. I can scratch it with my fingernail, but that means it is almost too easy to machine

 

[__Maad__]

i haven't seen any waterblocks that have the flow come in on a parallel angle (to the contact surface) and exit similarily.. it seems like most of them come in perpendicular and flow out perpendicular to the contact surface..

If your block works differently it should be really interesting to see how it compares. I'm looking forward to the results.

 

[killernoodle]

Time for some updates:


Sorry about the huge crappy pics, I thought my camera was on 640x480. It takes better pics in 640x480 and they arent so huge. Anyways...

Worked on the NB block today and managed to finish it up completely.

 

[codeflux]

^^^ excellent! but do please resize your pics!!!

 

[Wharf_Rat]

Impressive to say the least.

RTV Blue is my favorite smell =)

 

[diredesire]

Originally posted by Wharf_Rat
Impressive to say the least.

RTV Blue is my favorite smell =)

are you serious? (Just curious cause i've never smelled it before).

Anyways, your blocks are really turning out well! I'm impressed to say the least

 

[codeflux]

Originally posted by Wharf_Rat
RTV Blue is my favorite smell =)

this reminds me...

i went to the denist about a week ago to have a crown put on one of my teeth, and when he was taking an imprint of my teeth he shoved this little trey thing in my mouth, filled with something that tasted like bondo (don't ask). so, i start cracking up... and then he whips out the dental drill thingie, and i'm trying very hard not to bust out laughing cause i'm thinking "dremel!", as he's drilling my tooth out! get it? - dentist = mouth-modder.

</useless_comment>

 

[rogue_jedi]

lookin good so far. keep it up

 

[killernoodle]

Ok, took some more and better pics, removed the massive pics from the last page.

Going to finish the 9800pro block within the week, so dont worry
Enjoy!

 

[Spidey329]

Originally posted by killernoodle
Ok, took some more and better pics, removed the massive pics from the last page.

Going to finish the 9800pro block within the week, so dont worry
Enjoy!

Nice! But I was never fond of red x's on white backgrounds!



<edit>Now they work. Lookin good!

 

[killernoodle]

And just in case you were wondering what kind of flow pattern is in there, these pics are pretty easy to follow:

 

[rogue_jedi]

still looks nice, thanks for the smaller pics.

/me thanks you on behalf of all 56k'ers/

just saw the 2 new pics while posting this, would it help much to carve more away from around the inlets? (less flow restriction)

 

[killernoodle]

If I carve out any more I will have a hole next to the base

Also, the square part is slightly wider than the fins, so there is still a gap for water to travel through. Anyways, I want most of the water to go through the center fins anyways.

Also, the inlets are deeper than the barbs, so there is plenty of room for the water to flow into the fins. It looks like there is a piece of plastic blocking half the water flow, but actually this piece of plastic is about 1/4" below the barb, allowing for free water flow. I can blow into one of the barbs and there is no restriction in the block what-so-ever.