PUMP MODIFICATIONS:
I made some modifications to the Danner Mag3 pump, many of which are detailed in
this thread. I learned that the danner (and maybe other pumps like it)
need the flop joint between the magnet and the impeller to work reliably.
CHIPSET & VGA BLOCKS:
My chipset and northbridge blocks are identically modified oldschool Innovatek GF4 blocks, which will run off of the dual outlets of the WhiteWater and then reconverge. I am replacing the
stock 8mm hose clamp things with standard 1/2" hose barbs (not the 3/8" one as shown in that picture). I was happy to discover that the weird metric thread on Innovatek's fittings was so close to 1/4" NPT thread that I could simply thread in standard fittings in place of the 8mm ones. The tpi is slightly off, but I only need two or three threads to grip to get a secure physical connection and be able to seal the threads with teflon pipe dope compound.
I was dissatisfied with the cross sectional area between
the block's solid base and
it's cap. I decided that a modification here was in order as well. Initially, I wanted to use a dremel to grind grooves or inverse fins into the base to provide an easier path for the coolant to travel through and increase surface area at the same time. To accomplish this, I
built a jig to turn my dremel into a sort of chop saw/milling tool. The dremel would lower down on arms to grind a series of carefully-controlled notches into the copper baseplate. I made it
halfway through two of these notches and gave up. The block was smoking hot, the dremel was bogging down and chattering, and the copper was not cutting nicely at all! I figured that rather than using a half dozen discs and spending a weekend trying to finish all these grooves, I should switch to plan B.
I took the parts over to my former high school and talked to my former shop teacher. He was amused by the concept of what I was working on as a whole, and agreed to let me use the shop's milling machine after classes let out. The two-fluted TIN coated end mills cut reasonably well (a heck of a lot nicer than the lousy job the dremel was doing) and in 30 minutes, I had finished modifying both baseplates.
My finished product should reduce the flow restriction these blocks caused in their original form. It would have been nice if I could have found a way to make the grooves happen, but that would have taken forever the way I was doing it. These blocks only need to cool a GeForce4ti4200 and an nForce2 chipset.