I finally made my own CPU block
 

http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter_block/x_block1.jpg

Something I'd not tried in the past due to poor equipment so just modified one I bought, but now I'm getting the hang of my new mill I thought I'd try to make one.

I'm not trying to rival Cathar's block principal here, the goal was to combine a very low restriction block with centre inlet and four balanced smaller outlets to supply all other waterblocks in the system. This keeps overall system flow rate good, and the CPU block still gets the full coolant flow 1st directly. Additionally it also had to look different & "pretty" to me.

Not tested yet as I have to make the retention mech.

will post build images later if anyone is interested?

HOLY SHIT!
Thats some nice polishing you got there!

Nice work, I'm a big fan ;)

wow man that rocks!

any figures on how good it is yet?

If you havn't already check his website. Link in his siggy. He does great work.

That block looks great! Very interested in how you made it. :)

Shiny objects are always nice.

what are the innards like?

I especially like the rounded shapes. yeah whats the interrior like?

GJ

although the looks can only worsen with the retention mechanism. but then again, maybe they won't. all in all, i wonder what you'll come up with for the retention.

i'm really puzzled as to how you were able to make that in that form.

It isn't as nearly as complicated as it looks, with a mill anyways.

Thanks for the positive feedback, and here's some build images. I started with a pinned all copper 1U heatsink, and initially milled it as shown in the first pic, ( I was designing it as I went like I usually do). Pics are all links to larger ones and should explain it. Before I soldered the lid part on, I drilled small "pits" between the pins with a 3.5mm drill bit above the core area to aid surface area & turbulance below the inlet.

Not 100% final as the inlet barb will be shorter. It's actually a 5/8" barb reamed out internally to 13mm ID, outlets are festo push fit 8mm x 4

Not testsed yet as I have to make the retainer, couldn't easily include lugs on the block due to milling restrictions but I have a plan for mounting it.

http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter...ned_sink_s.jpg http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter..._block000s.jpg
http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter..._block001s.jpg http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter..._block002s.jpg
http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter..._block003s.jpg http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter..._block004s.jpg
http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter..._block005s.jpg http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter..._block006s.jpg

Here's a quick check I did once soldered with a low pressure hose just to see it all flowed equally.

http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter...ock_flow_s.jpg

Now there is a smart man
 

this is sooo funny i am looking at it and going wow it looks pretty, it has 1 inlet and 4 outlets I wonder how he is going to bring the 4 back into 1 again. Then I go "I remember that the rest of his stuff is watercooled!" so not only does this block cool his CPU it also serves as a manifold for the rest of his system like the GPU the Chipset the PSU the harddrive and the ram on the video card (phew did i get it all?). i like it!

Soldered or Not? my guess is yes


Ofcourse we want more pictures and preformance data

This thingie looks just gorgeous!:)

Great work of art you made!

Gorgeous :)

I love it- it incorperates my main philosophy- only the core gets hot, so don't cool the chip. Without a doubt the best 'mini' block design I've see, and so shiny too :)

Also a mighty fine soldering job, I didn't even notice it was soldered together the frist time I looked at it.

Incredible work...

...as always!!:drool:

Please post this to Bit-Tech.

8-ball

Axle

You seem to be on my wavelength :) , and that was what I was thinking... get the coolant in fast where it's required then get it out as fast as possible without it looping around channels unnecessarily or causing any flow restrictions. Soldering and polishing I'm definately getting quite good at now, experience counts :p

Not sure it could easily be a "productionised" block or for that matter any one would want a block with 4 outlets, but I just hope it now performs as well as the theory suggests.

http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter..._block_top.jpg

http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter...block_base.jpg


Forgot to mention I milled the base when it was all soldered together to about 3mm thick, (although it will be thinner where I'd drilled in between the pins.) I also got a little carried away with socket relief, milling far more width away than need be although it won't affect the blocks use at all. If you look at the top pic you can see the pins down the centre barb.

Milling it was fairly simple on paper but quite complex to set up and keep true and in spec. The hardest part really was holding on to it when the "X" shape was being made.

I left two small parts of the base in tact in the corner of the "X" like webbed feet on two sides to mount the retention mech. It will be simple thing and add to the looks hopefully.


*Edit*

8-Ball It may be part of a much larger Bit-Tech project but I posted it here as this is a water-block forum and wanted feedback / improvement ideas etc from other water block constructie type people ;)

Makes perfect sense to me.

