Improving computer cooling with your own hands. How to improve computer cooling: tips DIY PC cooling

There are a huge number of myths floating around various computer forums and stores related to assembling and configuring a PC. Some of them were indeed true about 10 years ago, and some were already incorrect from the very beginning. And today we will talk about myths that are associated with cooling systems of both the entire system unit and the video card and processor separately.

Myth one: you need to throw away the supplied thermal paste for the cooler and take a normal one

Yes and no. It all depends on the class of the cooler: for example, if you take a simple cooler that consists of a regular aluminum radiator and a small fan, then you will be supplied with simple thermal paste of the KPT-8 level. And you don’t need more: anyway, such a cooler will cool at most a Core i3, and given its heat dissipation (about 30 W), the heat-conducting properties of thermal paste do not play a special role, and replacing the supplied thermal paste with something expensive (even liquid metal) will reduce your temperature is at most a couple of degrees - that is, the game is not worth the candle. On the other hand, if you take an expensive cooler from the same Noctua, with 5 copper heat pipes and nickel plating, then you will be supplied with fairly good thermal paste, at least at the level of Arctic MX-2. So here, too, changing the thermal paste to a better one (or to the same liquid metal) will again reduce the temperature slightly. But, on the other hand, such coolers are usually taken for overclocking, so a couple of degrees can be critical. But in general, it is a myth that the supplied thermal paste is bad: it is good for its cooler class.

Myth two: of two fans, the one with the higher speed is more effective.

Quite a funny myth, which is fundamentally untrue. The most important characteristic of a fan is not its maximum number of revolutions per minute, or the shape of the blades, or even the size - but the air flow that it creates: that is, the volume of air that such a fan pumps per unit time. And the higher this indicator, the more efficient the fan will work. And therefore, the fan speed does not play a role here: a 120 mm fan at 1000 rpm often creates more air flow than an 80 mm fan at 1500 rpm. So this is a clear myth: of two fans, the one with more air flow is more effective.

Myth three: direct contact of copper heat pipes with the processor cover is better than contact of the cover with the aluminum base of the cooler

It's not so simple anymore. Firstly, if we see such a cooler base, then we shouldn’t take it:

Why? The answer is simple - heat removal will be ineffective, since there are gaps between the heat pipes, and as a result, the contact area will be significantly less than the area of the processor cover. Taking into account the fact that this is a tower cooler and is usually used to cool “hot” Core i7 or Ryzen - we will get higher temperatures than with full contact of the cooler base with the processor cover (for skeptics - even ASUS when moving from the 900th series of Nvidia video cards to 1000th refused direct contact of heat pipes with the GPU crystal precisely for this reason).

That is, an aluminum base with heat pipes passing through it is better? The design looks like this:

Yes and no. The problem is that the point of contact between two metals - in this case copper and aluminum - has some thermal resistance. And in order to reduce this resistance, the contact of the two metals must be as dense as possible (copper tubes must be completely surrounded by aluminum, or even better, soldered into it). In this case, the contact of the processor cover with the base will be the most complete, and heat transfer at the junction of the two metals will be good.

Myth four - grinding the base of the cooler and processor will improve heat transfer between them

In theory, everything is correct: the smoother the surfaces, the fewer gaps there are in them, the tighter the contact will be and, therefore, the better the heat transfer will be. But the point is that you definitely won’t make the surface smoother at home, moreover, most likely due to the fact that in some places you stitch more, and in others less, you will only worsen the contact (“it won’t be possible to trim well by eye”). Well, modern coolers are already polished in such a way that even with a special grinding machine you are unlikely to get a better polish. So this myth can be attributed to the ancients - yes, indeed, at the dawn of the appearance of coolers, their polishing left much to be desired. But now this is not the case.

Myth five - since liquid metal is similar in properties to solder, it should be used wherever possible and impossible

Yes, indeed, the heat-conducting properties of liquid metal are sometimes an order of magnitude better than those of thermal pastes, and are indeed similar in efficiency to solder. But it has several important features: firstly, it conducts current. So when spreading it (or rather, rubbing it in), make sure that it does not get on the board components. Pay special attention to this when you change the thermal paste on the liquid crystal on the GPU chip - there are often many small components next to it, the shorting of which can lead to the failure of the video card:

So when using LM, insulate all nearby components of the board using the same varnish.

