Post
Topic
Board Hardware
Re: Black Arrow 28nm 100Ghash Bitcoin ASIC from $0.49/GH/s
by
Vcore
on 09/07/2014, 09:11:18 UTC
We will probably end up trying a watercooled system using PC parts due to the socket size... should at least look cool!

Are there are quad head water coolers out there? That might be interesting.

Would go with 4 individual blocks, linked 2x2 is seriers to 2x 240 Rads.

Blocks: 4x http://www.frozencpu.com/products/16395/ex-blc-1153/Alphacool_NexXxos_XP_Light_CPU_Liquid_Cooling_Block_-_Acetal_Edition_-_Intel_AMD_12153.html?tl=g30c325s1118

Pump: 2x http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9898/ex-pmp-92/Bitspower_Mini_Water_Tank_Plus_DDC_Pump_Attachement_Reservoir_w_Filter_-_Acetal_Cap_BP-DDCT2-CL.html?tl=g30c107s152

Rads: 2x http://www.frozencpu.com/products/14327/ex-rad-315/XSPC_EX240_Dual_120mm_Low_Profile_Split_Fin_Radiator.html?tl=g30c95s160

I know its expensive and highly impractical.. dont care.
Plus you can pay in BTC

Those radiators are really nice, even only one should perform quite well with 4 minions but I wouldn't use that pump. If you want to save more or anyone else is building a watercooling, a car heater radiator performs just as well as the most expensive computer radiators.

A koi pond pump would beat the crap out of it for about the same price. Just one of those pumps could service 30 minions in a properly designed setup.

I am developing a dual purpose phase change evaporator / waterblock and if you are interested I could hook you up with a prototype.
The current one is underperforming in the flow ressistance tests with water but I have narrowed down the problem and I am working on a solution.

I hope to reach my performance targets soon but meeting the needs of phasechange, watercooling and having a cheap and easy to assemble design is hard.

I think that watercooling is quite practical and a good investment due to the reuse factor, I have been using the same pump and radiator since year 2000 and even my original aluminium waterblock would have suficed with reduced performance but stil better than air.
In a crowded datacenter it would make even more sense as you could reduce the air conditioning bill by a lot if you place the radiator outside and you could use car or truck radiators with a nice and big pump (or several in parallel to increase the reliability).  It can also be cheap, as I have said the pumps and radiators can be shared and cheaper that those sold by computer companies and if you diy the waterblocks it is not expensive at all.