Repurpose CPU block to GPU? Custom mill/adapter?

[Napoleon]

I have an old D-tek spiral CPU block for a Socket A that I was wondering if I can do anything with.

I know to mount it would depend on the layout of the GPU PCB; but I was wondering if anyone has used old waterblocks and made an adapter to get it to fit on the GPU.

One thought was to custom make (milling machine) an 'adapter' to cover the GPU chip and any memory/VRM you'd want to which would provide a flush surface to mount the CPU waterblock to.

Basically I'm thinking you could use a copper waterblock and an aluminum 'cold plate', for lack of a better term. Here's a high res drawing (MS-Paint) of the concept:

Draft idea

One concern mig
ht be weight of it all hanging on the card/PCIExpress slot, maybe tying it to the case somehow would ease pressure. The spiral CPU block is pretty thick copper and weighs a decent amount. I was thinking this in conjuction with a Swiftech universal GPU cooler might make sense.

Other thoughts: does the memory even need to be actively cooled? It seems like the main heat source would be the GPU; perhaps universal cooler+ramsinks would be adequate.

A few notes:

• I know that this would be big and not allow for more than one GPU, this is for a solo GPU
• I know this takes more time and potentially money (depending on stock of aluminum/copper/access to machinery) than buying a block
• I've been dabbling with custom stuff for years and enjoy the process

Let me know what you think!

Kyle

 

[Koween]

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I would not bother water-cooling anything other than the GPU chip in this situation - VRMs and memory chips seem to be happy enough with small heatsinks and some airflow. As for mounting - I would probably use a thin steel plate, maybe around 1mm. Cut/mill a hole in it, so that it could go on top of the water block. Attach it with screws (tap the 4 holes in the water block) and drill holes in the steel plate for whatever GPU hole pattern you have and use some long m4 or similar screws to attach it. Similarly, you could (if size allows) attach the steel plate with hole to the bottom of the block, but I think that may create clearance issues.
Of course, if you like tinkering with stuff you could use a ~2mm copper plate, cut it/bend it to cover the VRMs and GPU. Drill holes in the plate (4 for attatchment to GPU, 4 for water block), drill/tap holes in the water block and attach the plate with screws from the underside. Then you can mount the whole thing onto the GPU with silicone pads for VRM/memory chips.