Custom heatsink advice.

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Gaz.
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Custom heatsink advice.

Post by Gaz. » Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:43 pm

Hi, while building my XB360 laptop I've realised I have no real "off the shelf" plan for it's CPU heatsink.

my first idea which I've started is to rip apart a "heatpipe" CPU heatsink leaving only its copper base, I will then line side by side copper heatpipes flatten them down and solder a GPU heatsink on top of the whole thing, leaving me with heatpipes coming from the base of the heatsink (sorry if I'm boring you lmao) on the ends of these heatpipes I will add copper fins to get as much surface area as possible and the fact they are on heatpipes means they will be able to be moved further away.

the second option which was originally my "first plan" was to design a single "heatplate" which would cover both GPU and CPU out of aluminium which would spread between the resistors on the board and getting as much surface area as possible then stacking fins on top with mounted fans above drawing the heat away.

sorry if that was overly complicated :lol: I'll try and knock up some MSpaint images if anyone doesn't quite understand.

thoughts views improvements? please comment.

Gaz.
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Re: Custom heatsink advice.

Post by Gaz. » Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:02 pm

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bassmasta
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Re: Custom heatsink advice.

Post by bassmasta » Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:42 pm

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/25/how- ... op-part-2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Have you seen this? Ben (this site's creator) has made several laptops. What he does for the CPU is a lot like you said. He takes all of the fins off of the heatsink then uses half moon shapes cut from copper pipe (copper is much better at conducting heat than the aluminum in there) and JB welds them together. He has put extended copper heat pipes on the heatsink that lead to some fans, but depending on which system you may have it might not be necessary (Jasper-Probably not).

For the GPU, I think he leaves it as stock. Maybe he sticks one of the old heatsinks on top, but he doesn't completely rework it like the CPU.

I'm working on a laptop also. I'm planning on reworking the CPU like Ben did and adding an old GPU heatsink ($2 each!) on top to help with the cooling (I have an older unit).
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Re: Custom heatsink advice.

Post by timmeh87 » Thu Mar 25, 2010 10:48 pm

Jb weld for heatsink connections in an xbox? :? ... maybe Ben should make a spot welder as a separate project 8)
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collinE
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Re: Custom heatsink advice.

Post by collinE » Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:21 pm

as long as they're nice and tight against eachother, the JB weld works well. Real welding is ideal though. :lol:
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Gaz.
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Re: Custom heatsink advice.

Post by Gaz. » Fri Mar 26, 2010 7:17 am

bassmasta wrote:http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/25/how- ... op-part-2/

Have you seen this? Ben (this site's creator) has made several laptops. What he does for the CPU is a lot like you said. He takes all of the fins off of the heatsink then uses half moon shapes cut from copper pipe (copper is much better at conducting heat than the aluminum in there) and JB welds them together. He has put extended copper heat pipes on the heatsink that lead to some fans, but depending on which system you may have it might not be necessary (Jasper-Probably not).

For the GPU, I think he leaves it as stock. Maybe he sticks one of the old heatsinks on top, but he doesn't completely rework it like the CPU.

I'm working on a laptop also. I'm planning on reworking the CPU like Ben did and adding an old GPU heatsink ($2 each!) on top to help with the cooling (I have an older unit).
yeah I've examined Bens projects and seen the many revisions of the heatsinks but never any feedback other than the temp test he did, the board I'm using is an older one (can't remember the model off the top of my head) so I'm worried that it will run a lot hotter.

did Ben ever follow up with any back to back heat tests on his own heatsinks?

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bassmasta
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Re: Custom heatsink advice.

Post by bassmasta » Fri Mar 26, 2010 2:50 pm

benjamin.heckendornNOSPAM@gmail.com
He hasn't, but you can try emailing him.
But like I said, you can always use extended copper heatpipes and add some more/stronger fans to help with the cooling. And venting the case by cutting holes will always help.
timmeh87 wrote:Jb weld for heatsink connections in an xbox? :? ... maybe Ben should make a spot welder as a separate project 8)
You can also solder them.
Last edited by bassmasta on Sat May 29, 2010 2:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Custom heatsink advice.

Post by Gaz. » Fri Mar 26, 2010 5:11 pm

bassmasta wrote:benjamin.heckendorn@gmail.com
He hasn't, but you can try emailing him.
But like I said, you can always use extended copper heatpipes and add some more/stronger fans to help with the cooling. And venting the case by cutting holes will always help.
timmeh87 wrote:Jb weld for heatsink connections in an xbox? :? ... maybe Ben should make a spot welder as a separate project 8)
You can also solder them.
cheers I'll do that, my local electrical store (Maplin) have some pretty epic compact fans which are also very cheap.

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Re: Custom heatsink advice.

Post by low_budget » Fri May 14, 2010 7:43 pm

In my laptop I used the new aluminum CPU heatsink and folded down the fins, one at a time, so it resembles an open book (similar to what ben did in his Wii laptop.) Then I cut down 3 fins in the middle. Inserting toothpicks between fins helps with cutting.
I used poster board material and made a fan shroud to direct air from 2 40 x 20mm fans directly over it. It works great, but if you're using an older motherboard with the 90nm CPU it may not be enough.

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