And the second feature of liquid metal is that it contains gallium. The metal is notable for the fact that it destroys aluminum, so if your cooler substrate is just like that, you can’t use it. There are no problems with copper, nickel, silver and other metals. Well, its last feature is that it makes no sense to use it with an air cooler: practice shows that replacing good thermal paste with ZhM reduces the temperature by only 2-3 degrees. But with water cooling you can achieve a more significant difference.

Myth six: water cooling is always better than air cooling

In theory, yes: water effectively removes heat from the processor to the radiator, the area of which is often larger in good water coolers than in coolers. Yes, and there are usually two fans on dropsy, and not one, so the air flow is also large. But with modern processors from Intel, where there is a “thermo-cushion” under the cover, you can observe an interesting effect: that with a cooler they often overheat, and with an expensive dropsy. The problem here is that poor factory thermal paste under the processor cover can remove only 130-140 W from its crystal. Taking into account the fact that the heat dissipation of top 10-core processors often approaches 200 W (especially during overclocking), we get overheating, which does not depend on the cooling system, since the problem with the heat dissipation is located even before it, under the processor cover. So a water cooling system will not always be better than an air cooling system, and therefore you should not be surprised why the top-end water cooling Core i9 heats up to 100 degrees under load.

Myth seven: the more case coolers, the better

Quite a popular misconception: the Internet is full of pictures where 3-4 coolers with parrot lighting are attached to the case. In practice, this will not only not help, but will also interfere. The problem is that any case is a closed, rather narrow space, and any cooler will create a certain air flow in it. And when there are a lot of coolers, and they also blow in different directions, a windy hell will happen inside the case, and in the end it may turn out that warm air will not be properly exhausted. Therefore, it is best to attach only two coolers, but correctly: on the front panel they work for blowing, on the rear - for blowing. Then one clear air flow will be created inside the case:

Moreover, it is worth considering that the air flow of the cooler for injection must be equal to the air flow of the cooler for exhaust. The question arises - why is there a blow-in cooler on the front panel, and a blow-out cooler on the back, and not vice versa? The answer is simple - the back of the system unit is usually dustier than the front. So the blow-in cooler on the back cover would simply draw dust inside the case, which is not good (yes, that’s the only reason, and not that the processor fan is supposedly spinning in that direction).

Myth eight - under load it is better to set the fan speed to maximum for better cooling

In theory, again, everything is correct: more revolutions > more air flow > more efficient heat removal from the radiator > lower processor temperature. However, in practice, the difference in processor temperature at maximum fan speed and at half the maximum speed is often only a few degrees. Why is this happening? The answer is simple: air is not the best coolant, and therefore the higher the air flow, the less the increase. So you can often set the fan speed to 50-70% of the maximum and get a good balance of silence and temperature.

As you can see, there are quite a lot of myths, so when assembling a PC, be careful: it happens that a seemingly logical conclusion can be completely wrong.

Main details

Water block (or heat exchanger)
Centrifugal water pump (pump) with a capacity of 600 liters/hour.
Cooling radiator (automotive)
Expansion tank for coolant (water)
Hoses 10-12 mm;
Fans with a diameter of 120mm (4 pieces)
Fan power supply
Consumables

Water block

The main task of the water block is to quickly remove heat from the processor and transfer it to the coolant. Copper is most suitable for these purposes. It is possible to manufacture a heat exchanger from aluminum, but its thermal conductivity (230 W/(m*K)) is half that of copper (395.4 W/(m*K)). The design of the water block (or heat exchanger) is also important. The heat exchanger device consists of one or more continuous channels passing through the entire internal volume of the water block. It is important to maximize the surface of contact with water and avoid stagnation of water. To increase the surface, frequent cuts are usually used on the walls of the water block or small needle radiators are installed.

I wasn't trying to make anything complicated so I started making a simple water container with two holes for the tubes. The basis was a brass pipe connector, and the base was a copper plate 2 millimeters thick. Two copper tubes of the same diameter as the hose are inserted into the same plate from above. Everything is soldered with tin-lead solder. When making a larger water block, at first I didn’t think about its weight. When assembled with hoses and water, more than 300 grams will hang on the motherboard, and to make it lighter we had to use additional fasteners for the hoses.

Material: copper, brass
Connection diameter: 10 mm
Soldering: Tin-lead solder
Mounting method: screws to the store cooler mount, hoses are secured with clamps
Price: about 100 rubles

Sawing and soldering

water pump

Pumps can be external or submersible. The first one only passes it through itself, and the second one pushes it out, being immersed in it. Here we use a submersible one, placed in a container with water. I couldn’t find an external one, I looked in pet stores, and they only had submersible aquarium pumps. Power from 200 to 1400 liters per hour price from 500 to 2000 rubles. Powered from an outlet, power from 4 to 20 watts. On a hard surface the pump makes a lot of noise, but on foam rubber the noise is insignificant. A jar containing a pump was used as a water reservoir. To connect the silicone hoses, steel clamps with screws were used. To make it easy to put on and remove the hoses, you can use an odorless lubricant.

