Retro AMD watercooling ideas?

[TigzyGee]

Hi guys, first of all i just wanted to say im a new member here, but ive been looking at the forums for quite a while now and i just love how knowledgable everybody is on here.

 

Anyway to my question, the other night while rummaging around the back of my shed i came across the random parts of my old AMD PC which i built around 2002 and nostalgia kicked in so i scrounged up everything i had sitting around unused from that era, found an old dusty case lying there aswell from another old PC from the same era and put everything together with a "fresh" copy of Win XP Home i found deep down in one of my old CD folders. Surprisingly for its age he runs pretty decently (with old school apps from the era ofcourse) for having not run for quite a number of years.

 

He's now sitting proudly (though disconnected) in my computer room next to my other retro (though not quite as old) AMD PC and it's got me thinking, just for shits and giggles what if i did some janky "Mad Max'-esque mods to it. The first thaught in my mind was Watercooling, but i know that these systems being so old i either wont find or will have an extremely tough time finding watercooling parts for it, so i thaught option 2, make my own.

 

With automotive mechanic's being another big hobby of mine apart from PC's, i began thinking about transmission oil coolers and found that my local spare parts place stocks quite a few of these http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/Davies-Craig-Hydra-Cool-Transmission-Oil-Cooler-Universal-8-Cylinder/125648 after finding that i thaught about a pump and came across something i found interesting on Ebay [Link removed]

 

Now with those 2 items i've found i began thinking what if i go with an oil cooling instead of watercooling, as in instead of water running through the radiator and pump, run oil instead. I know that transmission oil runs pretty hot, differential oil runs even hotter being in a closed loop system in the diff, and they are pretty thin oil compared to say engine oil (differential oil is actually thinner than transmission oil, it just stinks really bad), now my problem is i dont know if the oil will be too thick to run through a CPU block. Another thing that pops into my mind is that the pump is rated at 3 litres per minute, im not sure what kind of pressure actual watercooling pumps are running so i dont know if 3lpm will be enough for the system or if i would need a much larger pump. Also from looking at my motherboard it seems there are holes beside the cpu socket which seem to be designed for an aftermarket cooler, does anybody know what type of cpu block would be of a simmilar size/shape to fit on an old socket A cpu? Brackets wise i can easily whip something up myself but if i have to make a whole waterblock then that part is getting abit tricky.

 

Anyways here's the specs of this PC which i have affectionately nicknamed "Grandpa"

Motherboard - Asus A7N8X-X

CPU - AMD Sempron 2400+

RAM - 512MB DDR-400

GPU - Nvidia Geforce FX 5500

HDD - Seagate 40GB IDE

 

And here's a link to "Grandpa's" CPU-z validation (i'll post some pics up of him soon)

http://valid.x86.fr/08xl0j

 

Edited July 13, 2017 by TheRandomness
Ebay listings aren't allowed.

[You_are_a_cunt]

Oil will probably gunk up the rad and block, not to mention it'll make a helluva mess if the loop leaks.

 

That motherboard is made out of Nokia 3310s. I still have one that should be dead by all measurable metrics. 2 of the 3 DIMMs are dead, all but one PCI slots are dead, on board LAN is dead, integrated audio died about 10 years ago, there's a faint crack in the board yet it still somehow runs.

[it_dont_work]

13 minutes ago, TigzyGee said:

AMD Sempron 2400+

That's an old socket A, coolers generally mounted to tabs on the actual socket. The mounting holes around the socket are usually for fitting weird form factor cases, but that depends on the mobo, The model board from your cpu-z valid is like that I believe (not sure, besides what's in my 98 build I haven't used much of this shit since it was new).

 

The chip your also using I believe doesn't have an IHS, so mounting a block without a way to put down even pressure is problematic and leaves a chance to chip the die, can be done you've just got to be careful.

 

Also besides maybe radiator fluid, there isn't an auto coolant worth using, Just get a heater-core and some copper pipe and start soldering a loop with a 12v pump.

[You_are_a_cunt]

2 minutes ago, it_dont_work said:

That's an old socket A, coolers generally mounted to tabs on the actual socket. The mounting holes around the socket are usually for fitting weird form factor cases, but that depends on the mobo, The model board from your cpu-z valid is like that I believe (not sure, besides what's in my 98 build I haven't used much of this shit since it was new).

 

The chip your also using I believe doesn't have an IHS, so mounting a block without a way to put down even pressure is problematic and leaves a chance to chip the die, can be done you've just got to be careful.

 

Also besides maybe radiator fluid, there isn't an auto coolant worth using, Just get a heater-core and some copper pipe and start soldering a loop with a 12v pump.

Spoiler

mobo actually has 4 mounting holes that aren't for standoffs.

the IHS problem can be solved easily by using thermal pads instead of goo. First layer would cover the chip with a cutout for the die then a second layer would go over the entire thing. Or at least that's how I used to do it on my 2800+

[it_dont_work]

Just now, revsilverspine said:

  Reveal hidden contents

mobo actually has 4 mounting holes that aren't for standoffs. Or at least that's how I used to do it on my 2800+

Good to know, Also just thought, just use a copper shim the cover the whole cpu and rest on the outer pads

[You_are_a_cunt]

Just now, it_dont_work said:

Good to know, Also just thought, just use a copper shim the cover the whole cpu and rest on the outer pads

Spoiler

The main problem is avoiding shorts, that's why I used thermal pads to cover the CPU before it came into contact with the all copper heatsink (which was actually a solid block of copper with fins cut into it with an angle grinder and some ridiculous industrial grade 80mm fan stuck on top of it with superglue).

