THE CLOVER POTCUSTOM LIQUID NITROGEN GPU COOLING CONTAINER

Chance Coats

Personal Introduction

Building Computers I assembled my first computer in 2009. Incremental upgrades annually since

then. Saving money lead me to push my

components as far as possible. Overclockers.com became my main

forum in early 2009 and I began overclocking.

After joining the Benchmarking team in 2011, I have been competing online ever since.

Benchmarking and Extreme Cooling Benchmarking results are tracked on

“HWBot.org” Extreme cooling is not required to compete. I felt a strong desire to push my hardware even

further past typical limits. Ambient cooling no longer allowed me to reach my goals.

I purchased my first CPU container and used dry ice.

After gaining enough experience with dry ice, I switched to liquid Nitrogen for cooling.

Why use Extreme Cooling ? As I pushed my devices further, power

consumption and temperatures quickly got out of control.

Sub-ambient cooling methods allow for greater power dissipation, lower operating voltages, and most importantly higher clock speeds.

Building my own Container CPU containers are extremely useful, but

GPU containers offer increased performance results for graphics cards when using extreme cooling.

Commercially available GPU containers are expensive and difficult to find in good condition.

My advanced drawing class offered me access to heavy duty machining equipment.

I enjoy getting my hands dirty and working through projects.

Clover Pot – Design Process

Hand Drafting My initial designs were all done by hand

using pencil and paper. The first draft was very far from the

finished product.

CAD Design Process My hand sketches went through multiple

revisions as I learned about the machining process and its limitations.

After finding a general design, I moved onto CAD drawing using AutoDesk AutoCAD.

Once switching to electronic drawing, I was allowed more freedom to explore base designs and could visualize the final product in 3D.

Creative Design Process Trial, error and testing lead to my final

design. Early revisions would change as often as

everyday.

The Clover Pot was born My final design revision gave me a

strong sense of achievement. I had created a unique design with strong performance analysis results.

Intermediate Design Step Because school gave me access to a 3D

printer, I was able to take my design process one step further after finalizing. The design was created at half scale using extruded ABS plastic.

Design Choices A two-piece design was chosen for cost

reasons. Copper was used as the base material to

offer superior thermal conductivity near the GPU core. The increased specific heat of Copper also offered better load handling properties.

Aluminum was used for the top of the container. Lower cost allowed the container to have a 2-3 fold increase in volume with a slight increase in cost.

Machining Process

Materials and Tools After finalizing my design, I purchased

the raw materials and specialized tools necessary to machine my design.

Design Specifications and Precision I set lofty goals for myself when

machining this project. Having no prior experience using a 3-axis mill, I knew the learning curve would be steep.

I set a goal of ±0.01’’ tolerances for my general machining, and ±0.005’’ tolerances for the mating surfaces between the halves of the container.

I met my goal for most of the project, but unfortunately did not meet these specifications for all cuts. In the end I was very happy with the results.

The Container Top For reasons including material cost,

material hardness and design complexity, I chose to start with the top half of the container.

The general process of machining includes facing and squaring materials before any cuts are made.

Raw materials are often close to square, but not close enough for precise machining.

All materials were faced to remove major surface imperfections and squared for precise machining.

Container Top Machining The top half of the container is

essentially a hollow metal tube made to mate with the base of the container.

Base Machining After successfully completing the top

half of the container and meeting nearly 100 percent of my specifications, I moved on to machine the copper base.

This half of the container was considerably more complex and required finer measurements as well as nearly three times as long to machine.

GPU Core Contact Patch A key aspect of the base was the section

designed to make contact with the GPU core when in use. This section required a very smooth finish to provide optimal heat exchange, but was left rough for the better part of the machining process.

Internal Base Design Challenges

During the design and revision process, I decided on a relatively complex base design. This offered superior surface area while still maintaining a large amount of mass near the core contact patch.

Due to time and machine constraints, the design was simplified during the process.

Testing after completing the project has shown the container still offers strong performance and load handling characteristics.

Internal Machining Once the outside of the container was completed,

I began machining the internal surfaces and the surfaces used for mating with the top half of the container.

Final Internal Machining Seen below is the base just after internal

machining was completed. Visible in the holes is the cutting oil used

throughout the process to ensure smooth cutting and proper cutting head cooling.

Completed Internal Surfaces After many hours revising the original

design and machining the new features, I had nearly completed the base of the container.

The final steps of the base included drilling and tapping holes used to attach mounting brackets.

These brackets were designed for smaller aluminum plates and cut using a CNC machine.

Attached Mounting Hardware Once the brackets were cut and all holes

were tapped, the only remaining step was to mate the upper and lower sections of the container.

Clover Pot Results

Benchmark Testing After spending approximately 4 months

on this project split between design and machining, I was itching to test the finished container in the real world.

In the world of benchmarking, there are programs to test nearly all aspects of a computer. From CPU and memory to GPU and overall system performance, the list of benchmarks is incredibly long.

Aquamark3 Aquamark3 is a GPU specific benchmark

created in 2003 to test the rendering power of high powered graphics cards.

Despite its age, world records in this benchmark are still fought over.

After hours of pre-testing, I was ready to freeze one of the graphics cards I had purchased specifically for benchmarking.

Number 69 in the World

Really Cool Pictures

Hardware Setup Used I’ve always been fascinated by pushing

computer hardware to the limits. Results and pictures of my sessions provide a view into the insane world of competitive overclocking.

The hardware used for the previous results include:

Intel Core i7 processor and High Performance DDR3

Asus Motherboard and Nvidia Graphics Card

Mid Session

Aftermath

Thank you very much for this opportunity to tell you about myself.

Questions?

Thank you!