Project Mercury - An internal watercooled Skyreach 4 Mini

Will you pay 300$ USD for a motherboard monoblock that have pump and resivior intergrated into it?

  • Yes

    Votes: 60 69.0%
  • Way tooooo expensive

    Votes: 17 19.5%
  • *Rember, you saved on fittings(at least 2 of them), pump top, and reservoir with an AIO like this*

    Votes: 10 11.5%

  • Total voters
    87
  • Poll closed .

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
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The one commentary on this is that the crossflow from the fan that would normally vent through the lateral vins is going to be pretty hindered by the fan frame. Any thoughts on putting a normal VGA fan inside instead?
 

1461748123

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Nov 5, 2016
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The one commentary on this is that the crossflow from the fan that would normally vent through the lateral vins is going to be pretty hindered by the fan frame. Any thoughts on putting a normal VGA fan inside instead?
I never work with those fans before, but I guess they will be a better choice!
I don't wanna use those crappy generic fans... So I guess I will end up with copping the shroud off the noctua slim 120mm haha
 

1461748123

Master of Cramming
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Nov 5, 2016
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Just got a message back from the CNC guy, to his experience the thinnest GPU block I can do is 8mm. This leaves about 32mm height for the heatsink to sit in.
If the CPU water cool project is successful and manage to control the CPU temp in a reasonable range, I will definitely try water cooling the GPU as well with this method!
 

1461748123

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Another sketch with a round fan, as well as a diagram explanning the idea:


As you can see, the top part of the waterblock is basically the heatsink as well. The fittings can be directly screw into the top part with a g1/4 thread.

Edit: Make the cuts vertical instead of horizontal. Since the card will be standing up, this will allow more air to escape

But now there's another problem, the air won't be able to pass through all the fins.. gotta figure out a way to resolve this
 
Last edited:

owliwar

Master of Cramming
Lazer3D
Apr 7, 2017
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Maybe try something less dense for this gpu heatsink? The air will move easily, it may saturate faster but you will use it with the radiator. There are gpu heatsink smaller than this doing ok. Remember it's hybrid card :) how much vertical room you have on the skyreach 4 mini? Just curious
 

1461748123

Master of Cramming
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Nov 5, 2016
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Maybe try something less dense for this gpu heatsink? The air will move easily, it may saturate faster but you will use it with the radiator. There are gpu heatsink smaller than this doing ok. Remember it's hybrid card :) how much vertical room you have on the skyreach 4 mini? Just curious
I will do some thermal simulation, just need some youtube tutorials now :p
There will be ~40mm in the S4M for the GPU heatsink :D
 

1461748123

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Update 2/9/2018

A care package has arrived! :D

Got the brackets :p unfortunately, they forgot to mill the sides down, which made the brackets a bit too thick
Well, at least the screw holes fit!


Also got a really shiny IHS:

Will test out the performance latter haha

This will be the last update(likely) before March due to Chinese New Year. All of the manufacturer and companies will be on holiday.
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
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Is that IHS simply aesthetic or does it somehow confer superior heat transfer?
 

1461748123

Master of Cramming
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Nov 5, 2016
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Is that IHS simply aesthetic or does it somehow confer superior heat transfer?
To be honest, probably only for aesthetic :p But, to its credit, at least it has a mirror finish to it, in theory, should provide better heat transfer
 

1461748123

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Nov 5, 2016
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Update 2/19/2018

Got the EKWB waterblock today, I can finally verify if a single, or dual 40mmx3 radiators will be able to handle an 8700k :p


It's kinda a bummer when I realize that the block isn't machined out of a single piece of copper! Another reason for me to make the block myself :D
 

Tanax

Average Stuffer
Jul 7, 2016
88
58
Subscribed to thread and following with interest!!

Most important to me is, of course reasonable temperature, but also not taking up too much space.
Doing things custom made for the S4M should enable use of space more efficiently so this project will be very interesting.
 
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1461748123

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Update 2/22/2018

Put everything together in an extremely janky way:



I'm using two separate PSU for the setup. One for the hardware and one for the cooling stuff. This way I can keep the pump running without turning on the system.
I'm using 40x20 server fans. They are LOUD, and they are there because my Noctua 40x10 fans haven't arrived yet :p
I did a quick stress test to see if this will even work. And the result is really.. random. I'm experiencing an idle temperature of 40~C and suddenly went up to 60 or even 70. When doing the stress test, it sometimes stays really stable at 80-90~C but sometimes it just jumps above 100C and throttle. I believe this is because there are a lot of bubbles trap in the block, and I can still see them going through the tubes from time to time. I will leave the pump running overnight to hopefully remove all the bubbles and do a proper stress test tomorrow.
I'm only using one radiator now :p The idea is, if one radiator can handle the CPU without problem, then two will just be better XD

The bubbles:
 
Last edited:

1461748123

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Update 2/23/2018

This morning I woke up and most of the bubbles are gone!
The system stables at 40~C while idle:


But while on full load, stressing both CPU and FPU, the system hits 100C after 10 minutes, and are experiencing thermal throttle up to 15%
This means I need at least two rad to handle the 8700k comfortably.
But I haven't undervolt the CPU yet, also, since I'm using ASUS motherboard, multicore enhancement are enabled by default (basically a slight overclock).
I will add another radiator in this afternoon and see how the temps will look like!
 

BernardoZ

Founder of Z-CASES
z-cases.com
Feb 7, 2018
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Wow, this is awesome man, really! Temps are also very good.

Just one question. Why did you choose using a separate reservoir? Wouldnt be easier and smaller-size just picking a cpu/pump/res combo unit from an existing AIO, and adapt on this radiator? Just wondering, dunno if that would work.

Cheers ;)
 
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1461748123

Master of Cramming
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Nov 5, 2016
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Wow, this is awesome man, really! Temps are also very good.

Just one question. Why did you choose using a separate reservoir? Wouldnt be easier and smaller-size just picking a cpu/pump/res combo unit from an existing AIO, and adapt on this radiator? Just wondering, dunno if that would work.

Cheers ;)
It's just for testing purposes :p easier this way to add liquid and maintenance. It won't be there in the finish build :p
 
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BernardoZ

Founder of Z-CASES
z-cases.com
Feb 7, 2018
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www.z-cases.com
It's just for testing purposes :p easier this way to add liquid and maintenance. It won't be there in the finish build :p

Nice! Just a heads up:

We are trying to do something similar in our project (but with Dual 60mm Rad), and this "cpu/pump/res combo unit" thing is being a pain in the ass. Using those is the only way we can make watercooling support fit, but it seems Asetek has a patent for it on U.S (I have to confirm it). Also, you can't buy those (at least not the low-profile ones) separetely on the market, they only come included on AIOs.
We are trying to solve this problem, so I'm curious how you gonna deal with it, or if you will just end using a separate reservoir. ;)

Cheers
 
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1461748123

Master of Cramming
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Nov 5, 2016
489
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Nice! Just a heads up:

We are trying to do something similar in our project (but with Dual 60mm Rad), and this "cpu/pump/res combo unit" thing is being a pain in the ass. Using those is the only way we can make watercooling support fit, but it seems Asetek has a patent for it on U.S (I have to confirm it). Also, you can't buy those (at least not the low-profile ones) separetely on the market, they only come included on AIOs.
We are trying to solve this problem, so I'm curious how you gonna deal with it, or if you will just end using a separate reservoir. ;)

Cheers
Ha, I'm planning on making a monoblock with a pump as well as reservoir integrated into it. It will be a bit longer than the one I'm using now and will cover the M.2 slot as well :) That way I can fit everything into a tight unit without wasting too much space.
 
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