Making a custom waterblock- need design ideas

rvk2

Junior Member
Jul 15, 2005
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Hey guys, a friend of mine is gonna help me build my own custom waterblock out of pure copper. I was wondering if you guys have any ideas for a good design....as of now I have a reaaaaaly big block of copper at my disposal and my friend is gonna do his magic machine trix to design the block.....I had a couple ideas on what to do, such as running some pipes around the block to circulate the water even more.....do any of you out there have any ideas or have worked on a good water block design? If any of you have any pictures of your designs, and wouldn't mine me using them, that'd be awesome.
 

Mrvile

Lifer
Oct 16, 2004
14,066
1
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Welcome to the forums, rvk2!

Post smart, be polite, and you'll have a hell of a time.


As for your question, I don't know much about heat conductivity and custom waterblocks and stuff, but I guess a basic idea would to have a "worm" waterflow design, where the water goes in the inlet, worms back and forth around the block and out the outlet. It's hard to describe so I drew a quick pic in MS Paint. The blue indicates cold water and the red is hot water.

Basically it's just a simple way to increase surface area for better conductivity (you should know all this if you're making your own block :)), but there are many other different ideas out there. Take a look at large watercooling companies out there (Dangerden, Swiftech, Polarflo) for some different ideas.
 

rvk2

Junior Member
Jul 15, 2005
11
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I was thinking the same thing....do you think having pipes around and thru the block is a good idea? i was trying to create something that's a mix between a heatpipe heatsink (like the xp-90) and a plain copper water block. and thanks for the painting :)
 

Mrvile

Lifer
Oct 16, 2004
14,066
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Well what I posted was just a basic idea that would be easy to make and is known to work. We could get interesting and come up with some weird designs...your "heatpipe" idea might work. D-Tek makes a waterblock that uses "coils" to cool dissipate heat into the waterblock. They call them "Turbulators" :) Here's a pic so you get an idea. It's an old block though.

You have to remember what heatpipes are though, they're not just metal tubes, they're pipes that have a special liquid in them that accelerates heat transfer, and they always connect to some fins for the final dissipation.
 

CycloWizard

Lifer
Sep 10, 2001
12,348
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I was very interested in doing this, but I don't have quite as much free time as I expected this summer. I can help you with whatever you need for designing such things. Here's what I posted a while ago here:

http://it.che.wustl.edu/~reillyma/watercooling/blockdesign.html

Feel free to use the design or modify it.

Notation for that write-up:

rho (looks like a P) is water density (~1000 kg/m^3)
Cp is the water heat capacity (~4.18 J/g-°C)
Q is the volumetric flowrate (300 gph)
T0 is the input temperature (chosen as 25°C)
T1 is the output temperature (calculated as ~25.2°C)
Pcpu is the CPU's power consumption (and, therefore, heat generation) rate (chosen as 150 W, but I don't know how close to reasonable this is)

A little more is in this thread:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...&STARTPAGE=1&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear
 

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
It seems like a lot of CPU blocks have 3 holes now, one in the middle IIRC for cold water, then 2 outlet pipes for the hot water after it's circulated through the heatsink.
Twists are the best idea for maximum heat transfer (larger surface area), and the cooler water going to the middle of the CPU would probably also be best (since that's where most of the heat is from the CPU)
 

S Random

Senior member
Feb 5, 2005
236
0
0
check out cathers G4 block (i think swiftech makes it now its called the storm) and mimmick that. cather is the best, might as well steal his designs.
 

RedCOMET

Platinum Member
Jul 8, 2002
2,836
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Originally posted by: S Random
check out cathers G4 block (i think swiftech makes it now its called the storm) and mimmick that. cather is the best, might as well steal his designs.

I think a better way of putting is to get "Inspired" by his deisgns.
 

TheoPetro

Banned
Nov 30, 2004
3,499
1
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i had just done this myself a few weeks ago. now my suguestion is to make it out of a solid block except for a lid (the part w/ the holes for inlet/outlet) that can be made seperate and soldered on later (you can use 50/50 solder since itll be ok for a bit of lead to get in there just dont drink it :) ). 3 holes is an excelent idea but make sure you have a way to mount it on youre mobo. just make like a maze type design inside w/ the inlet right above the center of the chip (aka where the core is for best heat transfer) you are going to need to buff the bottom of the waterblock to get it as smooth as possable. there is a paste called flux (its used in plumbing alot for soldering CU pipes togather i should know im a plumber) what it dose is it is basically a strong acid that when heated cleans the heck out of the CU. you should use this to clean the bottom of the block (just use a torch to heat it but just enough so it melts dont want to overheat it) then whipe it off with a rag (buff after doing this). let your block run for about a day or so just to make sure there are no leaks and enjoy. it dropped my temps from 35-40 to a steady 20. goodluck w/ this one after you make one tho your gonna want to make a million trying to improve it
 

Mrvile

Lifer
Oct 16, 2004
14,066
1
0
You should try to use lucite for a top...it's plastic so it won't corrode, it's easy to cut and work with, and it looks great.
 

rvk2

Junior Member
Jul 15, 2005
11
0
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thanks for the responses guys, looks like i'll be doing some reading at lunchtime