'Homemade' Maze4 NB.

[Yogi]

Well, I saw Maze4's post on his Maze 4 northbridge block. So I figured I have a maze4 gpu laying around, lets give her a shot. Original post found here: http://pclincs.co.uk/Forums/showthre...&threadid=5843

I was skeptical if the holes on the block would even match the NB mounting holes but by god... they do. Anyway, this is what I came up with in about 20 minutes of work:










Note: This is test fit on my old gigabyte board... not my real one

[Meethoss]

Uh, did you just screw that into the board? :S Ah, I'm guessing it has actual screw places? I've never fiddled with a NB cooler before now and I have a P4 so it just has some loops and the NB cooler has hooks to hold it down.

[Yogi]

There are two holes in the board for the stock cooler:


In the pictures above though I just slid two screws through to show how it lines up, when really mounting it I'll use a threaded rod and springs for correct pressure.

[Meethoss]

Ah I see. Good good

[Yogi]

[Meethoss]

That looks pretty neat. How does it perform? Especially compared to the Z-chip? Could be a worthy NB block as most of them apparently suck.

[krazy]

Interesting. That capacitor looks like it's being pushed sideways by the block. Is it actually touching, or is it an illusion?

[Yogi]

Nope, it clears it but with no room to spare.

[Yogi]

Oh, and I have no way of measuring the temp difference as I don't have any sensor equipment but if I had to guess I'd put my money on the maze4 performing better. The water just covers more area on the nb and is less restrictive. I don't think I'll be going back to the zchip any time soon.

[|kbn|]

Thats an nforce2 board your using?
Im not sure if it will be possible with the case your using, on mine Ive cut your parts of the mobo tray so that I can mount blocks more easly for cpu and nb. If your able to touch the back of the nb - very inaccurate i know, you could guess the temp.
Using a badly mounted atlantis nb block on my nf7-s it felt like 80 degrees with 220fsb (nf7-s r1.1). When mounted properly it was about the same as my water temp. Might be a good idea just to check its mounted properly, which can be difficult with nforce2 cores becuase they are far from flat, esp the original chipset with a metal insert.
I dont think a maze4 will have any trouble cooling a nb, doesnt output nearly as much heat as a cpu.
Nice block btw

[Yogi]

Don't worry, the cpu socket and nb area have allready been cut out of the tray a bit back for mounting reasons. I'll feel it after I redo it and let you know.

About to take it apart and remake the acrylic top for it as when I did this one I didn't have a proper 1/4" 18 npt tap or a tap for the screws so although it holds very well I'd like to remount it with a top that's made correctly for longevity reasons. That plus I'm planning on grinding away a bit of the block that's usless for a nb application. Decided after using it that it will always be on the nb and won't go back to the zchip.

[Yogi]

Originally Posted by |kbn|

Thats an nforce2 board your using?
Im not sure if it will be possible with the case your using, on mine Ive cut your parts of the mobo tray so that I can mount blocks more easly for cpu and nb. If your able to touch the back of the nb - very inaccurate i know, you could guess the temp.
Using a badly mounted atlantis nb block on my nf7-s it felt like 80 degrees with 220fsb (nf7-s r1.1). When mounted properly it was about the same as my water temp. Might be a good idea just to check its mounted properly, which can be difficult with nforce2 cores becuase they are far from flat, esp the original chipset with a metal insert.
I dont think a maze4 will have any trouble cooling a nb, doesnt output nearly as much heat as a cpu.
Nice block btw

Oh and I forgot to mention, I always sand then nb's flat for nforce2 boards since they are so concave.

[rundymc]

you're smart- you won't believe how surprised I was when the concave nf2 dented my zchip!
anyway, is it really possible to obtain an accurate reading of the nforce2 die?
we need to get close to the 'hotspot' at the center, which really is the only area that needs active cooling (the sides hardly ouput heat), but how can a thermocouple or the likes be mounted other than drilling the waterblock base

[|kbn|]

rundymc - my opinion is that we dont need accurate readings for nb's - they dont maker enough heat. Infact we dont even have accurate readings for our cpus, yes it would be nice, but its not needed.
If the waterblock has a low thermal resistance (c/w) and also is capable of removing a high wattage like the cpu makes, then the secondry heat paths (back of nb chip) will get less heat and touching the back becomes accurate
With nb's a guess accurate to +-12c is good enough imo. 12c wont make that much difference ot overclocks and performance.

