Why should a waterblock be so large?
I've thought of this a few times, and I've also been working on and off with the microchannel concept for about 1½ year since I started thinking about why radiators had so many thin fins, and with so little space inbetween.
Maybe I should post a small introduction first. I just found this forum a couple of days ago, and it seems the discussions stick to the subject here more that most other forums, and you guys seem to have lots of good ideas, and useful knowledge. So I'll probably hang around here for a while
I'm 27 y.o and I have 6,5 years of university level studies behind me (mechanic/electric engineering, psychology, networking)
___________________________________________
Ok, that's the very off topic part.. Back to business.
Almost all the blocks I've seen are about 40 x 40 mm or larger.. the first I've seen that resembles my ideas (if not completely, at least close enough) is Cathar with his microchannel concept block.
The only reason for a block wider than.. say 20 mm would be either if you used peltiers, or for fastening purposes. Of course this calls for microchannels.
I've inserted a picture here to show what I mean. The green square is a generic cpu, the size of it is 39 x 39 mm (for no special reason) I only included that to show the proportions. The block is quite easy to make (takes no cnc-mills or anything fancy) You just need a drill-press, file, saw, sandpaper, torch and a thin sawblade.
The block is made for 1/2" hoses, the internal flow-area is slightly larger than the area of the hose to make up for the resistance when the water is disturbed. The flow is quite straight, and there are no bends and stuff that will stop the flow.
Why aren't more blocks constructed like this? This is even 1,5 mm thick fins, which could easily be reduced to 1 mm, to gain even more contact area.
Any questions? comments? please ask and I'll try to answer as good as i can