My home-made custom cpu waterblock...

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Aug 19, 2002
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OK...I don't think I ever posted this here, but I thought I should share some pics of my custom waterblock that I made. The block actually works amazingly well...a few degrees cooler than some of the DangerDen blocks that I used to own. I made this a couple years ago when I was in college and had access to a CNC machine...

Here is the raw copper I started out with:
wb1.jpg


Here is the milling machine going to town on my block (I designed it in autocad):
wb2.jpg


Here is the block after being freshly milled out! (Can you guess what my college degree was from the homework under the block? ;) )
wb3.jpg


Here is the clear acrylic top that I made for it:
wb4.jpg


The bottom block and top cover:
wb5.jpg


Here is the block assembled:
wb6.jpg


Like it said...it performs very well IMO. You can see the fins in the channel to help dissipate the heat. You can also see the dimples I made in the bottom of the channel to increase surface area and to also create some water turbulance. I originally designed the bock to fit my 478 p4. I have since modified it to fit my q6700 quad. Keeps my quad nice and cool even under full load!

Just thought you guys might enjoy these pics!
 
looks awesome. i would usually be a little worried with acrylic cracking with those kinds of waterblocks... but that half inch one will never crack. looks [H]ard

im guessing either ECE or EE from the homework (with the little bit i can read, im thinking that was a 200 or 300 level class).
 
Must be an electrical engineer! EE is the best.

That block looks seriously sweet, wish I had access to a CAD enabled milling machine like that, would certainly made some jobs easier. Nice work there.
 
What kind of clamping mechanism did you come up with?
I think I used something similar to an old DangerDen clamping kit. It consists of four long threaded rods that I fastened securely to the motherboard. I then slid the block onto the four threaded rods. Followed by a little spring for each rod tightened down with four thrubscrews...seems to work pretty good.
 
Damn that is nice, i have wanted to make a set before but to much work with no access to a cnc. But good thing im going to high school next year and they have a machine shop with everything id need. I will probably make it like yours with the dimples and fins if thats ok with you.
 
I believe that is the finest home made waterblock I've ever seen. Mad props.

Where do you go to school?
 
That is Awesome. Makes me want to get a CNC machine. If it works as well as you say I would think there could be some easy money in having some milled out at a shop.
 
Impressive! I wish I had access to a CnC machine. Back when I was doing my CE degree the univ only let the MecE students use the machine shop so I was out of luck from doing something as cool as that. Congrats! You should license those plans to a company and make some good $$$ on that design.
 
Wow thats really niice!!! I plan on making my own waterblock (pwm on ip35 pro) but it won't be as nice because I'll just be using a drill press!!
 
WOW :eek: That's a smooooooth looking block :eek:

I'd love to have access to a proper mill to do something like that, though I'd likely drill through the side of the block and tap the holes to feed the water edge-on, just to minimize the height of the finished installation. If I were to try it, I'd either be using the drill press too, or sending the job out to a local machine shop. There's one down the road that's fairly reasonable, at least compared to current prices for copper stock.
 
WOW That's beautiful. At first I couldn't figure out if it was an autocad model or the real thing :eek:.

I think this design would work really well for quad-core CPUs. I really like the channel design with pins/fins inside. The only thing I'd change is the fin density: put more fins!! maybe some tiny perpendicular ones to create some turbulence.

This looks like a really promising block, nice work. :)
 
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