Maximum productivity - 650 l/h.
Water rise height – 80 cm
Voltage – 220V
Power – 6 W
Price - 580 rubles

Radiator

The quality of the radiator will largely determine the efficiency of the entire water cooling system. Here we used a car radiator heating system (stove) from a nine, bought an old one at a flea market for 100 rubles. Unfortunately, the interval between the plates in it turned out to be less than a millimeter, so I had to manually move apart and compress the plates several at a time so that weak Chinese fans could blow it through.

Tube material: copper
Fin material: aluminum
Size: 35x20x5 cm
Connection diameter: 14 mm
Price: 100 rubles

Airflow

The radiator is blown by two pairs of 12 cm fans at the front and rear. It was not possible to power 4 fans from the system unit during testing, so we had to assemble a simple 12-volt power supply. The fans were connected in parallel and connected according to polarity. This is important, otherwise the fan will most likely be damaged. The cooler has 3 wires: black (ground), red (+12V) and yellow (speed value).

Material: Chinese plastic
Diameter: 12 cm
Voltage: 12V
Current: 0.15 A
Price: 80*4 rubles

Note to the hostess

I did not set the goal of reducing noise because of the cost of the fans. So a fan for 100 rubles is made of black plastic and consumes 150 milliamps of current. These are the ones I used to blow the radiator, it blows weakly, but it’s cheap. Already for 200-300 rubles you can find much more powerful and beautiful models with a consumption of 300-600 milliamps, but at maximum speed they are noisy. This can be solved with silicone gaskets and anti-vibration mounts, but for me the minimum cost was decisive.

power unit

If you don’t have a ready-made one at hand, you can assemble the simplest of available materials and a microcircuit that costs less than 100 rubles. For 4 fans, a current of 0.6 A is required and a little in reserve. The microcircuit provides approximately 1 ampere at a voltage of 9 to 15 volts, depending on the model. You can use any model, setting 12 volts with a variable resistor.

Tools and soldering iron
Radio components
Chip
Wires and insulation
Price: 100 rubles

Installation and testing

Hardware

Processor: Intel Core i7 960 3.2 GHz / 4.3 GHz
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage 3 formula
Power supply: OCZ ZX1250W
Thermal paste: AL-SIL 3

Software

Windows 7 x64 SP1
Prime 95
RealTemp 3.69
CPU-z 1.58

I didn’t have to test it for a particularly long time, because... the results did not even come close to the capabilities of an air cooler. The radiator of the cooling system has so far been blown by only two Chinese fans out of 4 possible, and they have not yet been moved wider than the plates for better ventilation. So, in energy saving mode and zero load, the processor temperature in air is approximately 42 degrees, and in a homemade air cooler it is 57 degrees. Running the prime95 test on 4 threads (50% load) warms up to 65 degrees in air and up to 100 degrees in 30 seconds in the air cooler. When overclocking, the results are even worse.

An attempt was made to make a new water block with a thinner (0.5 mm) copper base plate and almost three times more spacious inside, albeit from the same materials (copper + brass). The plates in the radiator were moved apart for better ventilation and two more fans were added, now there are 4 of them. This time, in power saving mode and zero load, the processor temperature in the air is approximately 42 degrees, and in a homemade air cooler it is approximately 55 degrees. Running the prime95 test on 4 threads (50% load) warms up to 65 degrees in air and up to 83 degrees in CBO. But at the same time, the water in the circuit begins to heat up quite quickly and after 5-7 minutes the processor temperature reaches 96 degrees. These are readings without overclocking.

Assembling the SVO was, of course, interesting, but it was not possible to use it to cool a modern processor. In older computers, a stock cooler works great. Maybe I selected low-quality materials or made the water block incorrectly, but it doesn’t seem possible to assemble the SVO for less than 1000 rubles at home. After reading reviews of budget ready-made air coolers available in stores, I did not expect that my homemade product would be better than a good air cooler. I concluded for myself that it is not worth saving in the future on components for the air defense system. When I decide to buy an SVO for overclocking, I will definitely assemble it myself from separate parts.

