I've seen a couple of these made in the past for custom builds, but they normally don't work as they're usually built for high-end systems etc.. But for say an AM1 build where there isn't a heat problem, Spoiler (you can run them passively on the stock cooler at 100% fine) would it be THAT difficult to make a basic cpu waterblock? Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing here? Just remember seeing these sorts of things on here last year!
Any input? Just if it's more technical than I'm thinking it is.. I'd rather not mill out a block of copper and have all the money wasted!
It's a bit more technical than just milling a block of copper I'd imagine. It's also probably not worth the time or hassle or the money when you can buy them so cheaply to begin with.
Ahh.. I'll have to see what can actually be used on AM1 kit without too much hacking at the mounts then!
The only benefit of rolling your own is that you can make something to suit idiosyncratic requirements. Building something that performs well involves cutting narrow channels and you need ninja milling skills for that. Can be done, but it's delicate work.
Most that ive seen are loads of work and not that great at actually cooling. I personally dont feel its worth the effort but as you can run yours passive then a basic design would probably work fine.
Just to update the thread on this.. I have had a quick talk with shinji2k. He suggested not making one myself, as it would be too expensive for me (as i'd have to use a companies machines..) and that I should maybe get something like this and then design the top-piece myself, guaranteeing a semi-decent waterblock!
Remember researching this months ago and found that Heatkiller do a compatible waterblock for AM1. I believe it's intended design is for chipset cooling however!
Yes, it's difficult. Without milling machine - about 5-10 hours. DIY waterblock can be better, than top air cooler. Maybe it's help you. http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=215681
There's an easy method using a dremel (other high speed hand held rotary devices are available) a stick and a nail. Take a stick - square or rectangular by preference, the longer the stick the straighter your cuts will be, and drill a hole in one of the long faces. Lash your dremel to the end of the stick opposite the nail, fully insert cutting disc and mark the stick and dremel with a common point for alignment. Nail the stick through the hole to something solid so that you can describe a radius nail-disc. See why a long stick'll help? Securely attach your lump of copper so that the arc will pass through the chosen portion, turn on the dremel, cut. Move the disc out in a chosen increment to produce "parallel" lines - I've no idea how much leeway you have with dremels on the lack-of-fully-inserted-ness of their cutting discs to reliability, but when you reach this point, un-lash your dremel, fully reinsert your cutting disc, and move the dremel the appropriate distance down the stick. Re-lash loosely using the cutting disc and the last grove as a register, and lash fully, begin again.
Hi I made a waterblock the other day as part of a project Ill be posting up in a few days once I've got more to show, since you're just cooling a low wattage AM1 CPU you could probably get away with a very simple waterblock. The block I made was inspired by "Project Monolith": http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=159424 with some alterations, in total it cost me about £8 and took me about half an hour to make. My block is for a core2duo, I used a 50x50x3mm copper plate as the cold plate and soldered a 12x12x5mm copper heatsink (from the bay sold as a raspberry pi heatsink) in the middle to add a bit more surface area and turbulence over the core. I then soldered an 8mm copper pipe through the middle of a 28mm copper end cap so that the end of the pipe was touching the small heatsink and there was a 2mm gap around the edge under the end cap for water to escape, I also drilled two 4mm holes in the top of the cap for any trapped water to escape. Over the whole lot went a 42mm copper end cap with a hole in the middle to go over the intake pipe and an output pipe next to it. Rainwulf used a simpler design to cool an HD 3870x2 so im pretty sure it'd be able to handle an AM1 APU
What you are looking for is a slitting saw, these can cut .5mm wide channels if you want. But you need a mill for it and a pretty rigid setup.