[Yogi]

So yeah, I went out and got myself a proper set of taps including a 1/4" 18 npt tap so I went ahead and remade the maze4-nb's top that I use:






Much more space between the block and that pesky cap now, ease of mind.

[liaisonextreme]

Would this work on a P4 board? I have a DFI LANParty Pro 875B. Let me know.

[hikke]

Originally Posted by liaisonextreme

Would this work on a P4 board? I have a DFI LANParty Pro 875B. Let me know.

Most likely no. Atleast all of i865* or i875 boards don't have holes for attaching the nb cooler.

[Yogi]

I'm sure if you did a little grinding (can use a dremmel) and made the acrylic top to the right specs it would work. Could probalby even order the p4 mounting kit for the zchip for next to nothing and use those clips/springs. After that it'd just be a bit of work on the top.

[pauldenton]

Originally Posted by Yogi

is it my eyes, or are the 2 barbs at different places relative to the centre of the block...

[kronchev]

wait, I have a spir@l coming in I bought on a whim, are you telling me theres a possibily I can get it on my northbridge for some overkill cooling action??

[kronchev]

Originally Posted by pauldenton

is it my eyes, or are the 2 barbs at different places relative to the centre of the block...

i believe its the angle...

[kronchev]

Originally Posted by |kbn|

rundymc - my opinion is that we dont need accurate readings for nb's - they dont maker enough heat. Infact we dont even have accurate readings for our cpus, yes it would be nice, but its not needed.

its nice as in its my and others hobby, so we like to know if our efforts have an effect...i know that the socket readings are inaccurate, but id hope that the on die readings are accurate...and even then, if I had some money, Id buy a thermal probe and have it touching the die (from the side, i know I know ) so i'd for sure be accurate

[liaisonextreme]

I'll look into that.

[Yogi]

Originally Posted by pauldenton

is it my eyes, or are the 2 barbs at different places relative to the centre of the block...

Yes, the right one is the one I use for the outlet and is centered. The left is then of course the inlet and is pushed a mm or two back. It is an error and slight lapse of memory honestly. I was marking the holes and was centering them and the first one I did as I wanted and centered it to the back for the three longer rings. Then I did the 2nd barb hole and centered it again but that little lapse of memory I centered it in all four rings. So yep, you caught it Maybe someday if I get bored I'll remake it but till then it's working just fine.

kronchev: It may be a little more work for the spiral block since it's a bit bigger and you really can't trim that much off to make it smaller since it's a square o-ring. The reason the Maze4 worked so easily is because of the radeon mounting holes being almost exactly the same distance as the mounting holes of the nforce2 chipset. The Maze4 could easly be adapted for other chipsets including intel ones with only a little effort into the top-plate.... Converting a larger cpu block may prove to be a nice challenge.

[kronchev]

Originally Posted by Yogi

Yes, the right one is the one I use for the outlet and is centered. The left is then of course the inlet and is pushed a mm or two back. It is an error and slight lapse of memory honestly. I was marking the holes and was centering them and the first one I did as I wanted and centered it to the back for the three longer rings. Then I did the 2nd barb hole and centered it again but that little lapse of memory I centered it in all four rings. So yep, you caught it Maybe someday if I get bored I'll remake it but till then it's working just fine.

kronchev: It may be a little more work for the spiral block since it's a bit bigger and you really can't trim that much off to make it smaller since it's a square o-ring. The reason the Maze4 worked so easily is because of the radeon mounting holes being almost exactly the same distance as the mounting holes of the nforce2 chipset. The Maze4 could easly be adapted for other chipsets including intel ones with only a little effort into the top-plate.... Converting a larger cpu block may prove to be a nice challenge.

forgive me for wondering since this was your handiwork, but shouldnt the INLET be centered, since thats where all the heat would be, then the outlet be futher away?

and I will try it with the spir@l and report back...it might be bad because itd be two blocks and eventually a large heatercore on a poor little L20, but itd be interesting to do just to do it...although I do have plans on making a Socket 7 holddown bracket for the spir@l...