Video

And how effective it can be. The need for liquid cooling arose due to the fact that it was decided to overclock the processor, and the faster it runs, the hotter it gets. That is, a standard cooler was no longer enough, and store-bought cooling systems are quite expensive.

Materials and tools for homemade work:
- heat exchanger or water block;
- cooling radiator (from the car);
- pump (centrifugal water pump with a capacity of 600 liters per hour);
- expansion tank (in our case under water);
- four 120 mm fans;
- power supply for the fan;
- various other consumables and tools.

Homemade manufacturing process:

Step one. Making a water block
A water block is necessary in order to remove heat from the processor as efficiently as possible. For such purposes, materials with good thermal conductivity will be needed; the author chose copper. Another option is to use aluminum, but its thermal conductivity is half that of copper, that is, for aluminum it is 230 W/(m*K), and for copper it is 395.4 W/(m*K).

It is also important to develop the structure of the water block for effective heat removal. The water block must have several channels through which water will circulate. The coolant should not stagnate and water should circulate through the entire water block. It is also important to make the contact area with water as large as possible. To increase the area of contact with the coolant, frequent cuts can be made to the walls of the water block, and you can also install a small needle radiator.

The author decided to follow the path of least resistance, so a water container with two tubes for its supply and selection was made as a water block. A brass pipe connector was used as the base. The base was a copper plate 2 mm thick. The top of the water block is also closed with a copper plate in which tubes are installed to match the diameter of the hoses. The entire structure is soldered with tin-lead solder.

As a result, the water block turned out to be quite large in size, which affected its weight; when assembled, the motherboard carried a load of 300 grams. And this led to additional costs. To make the design lighter, it was necessary to come up with an additional fastening system for the hoses.

Water exchanger material: copper and brass
The diameter of the fittings is 10 mm
Assembly by soldering with tin-lead solder
The structure is attached to the store cooler with screws; the hoses are additionally secured with clamps
The cost of homemade products at this step is around 100 rubles.

More information about assembling a water block
How the assembly process took place can be seen in the photo. That is, the necessary blanks were cut out of a sheet of copper, tubes were soldered, and then, with the help of a soldering iron, everything was combined into a finished organ of the system.

Step two. Let's deal with the pump
Pumps can be divided into two types: submersible and external. The external pump passes water through itself, and the submersible pump pushes it out. The author used a submersible type of pump for his homemade product, since an external one could not be found anywhere. The power of such a purchased pump ranges from 200 to 1400 liters per hour, and they cost around 500-2000 rubles. The power source here is a regular outlet; the device consumes from 4 to 20 W.

To reduce noise, the pump should be installed on foam rubber or other similar material. The reservoir was a jar in which the pump was placed. To connect the silicone hoses, metal clamps with screws were needed. To make hoses easier to put on and take off in the future, you can use an odorless lubricant.

As a result, the maximum pump performance was 650 liters per hour. The height to which the pump can raise water is 80 cm. The required voltage is 220V, the device consumes 6W. The cost is 580 rubles.

Step three. A few words about the radiator
The success of the whole undertaking will depend on how well the radiator works. For the homemade product, the author used a car radiator from a model nine Zhiguli stove; it was bought at a flea market for only 100 rubles. Due to the fact that the distance between the radiator plates turned out to be too small for the coolers to drive air through it, they had to be forced apart.

Radiator characteristics:
- tubes are made of copper;
- aluminum radiator fins;
- dimensions 35x20x5 cm;
- the diameter of the fittings is 14 mm.

Step four. Radiator blowing
To cool the radiator, two pairs of 12 cm coolers are used, two are installed on one side and two on the other. A separate 12V power supply was used for the fans. They are connected in parallel, taking into account polarity. If the polarity is reversed, the fan can be damaged. Black indicates minus, red indicates plus, and yellow indicates speed values.
The fan current is 0.15A, one costs 80 rubles.

Here, the author considered the main task to be the efficiency and low cost of the device, so no effort was made to reduce noise. Cheap Chinese fans themselves are quite noisy, but they can be mounted on silicone gaskets or other mounts can be made to reduce vibrations. If you buy more expensive coolers that cost 200-300 rubles, they operate more quietly, but at maximum speed they are still noisy. But they have high power and consume 300-600 mA of current.

Step five. power unit
If you don’t have the required power supply at hand, you can assemble it yourself. You will need an inexpensive microcircuit for 100 rubles and several other available elements. For four fans you will need a current of 0.6 A, and of course you need to have some in reserve. The assembled microcircuit produces about 1A at a voltage in the region of 9-15V, depending on the specific model. In general, any model will do; you can change the voltage using a variable resistor.

