The Mini-ITX build begins.

[Lazzer408]

how did you get those heatsinks together? Also AMD hardware is good for more then just cooling your Intel.(if you didn't know all my new(er) rigs are AMD and no i'm not a fanboy)

Don't you see all the bolts on the back? I drilled and tapped the heatsinks then counter-sunk bolted them to a 1/4" plate. It's all I had on hand.

By the by, I have a copper block you could use on the bit that makes contact to the CPU.

Can have it for free if you do : ]

Got a pic?

 

[pantherx12]

Not at the moment, will take one tomorow when its light ( and my camera works)

Its from an old AMD system, the procs that were huge without IHS, it has fins embeded in it so you may have to sand it for best results. ( after removing the fins)

 

[Lazzer408]

o-harddrive-o
el-shutup-o
hardware store-o
for gromet-o
-sings-

 

[Lazzer408]

This thing is just too crazy. lol I'm going to need a few shims to make it work since I dont have any way to mill out the base of the heatsink. =( I'll probably put it off for now. I just had to see it.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Hi buddy, I had some freaking issues with the PC and was not following my subscriptions much. Are you planning on putting one huge heatsink on top of the mainboard/components?

 

[Lazzer408]

Hi buddy, I had some freaking issues with the PC and was not following my subscriptions much. Are you planning on putting one huge heatsink on top of the mainboard/components?

What gave you that idea? The 2lb finned aluminum hunk of wtf?

It's starting to look like this. I had an oops and put a screw in the way. I'll fill it and redrill it later. This is just a mock-up. I was curious how well it would work if it was passivly cooled. The damn northbridge pad fell about .030" short of the chip. I'll have to fix that before I can try it. Either that or notch it out for the NB. hmm, maybe I'll just do that for now.

 

[Cuzza]

Do you have TIM all over those heatsinks where they meet the bottom plate?

 

[Lazzer408]

Do you have TIM all over those heatsinks where they meet the bottom plate?

Not at the moment. They will though. The little 1" cube for the NB doesn't have to be removed to take everything apart so I goop'd it.

 

[Chicken Patty]

I can't wait to see how you pull this one off dude

 

[Lazzer408]

$hit it just dawned on me what I should have done. *slaps forehead. The reason I needed the spacer on the cpu was because the caps for the regulator were higher then the top of the chip. Obviously the NB still needs a spacer because it sits lower on the board but that's in place already. If I had heatsink stock I'd just have the shop mill a slot for the caps. Since this is made up of 4 heatsinks bolted to a plate, I could have just notched the plate or drilled holes where the caps are. I can probably still do that.

I'm just killing time until my parts get here but hey, if this works good I'll use it.

 

[Error 404]

Judging by how thick the plates/layers of metal are, I don't think you'll see very good performance unless you embed some heatpipes in the contact blocks running into the fins, which would probably improve the cooling remarkably. Having that much aluminium between the CPU and the fins just doesn't look like its going to work.

 

[Cuzza]

Judging by how thick the plates/layers of metal are, I don't think you'll see very good performance unless you embed some heatpipes in the contact blocks running into the fins, which would probably improve the cooling remarkably. Having that much aluminium between the CPU and the fins just doesn't look like its going to work.

I disagree. More metal shouldn't make a difference.

 

[Lazzer408]

More metal holds more thermal enegry hot or cold. Picture a solid block of aluminum against the cpu. How long will that take to heat up? It's going to take awhile. Same goes for cooling it down to. It will hold heat longer. At that point it's the surface area of the fins and the airflow that will determine how well it can dissipate heat.

Where do you suggest I put heatpipes?

 

[Lazzer408]

yeh! Suck it bitc... I mean... The airduct idea works wonderfully.

 

[Error 404]

More metal holds more thermal enegry hot or cold. Picture a solid block of aluminum against the cpu. How long will that take to heat up? It's going to take awhile. Same goes for cooling it down to. It will hold heat longer. At that point it's the surface area of the fins and the airflow that will determine how well it can dissipate heat.

Where do you suggest I put heatpipes?

There's a difference between a solid block of metal and the layers of metal you've constructed. I might be wrong, but just like the boundary between CPU and heatsink (which is why thermal paste was invented), the thermal conductivity will be reduced markedly because of those boundary layers.
This is why I suggested heatpipes; if you embed a number of heatpipes in the CPU contact block (like a HDT cooler) and then ran them up through the fins, you'd get much better cooling, because it bypasses the layers.