Damn I miss the mid 00s ghetto mods =\ Everything was solved with a trip to ye olde scrap yard, some elbow grease and a shitload of imagination.

[TigzyGee]

Thanks for the input guys, i really appreciate it. I agree with revsilverspine about the boards being made out of old Nokia 3310's for something that i bought back in 2002 to have everything still working as intended is a total miracle, i was actually quite surprised when i first put it together a few weeks ago and she fired up first go.

 

Now just to clear a few things up about running the oil through the system, the Davies Craig radiator i linked in my first post is actually designed to have oil running through it. Basically what it is is an upgrade for a car's "stock" transmission cooler. What car manufacturer's do with their automatic transmissions to keep the oil cool they run rubber hoses to the front of the car till it reaches an aluminium tube, the oil flows through the tube to the return hose and back to the radiator. This aluminium tube is what maufacturer's like to call a "Oil Cooler" when in reality its just a metal tube that loops back around on itself, the cooler i linked is supposed to go in place of that tube giving the oil a proper radiator th flow through, so im not worried about gunking and clogging up the radiator with oil, what i am worried about is the cpu block though, hence why i was thinking of using a thin oil such as transmission fluid or differential oil.(both oils are quite thin, much thinner than your regular engine oil).

 

Ive done abit more searching around online and came across something interesting however, it appears back in the early 2000's Swiftech used to make copper waterblocks for the Socket A cpu's, they even bolted on using the same clip on method as the stock heatsink's thus making the 4 aftermarket cooler holes on my board useless, unless of course i can find one to begin with. The model number of the cpu block is MCW6000-A. Also in my research into this block i found out the fittings are 3/8", which when i looked at Davies Craig's website it appears that it also uses 3/8" barbs on it so it seems with some hoses, and clamps they will fit together quite nicely. (Davies Craig radiator's kit number is 678, radiator's part number is 0853, overall 281mm length/213mm width, core size 281mm length/184mm width).

 

Going into this i knew being such an old system if i happened to find a cpu block that it would have been copper and with the aluminium radiator and running water we all know theres big complcations with galvanic corrosion with the mixture of different metals in the loop hence another reason why i was thinking of going the oil route but im not entirely sure wether or not corrosion would still occur with oil.

 

The thermal pads on the cpu is a top idea though and i'll definately do this to mine to avoid shorting out the little resistor things next to the cpu die.

Anyways as promised here's a couple of photo's of "Grandpa" in all his classic pc glory.

[it_dont_work]

19 hours ago, revsilverspine said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Damn I miss the mid 00s ghetto mods =\ Everything was solved with a trip to ye olde scrap yard, some elbow grease and a shitload of imagination.

I know right, when drilling and mounting shit to old ass beige cases was the norm almost. What I don't miss is the 90's and overclocking, change some dip switch settings get more clock boost easy enough, wait I need more vcore better start soldering in different diodes and resistors to the mobo.

 

15 hours ago, TigzyGee said:

Now just to clear a few things up about running the oil through the system, the Davies Craig radiator i linked in my first post is actually designed to have oil running through it. Basically what it is is an upgrade for a car's "stock" transmission cooler.

You've misunderstood, using manual trans oil which is primarily a lubricant designed to maintain viscosity (or for some even increase when heats added) when applying pressure and friction, is not very good at absorbing or releasing heat through radiation. Hence why we add things like extra oil coolers for vehicles towing etc. Then there's auto trans fluid, which is actually a hydroponic fluid, similar principles. Oil in general doesn't as readily give up energy compared to oil, that's why it makes a good lubricant. Why mineral oil works for submersion is mainly the difference in thermal mass and the fact it is non conductive.

 

Now why I say use a vehicle heater core (ie the little radiator in the dash that runs coolant from the engine through it so you don't freeze yopu ass off in the cabin) is they're cheap a piss at a wrecking yard and generally all copper and easy to solder fittings to for ghetto shit, that's generally what a lot of people used to watercool before we could buy radiators for that specific purpose. and In general they look kinda cool mounted to the side of a pc case.

[You_are_a_cunt]

1 hour ago, it_dont_work said:

I know right, when drilling and mounting shit to old ass beige cases was the norm almost. What I don't miss is the 90's and overclocking, change some dip switch settings get more clock boost easy enough, wait I need more vcore better start soldering in different diodes and resistors to the mobo.

I actually miss physically messing around with diodes, resistors and caps on the motherboard. Gave you a real sense of accomplishment when you finally got a stable OC. Or when you managed to not break a board (CPUs were rugged AF)

[TigzyGee]

5 hours ago, it_dont_work said:

Now why I say use a vehicle heater core (ie the little radiator in the dash that runs coolant from the engine through it so you don't freeze yopu ass off in the cabin) is they're cheap a piss at a wrecking yard and generally all copper and easy to solder fittings to for ghetto shit, that's generally what a lot of people used to watercool before we could buy radiators for that specific purpose. and In general they look kinda cool mounted to the side of a pc case.

Hmm reading what you said, you may be right and a heater core might be a better option. Actually thinking about it more, i think i may have an incabin aircon core (simmilar to a heater core) laying around the shed somewhere from when i was rebuilding my wrecked 180SX a few years ago, i'll have to take a look over the weekend and what else i may have lying around back there, if not i'll probably just head down to the local u-pull-it wreckers and grab one from there.