Water cooled heatpipe CPU cooler

Rob Hobbo · 15 Apr 2016 at 20:27

I built this:
https://youtu.be/K3TxgqUDa18
and this is the leak test:
https://youtu.be/DKpmc9UDbhI
not really what you'd call an audio visual treat. still learning how to use the youtube editor. Hope you find it interesting.

This never ends well · 15 Apr 2016 at 21:29

Clever and you need a way to stop a company from making this and making money from your idea.

Rob Hobbo · 16 Apr 2016 at 04:29

I hope it turns out to be an idea worth ripping off as I haven't had it tested yet. It's not really the first of it's kind. The other example I found was the thermaltake rx2 ufo. I didn't think it was good enough so I built my own take on the idea.

djtoltec · 16 Apr 2016 at 04:54

Very nice mate!

Take a look here to make moves:

https://www.gov.uk/apply-register-design

koooowweeee · 16 Apr 2016 at 08:04

Good idea. Look forward to seeing some results

Minstadave · 16 Apr 2016 at 08:23

I don't really get it but it's a fantastic project beyond anything I could do.

Heat pipes allow you to attach a huge surface area of metal fins fuether from the CPU than solid metal coolers.

Water cooling doesn't need to have that surface area so doesn't need to move heat far from the block as the water will do this. So by directly cooling the pipes you're doing the same job twice (physically moving heat in a medium - which is inefficient). You've also moved the water away from the hottest part of the CPU and added a lot of bulk and potential for leaks.

Rob Hobbo · 16 Apr 2016 at 10:10

On the face of it, it seems reasonable to assume that two heat transfers would be more inefficient than one. That is of course until you take into account what heatpipes really are. A solid state phase change cooling device. Kind of acts like the compressor you have in your fridge but without the moving parts. Now I'm not saying it's going to work better than normal water cooling but I'd be delighted if it did.

pastymuncher · 16 Apr 2016 at 13:48

I love to see people trying new things out but what's the actual point in this? You still need a water loop to plumb it into so all you have done is create a huge inefficient block. I doubt if it would come close to the performance of a proper block where the cpu is cooled directly.

kaku · 16 Apr 2016 at 14:47

Be very interesting to see the performance numbers on this.

Like others I'm a bit skeptical on if it would perform better than a traditional CPU block, but I think it looks great and must have been a fun project to work on. It's certainly unique.

Rob Hobbo · 16 Apr 2016 at 15:01

You ask what the point of this is Pastymuncher and you say you doubt it would compare to a "proper" water block.
The keyword here is "doubt" and the point of this is to remove this doubt one way or the other.

Minstadave · 16 Apr 2016 at 15:30

I doubt gravy would work as a substitute for water in my cooling loop, I'm not going to try it though

Rob Hobbo · 16 Apr 2016 at 16:04

Where's your spirit of adventure?

Minstadave · 16 Apr 2016 at 17:09

Rob Hobbo said:
Where's your spirit of adventure?

Ok I'm cracking out the Bisto!

BrickTop · 17 Apr 2016 at 10:04

Rob Hobbo said:
I built this:
https://youtu.be/K3TxgqUDa18
and this is the leak test:
https://youtu.be/DKpmc9UDbhI
not really what you'd call an audio visual treat. still learning how to use the youtube editor. Hope you find it interesting.

Really cool video Rob, does your cooler work well?

Rob Hobbo · 17 Apr 2016 at 11:57

I don't have a water cooling set up. I'm in contact with the people I would like to test it for me and hope to hear something soon. If not I'm working on a plan B. not sure what it'll be yet. just some ideas kicking round in my head at the moment.

Rob Hobbo · 16 May 2016 at 23:45

Two new videos:
https://youtu.be/OingKsjDFIM
https://youtu.be/RYfHSnH8LEQ
Hope you like em.

pastymuncher · 17 May 2016 at 09:49

Load it up using something like Prime 95 and then do a back to back comparison with a proper block and a half decent air cooler.

varkanoid · 17 May 2016 at 10:43

Its a fancy idea but what you've basically done is remove the fan cooling and used water instead to cool the gas in the heatpipes. Not sure whether this will work as it may be too efficient.

Cheapest way to protect the design is make another one, parcel it up and send it via Special Delivery/courier to yourself. Then when it arrives make sure its signed for properly and do not open it. Keep a record of the tracking information with it. Basically its to prove the date/time.

This will give you a kind of protection if it is ever a worthwhile idea to have protected properly by a patent.

Rob Hobbo · 17 May 2016 at 11:52

Tested it best I know how with my limited experience:
https://youtu.be/Oizh8C0Affs

Rob Hobbo · 18 May 2016 at 21:48

Here's my attempt at overclocking it using asrock's oc tuner:
https://youtu.be/v0-d8BvAUNM
hope you like it.