Tools and materials for the power supply:
- soldering iron with solder;
- microcircuit;
- radio components;
- insulation and wires.
The issue price is 100 rubles.

Step six. The final stage. Installation and testing

Test computer:
- Intel Core i7 960 3.2 GHz / 4.3 GHz processor;
- AL-SIL 3 thermal paste;
- power supply OCZ ZX1250W;
- ASUS Rampage 3 formula motherboard.

Software used: Windows 7 x64 SP1, RealTemp 3.69, Prime 95, Cpu-z 1.58.

CPU cooling affects the performance and stability of your computer. But it does not always cope with the load, which is why the system malfunctions. The efficiency of even the most expensive cooling systems can be greatly reduced due to the fault of the user - poor installation of the cooler, old thermal paste, dusty case, etc. To prevent this, it is necessary to improve the quality of cooling.

If the processor overheats due to previously overclocked and/or high loads when operating the PC, then you will have to either change the cooling to a better one or reduce the load.

The main elements that produce the greatest amount of heat are the processor and video card, sometimes it can also be the power supply, chipset and hard drive. In this case, only the first two components are cooled. The heat generation of the remaining components of the computer is insignificant.

If you need a gaming machine, then first of all think about the size of the case - it should be as large as possible. Firstly, the larger the system unit, the more components you can install in it. Secondly, in a large case there is more space, which is why the air inside it heats up more slowly and has time to cool. Also pay special attention to the ventilation of the case - it must have ventilation holes so that hot air does not linger for a long time (an exception can be made if you are going to install water cooling).

Try to monitor the temperature of the processor and video card more often. If the temperature often exceeds the permissible values of 60-70 degrees, especially when the system is idle (when no heavy programs are running), then take active steps to reduce the temperature.

Let's look at several ways to improve the quality of cooling.

Method 1: Correct positioning of the case

The housing for productive devices should be large enough (preferably) and have good ventilation. It is also desirable that it be made of metal. In addition, you need to take into account the location of the system unit, because Certain objects can block air from entering, thereby impairing circulation and increasing the temperature inside.

Apply these tips to the location of the system unit:

Method 2: Clean from dust

Dust particles can impair air circulation, fan and radiator performance. They also retain heat very well, so it is necessary to regularly clean the “insides” of the PC. The frequency of cleaning depends on the individual characteristics of each computer - location, number of ventilation holes (the more ventilation holes there are, the better the cooling quality, but the faster dust accumulates). It is recommended to do cleaning at least once a year.

Cleaning should be done using a soft brush, dry rags and napkins. In special cases, you can use a vacuum cleaner, but only at minimum power. Let's look at step-by-step instructions for cleaning your computer case from dust:

Method 3: Install an additional fan

By using an optional fan that attaches to the vent on the left or rear wall of the case, you can improve air circulation inside the case.

First you need to select a fan. The main thing is to pay attention to whether the characteristics of the case and motherboard allow you to install an additional device. There is no point in giving preference to any manufacturer in this matter, because... This is a fairly cheap and durable computer element that is easy to replace.

If the overall characteristics of the case allow, then you can install two fans at once - one on the back, the other on the front. The first one removes hot air, the second one sucks in cold air.

Method 4: Speed up the fans

In most cases, fan blades rotate at only 80% of their maximum speed. Some “smart” cooling systems are capable of independently adjusting the fan speed – if the temperature is at an acceptable level, then reduce it, if not, then increase it. This function does not always work correctly (and in cheap models it does not exist at all), so the user has to manually overclock the fan.

There is no need to be afraid to overclock the fan too much, because... otherwise, you only risk a slight increase in your computer/laptop's power consumption and noise level. To adjust the speed of rotation of the blades, use the software solution - SpeedFan. The software is completely free, translated into Russian and has a clear interface.

Method 5: replace thermal paste

Replacing thermal paste does not require any serious expenditure in terms of money and time, but it is advisable to exercise some caution here. You also need to take into account one feature with the warranty period. If the device is still under warranty, then it is better to contact the service with a request to change the thermal paste, this should be done for free. If you try to change the paste yourself, your computer will be void of warranty.

When changing it yourself, you need to carefully consider the choice of thermal paste. Give preference to more expensive and high-quality tubes (ideally those that come with a special brush for application). It is desirable that the composition contains compounds of silver and quartz.