Can't wait to see what you've got coming.

8-ball

Well if nothing else you could make a few Dodge Viper style shower head barbs and turn it into a lawn sprinkler!!! :p

Seriously though that is very very cool! Nice work.

Great work! :cool:

It seems that you’re going to mount it diagonally? It would be wise.

I made a mini block some time ago, and one problem that showed the design was that the base didn’t touched the cpu pads. It was difficult to hold in place when mounting, and risked some damage to the core during the process. Never realized before that the usefulness of those little rubber foams.

Although it's not large it's by no means mini. The barb maybe deceiving as it's not a 1/2 (with 1/4bsp thread) but 5/8 (with 3/8bsp thread). here are some images with an XP 2000 and the last with a low profile northbridge block to give a size indication.

I intend to mount it sideways so it looks like an "X" rather than a "cross", and fortunately even though I messed up on the socket relief milling the base does contact the pads. I made the square inner part of the base just slightly larger than P4 sized in case I change CPU choice :)

http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter...lock_cpu_s.jpg http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter...ock_cpu1_s.jpg
http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter...ock_cpu2_s.jpg http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter...block_nb_s.jpg

has anyone checked out the links blade runner has on his site?
http://www.dwpg.com/content.php?cont...77&orgartid=57
talk about ground cooling:eek:

I've ran into the mini-block problem before to.....even burnt up a chip due to misalignment of the core to the blocks base. I've since taken to putting the old foam pads from a AMD chip I killed on any new proccessor I install. Even if its a full size block,that extra cushion is a real chip-saver.
Take a single -edge razor and gently slice the pad from the surface,making sure you get the little plastic adhesive disc from the bottom of the pad.You can also do this with the factory foam pads,just lift them off and move them wherever you need them .

There really isn't much to suggest.

1) add a nozzle (inside the inlet barb) to add to the flow speed, in the center. It'll add a restriction, but the performance will be there. Make sure that this nozzle doesn't end up creating a spray effect over a pin.

2) just for looks, connect all four outlets to a clear tube/ring, with a single outlet.


The mount should be interesting!

Oh, man!
Now, *that´s* a beautiful piece of waterblock!
The pin structure inside looks promising.
As Axle mentions, it looks as the block will cool the part that gets warm.
Looking forward for test results.
regards
Mikael S.

Hey I read about your 9700pro water cooler months ago. You do incredible work, it's like little pieces of art. I could just imagine it, your blocks everywhere and a tiny spot light on each one throughout the case...great work.:D

bigben2k

The concept of this block is very low pressure drop on pump flow, and to incorporate splits for all my other system blocks in the design, so a flow reducing nosel is not really on imo. I may try it to see if it helps performance of the block at all, like you say it could be made into a barb, so would be failrly easy to swap around, but I can't see it will help on this design much if at all. Impingement solutions may work well on some designs but I'm not convinced it's a be all and end all answer. I seem to remember in one of the many topics about the ww even Cathar saying there are parameters to follow with his block design and it may not work so well in every situation especially with lots of other system blocks.

A neat design could be made to collect the four outlets into 1 but for my use the four splits are required separately.

Image wise the main thing I don't like is the blue plastic tops to the festo fittings. I have looked at other makes of similar fittings but no one does a rounded 8mm fitting, (without an ugly nut hex) and a silver top. I have made a fake one up for this pic, (that wont work), just to show how much less "tacky" it looks with an all silver festo fitting.

http://www.zfz.com/projects/splitter...ock_festo1.jpg


psychofunk

The R9700 was favorite so far partly because it was the hardest to make or most complex card layout, and partly because it worked out well from concept. I have a prototype for FX but can't do more until I can finally get hold of a card. :rolleyes:

BladeRunner, you seem to be the one to ask:
From pump to manifold to several parallell waterloops, one loop for each waterblock, what´s true?
1. The total length of the plastic tubes adds nothing to the flow resistance.
2. The radical increase of total cross section area of the plumbing reduces the flow resistance to approximately nothing.
3. The radical increase of total cross section area of the plumbing reduces the water speed to approximately nothing.
4. Who cares? It´s really only the CPU WB that really needs high performance cooling anyway, all the other WB are seriously overkill.
5. A brutal water pump solves all problems.
regards
Mikael S.