Where to get my Lexen Block

[hmorgoth]

The maker of the spiral water block can't find his lexen
Somebody must know where to buy lexen in a block bigenough to make a water block

[Corporal_Hicks]

just look up a plastics supplier in the yellow pages or something. BTW it’s a bad idea to use lexan in device designed for high thermal conductivity.

[melvyn]

You only need copper in direct contact with the processor die. Anywhere else and you'll either be radiating heat into the case, or absorbing case heat into the water. As long as the heatplate has sufficient copper/water area, it will cool well. Check out Unaclockers waterblock comparison; the DD Maze 2 cooled better than the OCWC silver polyblock, but the prototype silver polymaze was equal to the DD block.

[Corporal_Hicks]

Melvyn, if your theory is correct then the silver Polyblock should perform better than the PolyMaze shouldn’t it? The reason blocks such as the maze2 are so efficient is that they have large amounts of surface area on the channel walls.

[venkman]

corporal hicks, I am (was) a lurker in this forum, but I just can't take your rude commenting any longer. I registered specifically to let you know that your criticism is neither friendly nor constructive, and it is usually pompous and unfounded. You mentioned that you have "seen reviews" of spiral waterblocks. Where are these? You provided no link or numerical evidence. You then proceeded to interject your recycled and hackneyed "ideas" about heat conductivity in every arena of watercooling, from bong coolers to surface area. For instance, you stated that lexan is a terrible idea for waterblocks. Just the fact that it is not good at conducting heat does not mean that the use of lexan anywhere in a block is a poor idea. To test this, you would need two blocks, identical except for the top. One could be copper and the other lexan. Until you perform this test or tell everyone in this forum where we can find it, why don't you shut the hell up? Oh, and don't try to pretend you're not being arrogant and demeaning. If you really meant for your posts to be constructive, you wouldn't close every one of them with that damn rolling-eyes smiley face. When you reply, from now on, to the novel attempts of people like "newbie water cooler," please do us all a favor and ditch the supercilious facade, you dissembling quack.

dc

[Corporal_Hicks]

WOW! Big words for a hot stank. First of all it is a commonly known fact that lexan is used in water blocks for its aesthetic qualities rather than improving real world performance. Secondly, I think that my post in response to newbie water cooler regarding his spiral block was constructive critisism as I suggested ideas to increase the turbulence of water entering the block.

As for reviews, a review of the OCWC Copper/Silver PolyBlock for instance (a water block of similar construction to this proposed spiral block) can be found at either www.dansdata.com or www.procooling.com , the procooling article compares the ‘open chamber’ design of the polyblock, to the MAZE2, a machined channel block made entirely out of copper.

Hope this helps.

[JimS]

I dont know about the performance issue with lexan, but I do know that the probability of a leaking block are much greater as the lexan is usually glued on with some special adhesive. I would much prefer a solid copper block with the top soldered on. There was a post here a while back about a Danger Den Maze 2 block that was made specially for someone with a lexan top. There was a leak where the lexan met the copper even after using a special glue that set for 7 days.

I am not referring to a leak in the first weeks of use, rather a leak that will happen over extended periods of time.

[Corporal_Hicks]

Amen Brother

[venkman]

I would guess, just like most people, that an all-copper block would beat a lexan-topped version of the same block, but this seems more like a hypothesis than a "commonly known fact." I follow watercooling advancements closely, and I can't recall any direct comparisons of a lexan top vs. a copper top. What I'm getting at is that we can't treat something as gospel if it hasn't been substantiated experimentally. Of course, if it has been tested, I take this back.
For spiral blocks, I was referring to ideas like this one: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread....hreadid=172994
I haven't ever seen a true spiral block like that in testing. Yes, I remember the open chamber polyblock and how it got smacked in the procooling roundup, and I remember when the maze-like version of it was tested (with channels just as you mentioned), it did much better. I'm not disputing the fact that surface area is a key part of waterblock design; I'm just saying we shouldn't discount people's ideas if they haven't yet been proved wrong. If newbie water cooler wants to spiral his block and see how it does, I say more power to him. An efficient spiral design is just as good with surface area as any hard-corner channeling. I can't tell from his picture whether he has planned an open chamber design instead of a true spiral. If so, then you're right, it seems doomed to fail, but the idea of a spiral seems fine to me.

dc

ps
A person's post count does not correlate to the quality of their posts. Saying things like "big words for a hot stank" just brings back that arrogance that I was so happy to see was not present in the rest of the post.

[David]

venkman, you're so right. I also got fed up with his degrading of some good ideas. maybe they weren't the best to start off with, maybe there were a few flaws, but hey Corporal Hicks, where are your ideas for us to shoot down methodically? Sheesh man, at least he is willing to share his ideas with us, even when he knows you'll be a complete ass. The Evap. cooler is a good idea, notice how everyone else thought so, but you! The block he wants to make is a good idea, maybe its lacking in surface area a bit, but the water is injected on the die and is forced in a circular path covering all the available area. He could add copper tacks(flat side down of course) and make a lot more surface area that way, but hey. It's his damned waterblock. The idea is sound so leave him alone. Actually, don't talk anymore til you post something of yours for us to shoot down, then you can see how truly annoying you are.

[David]

Oh and Coporal Hicks, if posts meant your quality, I've got you more than double bud.

[bach-on]

The big criticism of the bong coolers has been that you have to add water to them almost on a daily basis. This guy is trying to solve that situation with a more closed system. So, he tries out an idea on the group. It seems obvious that he's put a lot of thought and effort into his idea. Personally, I say let him try it. He may or may not be successful, but he'll have the challenge and the possibility of solving this problem. Too, someone may learn something from his experience that gives them an idea. That is a free "academic" type forum. Criticism, even if it is constructively intended, may inhibit others from trotting out their own ideas. On the other hand, pointing out the obvious flaws in an idea may save someone the "trouble" and expense of a project that doesn't work. There are certainly two sides to this view.

Corportal Hicks - I really do believe that you mean your criticism to be constructive. But sometimes it might be better to encourge novice talent - especially since there is probably little expense involved in the guy's idea.

I'd suggest this. Go back and reread your posts: count the positive comments versus the "Constructive Criticism". How's the ratio?

Incidentally, this is honestly intended as constructive criticism. How constructive does it feel? Now - consider receiving it if you were 15. What some folks are trying to tell you is that it doesn't sound very constructive - just critical - especially if there is nothing positive or encouraging to accompany it and lubricate "the shaft".

Mark Twain said "that a man who carries a live cat home by the tail is learning six or seven times more than the man who doesn't do so. And the lessons and information he learns from the experience will probably remain with him for a quite a long time. And it's likely that he won't carry a cat that way again. But I say if he wants to carry a live cat that way, then let him!"

[LiquidCool]

Just my $.02 but for an equal sized, shaped block, the more you replace with lexan the worse it will do. Since lexan is an thermal insulator more than thermal conductor you will lose valuable surface area.

[Corporal_Hicks]

You hit the nail right on the head Michael, just like I said earlier

[iceheart]

Who the hell is Mark Twain anyway?

And BTW Corporal, you're a hot stank yourself.

[David]

Mark Twain???? He was a great American author, wrote Huckelberry Fin and Tom Sawyer.

[dougpanting]

Some of the stuff you guys are talking about has been done and worked pretty well:

http://www.overclockers.com/tips494/waterblock3.gif[/IMG]
[IMG]

flowmeter water block

[dougpanting]

Here's the image:



The sides of the copper cap add some very useful highly conductive suface area. During heavy loads the sides near the bottom rise above the temperature of the water, but near the top they are the same tempurature as the water.