 

[Lazzer408]

There's a difference between a solid block of metal and the layers of metal you've constructed. I might be wrong, but just like the boundary between CPU and heatsink (which is why thermal paste was invented), the thermal conductivity will be reduced markedly because of those boundary layers.
This is why I suggested heatpipes; if you embed a number of heatpipes in the CPU contact block (like a HDT cooler) and then ran them up through the fins, you'd get much better cooling, because it bypasses the layers.

There's more surface area contact between the plate and the heatsinks (about 22") then there is between the plate and the cpu (about 1.7"). The fins on my heatsink are neither thin enough nor large enough in area to justify heatpipes. If the fins were .020" thick and 4" tall then yes heatpipes would be required. Heatpipies are used when the fins are thin and the fin's area is so large that the fin itself can not conduct the heat through it's body. Thin fin commercial heatsinks use a high quantity of very thin fins to get more surface area. The fin alone can not conduct the heat so heatpipes must be used to get the heat to them.

I appreciate the input though. I understand what your saying. I just wouldn't benifit due to the short height and larger thickness of my fins.

EDIT - What would work great is something like this. This one it to high though.

 

[pantherx12]

Could you mod a smaller GPU heatsink?

A small Zalman perhaps.

 

[Lazzer408]

Could you mod a smaller GPU heatsink?

A small Zalman perhaps.

I dunno. Maybe. I could just buy a low profile cooler. The cpu fan wasn't really an issue. It was with the G-Atlanta case but not with mine. The duct works well and gives the cpu it's own air anyways. The advantage to passive cooling was the smaller coolers tend to be a bit noisy.

Did you get a pic of that cooler? Or can you send me a link to one?

On another note...

The 3 case fans are in. On high you can hear them across the room and the'll blow out a flame 12" away. At reduced speed they're whisper quiet and the breeze can be felt by hand 12" away so they're still moving a fair amount of air. I ran out of fan grills.

 

[Lazzer408]

Could you mod a smaller GPU heatsink?

A small Zalman perhaps.

Hey panther, is it anything like this?

 

[Lazzer408]

I just had to know and powered up the computer using the taller of the two Intel coolers, with it's fan removed. It's clocked at 3ghz. Stock voltage. With the case fans at full speed the cpu idle temp is 40c. This is after 30min of idling. NB is 41c which is 14c lower then is usually idles at 55c. Stock clock idle is cpu 37c, nb 41c. The airflow across the board had quiet an effect on the NB. The Intel cooler isn't that efficient having the airflow sideways like this. With a large parallel-fin heatsink the temps would be very realistic. Another thing I might try is using the large Intel cooler, no cpu fan, with my heatduct. With fewer or no holes in the case, on the oppisite side of the case fans, the air only has one way in and thats right into the cpu cooler.

I should try my 4-pin adapter! brb.

 

[pantherx12]

I've misplaced my camera actually.

That heatsink you posted looks like an advance version of the heatsink I have.

Heatpipes better construction etc.



Az for zalman coolers in particular I meant ones like this

http://watercooled-pcs.co.uk/images/detailed_images/detailed_image_1541.jpg

They're quite quiet.

 

[Lazzer408]

I started on the cpu intake duct today. This is how it turned out. I can use the tall Intel cooler without a fan, or the short one with a fan.

 

[Lazzer408]

Quick temperature update after some testing. Both tests were done without a fan mounted to the cpu's heatsink. Larger Intel heatsink used for both tests.

Without cpu duct, 3 fans@100%
2.66ghz: cpu 37c / mcp 41c
3.0ghz: cpu 40c / mcp 41c

With cpu duct, 2 fans@100%
2.66ghz: cpu 28c / mcp 39c (difference cpu 9c / mcp 2c)
3.0ghz: cpu 29c / mcp 40c (difference cpu 11c / mcp 1c)

With cpu duct, 3 fans@100%
2.66ghz: cpu 25c / mcp 37c (difference cpu 12c / mcp 4c)
3.0ghz: cpu 27c / mcp 38c (difference cpu 12c / mcp 3c)

Adding the 3rd fan was good for another 3c off the cpu and 2c off the mcp.

 

[Chicken Patty]

tight fit, but good job on the duct. Temps are great bro

 

[Geofrancis]

Quick temperature update after some testing. Both tests were done without a fan mounted to the cpu's heatsink. Larger Intel heatsink used for both tests.

Without cpu duct, 3 fans@100%
2.66ghz: cpu 37c / mcp 41c
3.0ghz: cpu 40c / mcp 41c

With cpu duct, 2 fans@100% (one fan was removed)
2.66ghz: cpu 28c / mcp 39c (difference cpu 9c / mcp 2c)
3.0ghz: cpu 29c / mcp 40c (difference cpu 11c / mcp 1c)

http://forums.techpowerup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=30366&stc=1&d=1257399052

were those idle or load temps?