Total Insulation
 

Heres the following condensation precautions i've taken:

1) Silicone Conformal Compound on backside of motherboard.

2) Silicone Sealent around zif socket and filled inside of zif.

3) Adhesive Closed-Cell Foam on back of motherboard with silicone sealent around edges.

4) Silicone Sealent applied on top of cpu (leaving the core and L1 bridges uncovered) with a copper shim pressed down over it. silicone sealent is level with the shim. also the edges of the shim are sealed so no air can get in. (took a long time)

5) Dialectric Grease applied on zif socket (haven't done this step yet, i need help... how am i suppose to apply this? in each individual socket, all over the socket, or on the pins...

think thats enough? (i left out the neoprene insulation because i havent tested everything yet. any problems with insulation you've seen so far?

just make sure you use small applications of silicone at a time...so that the air can cure it completely before you end up with a huge gob of silicone that wont cure right...

i just toasted my 1.2 tbird and kt7a-raid board because apparently the silicone is air permeable while it's curing...i was running it before it completely cured...and i got plenty of condensation...

after I ripped everything apart, the coldplate had green shit all over it, and it smelled musty...like humidity...

i just fried my processor... heres a tip... don't use copper shims...

and I've been saying that for how long?. . .

I don't even wanna hear what Joe would say about using shims. . .he can be a lot more violent than me, ehhehehehehehehe :D j/k

anyway, so uhm yeah, better luck on your next try. . cause everyone that got knocked off a horse has to get back up onto that horse.

Thanks a million for letting me know about the shim thing... I ended up laping the HS and the 1.2 core(just enough to get the lettering smooth) AND took off that damn shim.

was running @
77f idle
104f Load
now i'm at
72 idle
94 load

hehe you know me too well :)

yes Shims are the devils work and account for more dead CPU's then anything else.

see that wasnt too violent :)

guess what! i must be born from the evil spawn of hardocp... killed another processor. insulation was making the die not contact the waterblock... heh... damn... it was a AVIA... good thing I bought it from Frys this time just in case this happened ;) taking it back tommorow.

For the dielectric grease, rub it over the holes where the processor pins enter. Then push the processor in. Then take it out. Then rub some more all over the holes. Then put the CPU back in. That makes sure that just in case some h2o gets in there, it won't conduct electricity.

this week must be be back luck... after frying two processors (one returnable) and ruining a video card i decided to rest and take a break... same day i was cutting my hair, screwed up... ended up having to shave my head.

well... a bad week has gotten even worse. now i look like a nazi so i have to wear a hat everywhere i go. hehe.

well... taking processor back today and going to try again... put a little less insulation around the coldplate so i don't **** up the processor this time.

i need help on one thing... i have 1/16" neoprene foam... going to put that around the processor die... my knowledge is i need to make sure condensation doesn't form on the resistors (whatever they are) around the dye... how can i make sure this is thin enough not to kill the processor...

oh ya... two good things have happened though :) commision junction paid me a check for $114 for apparently no reason... on my account it said $0 but they must have made a mistake and sent me the amount for a few months ago ;) that covers the video card almost...

and i got a Sony Multiscan E500 21" Monitor... runs pretty well... anyone have any input on this monitor (paid $900 for it, $966 after taxes and everything)

What about the copper shim makes it dangerous to use? Why shouldn't one use it? Up until this post I was under the impression that it was necessary to safely watercool.

Thx!!!

Many of them are poorly made, or even warped. They will do more to keep the HSF/WB off the core then on it.

i'm not going into this discussion again :P

i like my shim.. but i NEVER will use one again.. too much work for some xtra pressure-resistance..

DONT USE THAT SHIT!

Try non-acetic silicone sealant on your copper parts, it won't make them green.