DYI VRM cooler I made out of a ram cooler.

DYI VRM cooler I made from a ram cooler. With video of cooler working!

I am not the kind of person to let things go to waste, so when my new motherboard prevented me from using my cool ram cooler, I went to thinkwork (thinking what I can use it for). So I ended up making a small vrm cooler with temp display via LED's, a function that came with it, so I can't take credit for making that part, but it does work with my large MOSFET VRM. So here are some pics of what I used, and some pics of what it looks like. I know it does not look *professional*, but my vrm temps have dropped 10~ degrees C under idle, and about 5 under 100% load. Id say that is pretty good for reusing parts. Ok so, the first pic is a before shot of the VRM. Second pic is the loop interior fan removed, vrm cooler in place with a small *heat shield* made out of a PCI slot cover ( you know the dohickies that pop off in the back if you have snapon instead of screwon peripheral covers. 3rd pic is the tools I used. I will list them and their use, because I am sure some of you are wondering what my grammas nail clipper is doing in there.

Video of cooler working (360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p for real clear up close shots)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5R30Q0IEj_FQXJWRzM3d004SXM/edit?usp=sharing

1. Hair tweezers - I am clumsy and drop screws often and I have big hands, so it's hard to reach in there to find it, plus I later used it when I was applying heat with my trusty flame.

2. Zippo lighter, the screws were from another fan and were a little to chubby, so I would screw it in a little, then apply flame to the screw to soften the insertion.

3. Grammas nail clippers - I needed to cut off some plastic parts of the fan and damn those things are sharp.

4. Nicotine gum - Stress during work.

5. Electrical tape - Obvious with any electrical work.

6. All in one scredriver and a 100 year old pair of pliers lol..and some left over ram cooler parts.

Last pic - Cooler in action.

Nice temps all around. Good job.

madcratebuilder said:

Nice temps all around. Good job.

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Thank you, it means a lot coming from you.

Ralph that is mighty MIGHTY impressive !

I couldn't even begin on how original your idea is you might want to patent that as well

temps are super sweet

Solarstarshines said:

Ralph that is mighty MIGHTY impressive !

I couldn't even begin on how original your idea is you might want to patent that as well

temps are super sweet

Click to expand...

You really think so? I don't mean to humble-brag, but I was just pissed I couldn't use my ram cooler and I actually thought about this with my old mobo, but I couldnt get it screwed in properly and besides, I knew I had an upgrade coming. But yeah, I do think its cool to see LED VRM Temps on your VRM fan, now that you think about it. Thank you , again, it means a lot from you.

Temps with window open, it's not a very cold night tonight. My VRMs were NEVER under 40C even with windows open. I forgot to add, this is temps with these overclock settings. Bus OC = 31%, CPU OC = 18%

Very inventive, and nice cpu cooler by the way

All your cores are the same temp :shock: must be an AMD thing.

17c........... Impressive, most Impressive

AddRAM said:

Very inventive, and nice cpu cooler by the way

All your cores are the same temp :shock: must be an AMD thing.

17c........... Impressive, most Impressive

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It was in an idle state, when my rig does something, the core temps jump around like normal. Well that and for thermal paste I used this *diamond one* that is really popular now here in EU. It really keeps my cpu evenly cooled.

Really cool project Ralph. Does the fan have a thermistor with a lead to the VRM?

Britton30 said:

Really cool project Ralph. Does the fan have a thermistor with a lead to the VRM?

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HAH, i wish, it picks up ambient air off whatever it is touching, so close enough,

I made a short video about it to share with you guys, I hope this google drive thing works, let me know if it does not. Here is the link to the video I shot with an ipad, so it's not the greatest quality

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5R30Q0IEj_FQXJWRzM3d004SXM/edit?usp=sharing

Video worked fine for me Ralph. I could read the fan giving the temp (24C) and RPM, what else does it say?

What do the screws go into after going though the fan's holes?

It reads fan rpm, direct temp from VRM, name of the company, and name of the product. I screwed it directly between two blades of the VRM, I was VERY lucky in finding a screw that fit between the VRM without causing it any stress. I did however use a thicker screw, so I used an old method I learned in the navy. You use a zippo lighter for this and some electric tape, and a screw driver. You take the fan and fasten it using electric tape to a 2by4, you take the screw, hold it with a pair of pliers, and you light your zippo, heat the tip and lightly screw in slowly to the heatsink, the heat expands it slowly, and once you have it in there, you basically heat screw, screw it in a little and repeat....until you loosen up the heatsink hole, just have to be very careful not to melt it, this is a 40mm fan so yeah....small working space. Once the screw can go in and out, you screw it to the VRM, just make sure to make thermocouple contact with the VRM so it can take proper measurements.

Oh I see now, thanks. I have a 40MM fan I put in the back of the Sabertooth instead of the supplied 35MM one. I used a drill bit held in pliers to enlarge the hole. I figured using a drill could damage it.

Britton30 said:

Oh I see now, thanks. I have a 40MM fan I put in the back of the Sabertooth instead of the supplied 35MM one. I used a drill bit held in pliers to enlarge the hole. I figured using a drill could damage it.

Click to expand...

True, but my method merely used the law of expansion and retraction /heat-vs-cold, once the screws and the fan cooled, the hole retracted to its original snug fit, thus leaving me without having to worry of the fan moving, vibrating around. But hey, as long as your method worked it's all good. But if you do get unwanted vibrations, you can take a piece of electric tape, wrap it twice around the screw as tight as you can, and while doing so, use some flame to warm it up, and once on the screw, sort of melt it into place. Once screwed in, it will be a one time screw, because once you unscrew it, the tape will shred apart, but it's a method I use to silence screws with a lose fit. Another Navy trick...hey what can I say, I was stationed on a ship built in the late 60s and the electronics made SO much noise lol. You learned a few methods, and zippos for some reason were mandatory on my ship...we had a strange XO. But he was a kind of DYI guy and he did help a lof of us salty dogs with unorthodox methods to fix things. I guess because he was an x-marine who went to OC academy and changed branches to the navy as he wanted to see the world, and a sandbox was not his idea of fun. Why, did I have a lot of contact with the XO, he worked a lot with my divo, and my divo had me on a leash cause according to him * I was tricky yet got S done...roger that * Sorry if the last comment offended anyone but navy...oh boy, the cursing lol.

Oh, I understand what you did now. My screws were too big on diameter so the fan mounting holes had to be bigger, not the screws bigger. With the screws pulled down tight there's no vibration.

Current temps now, I feel asleep in a warm room, my VRM's did NOT break 40c. I have aida64 logs to back that up, I think that is a record. This rafvention REALLY works. Also I am NOT trying to show off, just showing you guys, that you too can take a small 40mm useless fan and really do cool stuff with it. My ASUS thermal radar, seems to think it's even cooler, I am not sure which to believe, the fan itself says 32.