Method 6: installing a new cooler

If the cooler does not cope with its task, then it should be replaced with a better and more suitable analogue. The same applies to outdated cooling systems, which due to a long period of operation cannot function normally. It is recommended, if the dimensions of the case allow, to choose a cooler with special copper heat sink pipes.

Use step-by-step instructions for replacing an old cooler with a new one:

Preface

Agree, the temperature is 66 o C for Athlone 1000 MHz (don’t laugh, my principle is that the main thing is not the iron, but what surrounds it) at rest, and at 100% load 75 o C is too much... Therefore, this unit was born.

This SVO was originally conceived as external - I put it in a corner and let it stand there, and only two hoses are suitable for the computer, in my opinion, and with ideas for the future, the system unit can be stuffed with something else, for example - neon lighting, UV lighting, beautiful round trains that glow in UV, etc. Unfortunately, the drawings of some elements have not been preserved, and they are not needed - everyone does everything for themselves, starting from the materials at their disposal. The main principle.

Components for SVO

Pump - Atman-103, sold at any pet store. Installed inside the expansion tank on the wall using suction cups.

The standard outlet fitting of the pump was thrown into the trash due to the fact that its diameter did not suit my needs (the diameter of the hoses). Instead, a homemade one was installed with an inlet diameter of 16 mm, an outlet of 10 mm (external diameters) and a transition cone.

The radiator is from a Toyota car heater, given by a friend for two kopecks of beer that they drank together. Cleaned of dirt with acetone, washed from the inside with the same, and painted on the outside with spray paint. The inlet and outlet fittings were replaced, again, with homemade ones. Installed flush with sealant. It turned out great - it doesn't leak anywhere.

Two fans purchased from an online store are installed on the radiator - they cool and look great!

I thought for a long time about how to attach the fans to the radiator. It turned out everything was simple - away with self-tapping screws and complex fasteners!!! Everything ingenious (well, I’m modest) is simple...
To attach the fans, I needed several rubber bands (erasers) from the nearest office supply store and cable ties.

The rubber bands are cut into cubes, ties are inserted into the mounting holes of the fans and secured with those same cubes.

Then the ties are inserted into the slots of the radiator.

We secure it on the reverse side with cut locks from the same ties. And this is what we get

I think it’s great... and simple!!! The expansion tank is a plastic food container, in my case round, but there are other shapes that can be found in a department store. To add liquid, the neck of a 5-liter water bottle is cut into the tank lid.

Hoses - silicone tube, internal diameter 8 mm, bought a liquid level at a hardware store.

Installed on fittings with pre-heated hoses for a more airtight fit. The landing spots are crimped with clamps from the nearest auto store.

Relay - BS 115C, purchased at a radio store. It is necessary to automatically turn on the CVO simultaneously with turning on the computer power.

The system is mounted on a platform made of plexiglass, I found it in the garage; since it was badly scratched, it had to be made matte. The tank is mounted on rubber gaskets to reduce vibration during pump operation.

To insert hoses into the computer case, an adapter panel is made from a standard plug. There are two fittings on it, a coolant inlet and outlet, and a 12V power connector.

The SVO panel is connected using this tail:

I pay special attention to safety precautions when handling electricity!
All current-carrying elements must be protected from accidental penetration of fingers!

In general the unit looks like this

The general dimensions of the system are: D270, Sh200, H160.

The water block is made of M1 grade copper. This copper blank was purchased at a non-ferrous metal collection point for 200 rubles. Its diameter is 65mm, height 25mm. It is assembled from two parts, a base and a lid, made in the form of a glass with holes for fittings. The thickness of the base is 5 mm, on it there are heat-removing fins 2 mm wide and 7 mm high with a pitch of 2 mm, for a total of 11 ribs. This product is made using lathe and milling machines. The design is absolutely sealed and tested under a pressure of 4 atmospheres.

The side of the bottom adjacent to the processor is polished. In order to prevent the water block from oxidizing and darkening over time (copper, after all), I had to cover it with a thin layer of automotive varnish from a can.

The water block fastening is individual for everyone, it all depends on the type of mother and the processor used. I took the simplest route. I installed metal stands in the holes near the processor on the motherboard (the main thing is not to forget about the dielectric spacers).

Small “ears” are made of fluoroplastic, with the help of which the water block is attached to the motherboard with screws. The beauty of this material is its strength and ease of processing; all you need is a knife. And it is also a little springy and, therefore, when installed on the processor, it will not allow you to tighten the screws until unwanted cracks form on it.