That isn't always true (lots of the German blocks have rather nonstandard design that makes calculating these properties difficult). Determining baseplate thickness also gets tricky.

I'll grant you that by and large we can look at blocks and extract the inof we need. But why should I have to go to all that trouble? There is more to a block than a picture of its channels after all. Manufacturers should explain their blocks a little more.

I would guess that the main reason we don't see spec sheets is because a large percentage of the blocks produced aren't made my large manufacturers, but rather folks who are working out of their garage like jaydee or fixittt. If the little guys post specs, it's too easy for jerkoffs like OCH to rip off their design. The world of waterblock design is a dog-eat-dog world. :p

och rip off anyone at anytime they want to anyway

the base sizes are the same, one has 3 channels, one has 1 channel, one is open

PH - leaving aside the discussion on photographic analysis capabilities :: you missed (and I didn't explicity state) the main point of what I said - I can't see a good reason NOT to put the information out, since it can be ascertained fairly easily. Basically - I was reinforcing your comment that the information should be put out by the wb makers ;) (at least the items of weight, outside dimensions, base plate thickness, flow rate at a specified pressure, mounting method, and mounting pressures).

ah I see. You know now that I think of it the situation with radiators is even more dire: it is difficult to tell exactly how a radiator will perform from a picture. Some oil coolers are rather poor performers, but some do quite well. Some heatercores work substantially better than others also (edge soldered ones). A picture really isn't suitable; need internal volume, surface area, some standard testing. I have been talking to a German block maker (http://watercool.de/), and they are really pushing for a standard test procedure and methodology whereby performance curves could be generated that all makers would use and that were comparable between manufacturers (and between hardware sites). Sounds like an absolute nightmare to me (I doubt you could get US hardware sites to all agree on the weight of a waterblock much less its performance). Maybe we will see some spillover of this concept to the US though.

some pics of the Cyclone5! (thanks Cathar! ;))

http://www.employees.org/~slf/sp/sp-inner2.jpg

http://www.employees.org/~slf/sp/sp-fullkit.jpg

and lastly, my fav:
http://www.employees.org/~slf/sp/sp-base.jpg

I like it even more now. Notice how the inner channel starts shortly after the outer channel, possibly an attempt by silverprop to even out the flow.

Although the milling looks a little rough, this is probably good thing, trying to remove the boundary layer of water

Kinda looks molded?

I would have to agree with you jaydee.

well this maybe one subjet that i may know something about...i have been in the tool and die trade for 25 years and cnc milling for at least 15..started out using a 10mhz machine..lol...any way i think this block could be cast to at first look...but by the finish on the bottom i would doubt it...u could never get such a finish out of a cast part..what i think u are seeing is the bad mill that they had trying to get such a small endmill down so deep....then i believe they sandblasted the top and the groves...that my thoughts on the whole thing...for what its worth...hum gives me some good ideals though....could really do some funky stuff with a wire edm machine...hummm

I think you maybe right. It does polish up pretty good to be cast. Even pressure cast for that matter. I also did spot some milling marks and also where the start of the first pass it. So yes I would agree.

What is a wire edm machine?

I'm not sure about it being cast or not, but the finish on the base definately isn't sanded out, it could be milled then polished though

very interested in this one also.
most likely will get this.

What is a wire edm machine?


__________________

Electronic discharge Machine = EDM

u can take brass wire .01 thousands in dia. and burn through hardend steel of all types about anykind of material that conducts elec. of course its computer controled so that means any thing u can draw on cad u can burn....is a 4 axis machine so u can some nifity 3d work...wish i had a digtial camara

I just looked it up on the net and am very impressed. That setup is damn cool. http://www.jordanmachine.com/wire_edm.html

yes it is we have 4 of them...just think of holding a peice of thread between each hand and moving on hand while the other is still..thats what i mean by 4 axis...the top head can move seperate from the bottom

upallnight, do you have any examples of work that this machine has produced?

click this link and it will show some lettering in 3D http://www.jordanmachine.com/wire_edm.html

woah, thats seriously cool. now we just need to get someone to make us a block based on those principles

I imagine that thing isn't cheap!!!

yeah i got a whole table full of examples but no pics of it...but ill work on it beings i know someone is interested in it...and yes it is kinda high in price about 250,000

Sorry to rain on everyone's parade ;), but I'm not so sure about getting any "superior" performance out of this one. If you look closely you'll see that the water enters and exits the block very quickly even though it's extensively channeled. Reminds me somewhat of the silverbase WB over @ Becooling in how much it's channeled.

http://becooling.safeshopper.com/6/95.htm?896

Also, I don't see very much turbulence to aid in the heat transfer with these kind of conditions. Looks cool though:) . What Brad said about them trying to even out the flow is interesting, I think he's right about that.