Water Block Roundup Part 1 - Discussion
 

http://www.procooling.com/reviews/ht...t1-1_2_0.shtml
This is where to be if you want to talk about the Waterblock Roundup Part 1!:cool:

Questions?:confused:

Comments? Let it be heard!:dome:

how can we chat about it when we can't view it? :confused:

You can you just arent looking hard enough ;)

Let's just say the posting of this thread was well timed with the posting of the review:evilaugh:

What about testing some of custom coolings blocks in the next one? He's working on them right now and should have one for testing soon. Like maybe a week at the most.

Yep Just got a PM from Custom Cooling :) They will be in teh socket A roundup.

will you be comparing the two Australian waterblocks - The Cyclone and Cyclone2 in the SocketA roundup?

Yes I will be, I have them here already

rampage, I think he is testing one of them, not sure about both

*edit* Joe beat me to it

Long time reader, first time poster :P

Anyone know if Joe is testing the Spir@l blocks that fixxit from Hardocp is CNCing? ( http://www.dtekcustoms.com/ )

I ordered one a while ago, sure hope it's worth the wait :D

First I must say incredible work with review Joe. And now wanna know if you will test my water block , I will send it to you ,but I'll need address where to send it. Here's my email . But there is one bad thing, I'm currently serving in the army, and I'll be out for next three weeks, so you can get this wb in 4-5 weeks if you're still interested.

Oh yeah, one thing about the review, ambient temp. were room temp. right? I would also like to see, water temps.

Recasting the results
 

I've recast Joe's data by taking into account the difference between the core temperature and the ambient temperature.
I've also ignored the early temperature readings on the static test and only use the last three temperature readings at 20, 25, and 30 minutes. I did that because I don't think the early readings mean much as the system tries to reach equilibrium.

The data below are the average temperature deltas for the 6 waterblocks.


WaterBlock.........Average Delta
Danger den..............18
z3......................18
leufken.................19
cool comp...............19
Becool..................20
ocwc vtuned.............21
fx reactor..............27
ocwc silver.............31



As you can see from the table, there's a slight difference between the four top blocks. Joe's graphs show that the data are +/- one degree. The graphs show several cases where a block lucked out as to when the temperature was taken...had the temp been read 30 seconds later, it would have been a degree hotter.

Becool's offering doesn't fare so well in this analysis because I tossed the ten minute readings. Again, I didn't think the early readings mean much - what matters to me is how hot will the core be 2 hours into doing my work.

Kudos to joe for getting the review finished - I was surprised to see such a spread in scores! I wonder how ocwc's nanoblock would have fared.

Great work joe! get ready for some serious linkage :D

Did you discuss some of those horrible results with the block manufacturers? For instance, what did CpuFX have to say about their horrible (weight, performance, and mounting) block?

Can we maybe learn something from this?
 

I was looking over the results, and it seems to me that we could possibly learn a lot about bottlenecks in WB design from them. For example, the Becooling block and the OCH Z3 seem to have the same exact channel design but differences in performance. I assume that the Jagged Edge has a higher surface area (since it is jagged and all) but it looks to have channels that are less wide than the Z3. Why does the Z3 outperform it?

It is convenient to point to differences in flow rate, but at the highest flow rate from the dynamic flow tests the Z3 is 0.5C lower than the BeCooling, and at the lowest flow rate it is 0.6 cooler. So I guess that we can exclude that possibility.

I guess it could be due to either the thickness of the baseplate (CPU to water) or else it could be that wider channels (more water in contact with the copper base) is more important than the total internal volume. In any case, internal surface area isn't dictating performance.

So what do you guys think?

Nice work Joe!

Re: Recasting the results
 

The averages that were used were not calculated off the 5 min temp readings. They were calculated off the once/6sec readings that I had. You are taking the temp's from the every 5min temps I put up as gospel when I know they are not.

I cant display the 6sec temps cause hacing 1000 temps listed on one grah would make it a lil confusing. So I showed 5Min temps to give you some idea of the temp activity.

ALL the averages were computed off the entire test set, not just the selective temps I listed every 5 min.

To keep as Neutral in it, I simply asked some questions about the blocks that were used. I asked if the Reactor was supposed to clip like it does, etc... Also asked OCWC about the mounting of their blocks.

They way I see it, is OCWC's prototype block can be improved on from seeing the data that was gathered.

The reactor was just a exercise in bad design.

Water temps are shown. and yes ambient was room temp. Amazing how I was able to keep the room temp within 1 DegC in a 4 month span between tests :)

Re: Can we maybe learn something from this?
 

The Z3 has a good deal of size and weight over the Jagged Edge, maybe mass plays a roll? I think the base in the Z3 is also thicker than the Jagged edge.

is it just me or was the Z3 actually a non-production model? isn't that essentially cheating??? the only Z3s I ever saw were aluminum cause they were all anodized. This one is pure copper. That is well messed up and misrepresenting the product.

you've been hitting that crack pipe again havent ya?

No the Z3 is real, its copper, and its exactly like its shown.

that is not what I mean though I have been hitting the pipe. What can I say a habit. I mean that they sent you a block that they cancelled production on in a form they never used. Makes them look better than they are. THey only sold that block in ALuminum to my knowledge. But they sent you a copper one. So now isn't that sort of cheating?

Sled, I dont know what your deal is, this is a NORMAL Z3, they STILL sell them, The still make them, its the same as all the others I have seen.

I see that now. That damn steve got in my brain with his gay blue system I forgot they made copper ones.

sled! put down the crack pipe and walk away slowly with your hands in the air! :evilaugh:

The Z3 is copper, it's always been copper, the Z2 was their Al block of similar design.

I think it is very interesting that you failed to get any coolant pressure readings to go along with you water-block tests . Since you are curious as to the effects of flow , one of the major factors becomes contact time . Higher presssures will enable lower contact times (but higher flow rates ,at low pressure may lower the contact time thus reducing efficiency), but there is a balance point to consider . The turbulence in the flow will cause localized cavitation which will increase as the pressure rises . in some systems the internal friction created by high pressure / cavitation situations offsets the the higher flow rate in two ways, one by causing localized heating within the block and reducing eff by less heat transfer (contact time) and friction .
Not one of those blocks utilizes proper water turbulence with regard to direction of flow and while a large base plate may be good for stabilizing the over-all system equlibrium , the "dead solid area's within the blocks will always require a much larger pump than is absolutely necessary .

P.S> I install and repair all types of solar heat exchangers for water . From domestic copper systems to plastic pool panels (vastly different in terms of operation - pools work best with metered panels (even flow all pressures-this from data going back 30 years ) and domestics are full pressure -low flow. the interesting thing is that most of the water block/ radiator setups work almost exactly like domestic hot water water heating systems , in that the recirc temp is dependant on the resavoir (or radiator ) size . I would like to see if you get a wider range of temperature differentials using a larger radiator (as I suspect that you were actually measuring your radiators capacity) , say the heater core (you know that neat radiator from under the dash) from a 72 chevy caprice classic?

as newbie sort of pointed out, I'd be most interested to see the average ambient temp for each block across the entire test, not just those 5 min readings, it might affect the order of the blocks by a bit overall.

Glad to see the article finished, job well done ;) what happened to my block and Xjinn's crossdrilled?, I'm sure mine didn't measure up but I'm curious about Xjinn's, it showed some serious potential.

Brad did you even read the chart???

Each core temp chart, has the "adverage ambient" and "Average core" temps, those temps are figured out using the ENTIRE test data NOT just the every 5 min data.

I told you this 4 times in Chat... You get it now?!