Cheap Homemade DICE Container

[Buddy1]

As I have been wanting to venture into the depths of XOC, I made my own budget container from various hardware stores and by modeling my own mounting plate. I will be updating the socket mount to universal use but all I have is 775,115x & 1366 for now. I have all the CAD files if needed and if you are interested, they are just a DM away. 

 

Hardware usage:

 

The main vessel used in this was found at Walmart and can be commonly found as a “Mule Mug”. I picked this mainly as I have been eyeing them at local stores for a while and when they were used for the US Country Cup Meet earlier last year. One of the only completely flat bottom vessels which have an adequate amount of surface area to contact your CPU of choice. As I wanted this project to be as reasonably cheap as possible, I used #8-32 threaded rod and cut into 7in (178mm) segments and wire wheeled 3in (76mm) on one side to fit through motherboard mounting holes. All rods are held from the back using nylon locking nuts with the various other hardware is shown using #8 thread size. Washers are used whenever possible but the total amount will be reduced when the backplate is made. The handle was cut but can also be pulled off when the adhesive is loosened. Insulation of the container does a good job on the sides but the bottom curve needs to be covered unless a lot of frost will build. I used PLA for my mount but a more resistant filament is better for rigidity and for safety concerns as I used the PLA mount for a limited amount of time.

 

Afterthoughts:

As this will be used for benchmarking, more “thermal mass” is needed as it will experience spikes of heat at certain intervals. Due to the minimal amount of direct metal incorporated, Taking the copper slugs from Intel/OEM stock coolers and stacking them will benefit overall use which is highly recommended. I stacked a few copper slugs and placed as many copper fins as I could and keeping some space for pouring DICE inside. Soldering copper wherever possible will be considered but there will be limits to an $8 cup. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated. 

 

Pricing: USD

 

[ Home Depot ]

Threaded Rod - $4

Nylon Lock Nuts - $1.30

Spring Assortment: $5.50

#8 Flat Washers - $1.30

#8-32 Wing Nut - $1.30

3D Printed Mount - $5

 

[ Walmart ]

Bar340 20oz Mule Mug - $8.40

Shop Towel (1) - $3

Isopropyl 97% 32oz - $3 / Acetone 1gal - $20

 

~$35 Total for main supplies

[Leeghoofd]

How does it handle load, any numbers? 

[Buddy1]

4 minutes ago, Leeghoofd said:

How does it handle load, any numbers? 

Without copper slugs, does not handle load at all. With, it keeps pretty well. Max pot temp -60 with 97% ISO. I have load numbers on locked CPU's but I will take better + more accurate numbers hopefully soon.

[Mrmouse]

For me that even looks somehow clean; that Structure on the Mug is nice.
Have you sanded the Bottom of the Mug?

I would be also interested in some Number (Idle/Load) when available.
For my old selfmade Copper-Pot without inside Structure i use some Air-Gun Pellets to raise the Load-Capacity a little bit.

Nice DIY-Project; Thanks for sharing ?

Best Greetings

[TerraRaptor]

Doesn't look ghetto-style:) Should be enough for cpus like i3 3220 etc.

Will wait for performance numbers.

[CL3P20]

fill it with copper BB's !

Great innovation! Looks like it a factory built unit too lol! As stated.. try to sand/lap the bottom and see if you can find some copper shot BBs ..they work great. Also.. dont use too much liquid inside..you need just enough to transfer the temp from the DICE. Great work!

[Buddy1]

After my last session with the homemade container. I found a few things. I picked one of my platforms that can display negative cpu temps. This inherently made it so performance numbers not as accurate. I only benched two Q8200's which have a base 95W TDP but Lots of volts were pushed. I am planning on purchasing a clamp mter to measure cpu power as well. I reached about 3.8ghz at 1.9v and pot reached a minimum temp of -60c and normally was at -47c under OS use and benchmarking. Pot contact is good but the main issue that I am unsure of resolving is proper transferring of heat from copper inside of the pot. I normally use thermal past on the bottom of the copper slug stack. Interconnecting those slugs was with superglue and copper wire. Soldering them together was a challenge but I do not have the proper tooling at this time. Worked relatively well for 775 but would work better for locked/lower tdp chips. If anyone has input how to mend the "slug stack" to the bottom of the cup would be greatly appreciated. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I will include a picture of the mounted pot for reference. Thanks!

[SKOL]

That's a great project!

I'm working on a design myself too, but in solidworks and when I'll finish with v0.1, I'll cut it with cnc and try it out.  

[AsusDesk]

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Edited May 21 by AsusDesk
not needed anymore