Storm G7 Proto

[SDX]

Holy waterblock Batman!

Dear god... it's beatiful!


Great job Cathar, i cant wait to get my storm hooked up =)

[cartmanea]

Those jets are tiny.....Cathar, will you recommend an inline filter with these or perhaps find a good one to include with the block?

[3NZ0]

whoa, need

they just get better and better these stom blocks!

love the design

[Master_G]

Awesome piece of engineering, you never cease to impress Cathar.

G

[Frambosie]

looks like i may have to wait until this goes retail to being building my new rig!

[Cathar]

Okay guys, you all keep asking about the price. To be honest I don't even know what the final price would be if I were to get these made in a smallish batch, but I'll tell you this much:

There's around 2.5-3hrs of total machining time per block. Workshop machine time typically costs around US$1/minute. Some time can be saved per block with various program modifications, and while I watched the prototypes being run I estimate that about 30 minutes could be saved in total through streamlining the programs.

The silver base-plates cost around US$90 in terms of a raw finished material ready for machining.

Throw on top of that added costs for other materials (delrin), the mount kits, barbs, box that it goes in, etc, and that's about an extra $12US. Then there's extra finishing (lapping, cleaning, polishing) and the costs associated with those.

So add all that up, and you're coming to a close estimate of what the basic immutable costs to make such a block are when contracting machine time like I do.

Then there's the actual CNC programming and tooling costs too, which is a one-time fixed outlay, and that has to be amortised over a production run, although tooling costs are ongoing depending on tool wear rate.

So there ya go. Do the math above to arrive at a "ballpark" figure that we're talking about here, and then decide if you're still interested. This is truly Ferrari material in the category of if you have to ask how much it costs and are concerned about the final answer, then you almost certainly can't afford it.

[Master_G]

This is truly Ferrari material in the category of if you have to ask how much it costs and are concerned about the final answer, then you almost certainly can't afford it.

Hehe, very true, got to pay for the best quality though, and i know many of us will. Thanks for the figures.

G

[Vapor]

What about inline filters Cathar? Necessary? Any recommendations?

[nikhsub1]

What about inline filters Cathar? Necessary? Any recommendations?

You dont need no stinkin filters! Heh, the BLOCK is the filter! When your temps jump like 5-6C, it is time to clean the filter On a serious note, Cathar has been advising people to use filters, or at least filter the water before putting in the system when the Cascade came along.

[Pessimisten]

What about inline filters Cathar? Necessary? Any recommendations?

Maybe Weapons filter/resevoir is the right thing for the job? quote from Weapon: right next to zero flow restriction but it removes anything that might clog a jet in a #5 RBX/TDX plate or a storm http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ad.php?t=72125

[Vapor]

Thanks Pessimisten!

[VisiV]

indeed

[Haltech]

Awesome stew!

Since this may be your last CPU block, have you started looking into a GPU block to match?

[Thomas FJ]

Cathar,

I know that using a cobber top, or in extreme using a silver top, would improve the performance 0.xx degrees for a head...

A friend and I have discussed why you haven't done that with the Gx heads...

Is it because the top would become too heavy, when the head in total is very high, and it therefore would pull too much down, and harm the mounting pressure to the side which would be facing down?
/Thomas

[thegreek]

Cathar,

I know that using a cobber top, or in extreme using a silver top, would improve the performance 0.xx degrees for a head...

A friend and I have discussed why you haven't done that with the Gx heads...

Is it because the top would become too heavy, when the head in total is very high, and it therefore would pull too much down, and harm the mounting pressure to the side which would be facing down?
/Thomas

That'll be just a waste of silver and no performance gain at all.

[teko]

The price is going to be quite steep, but still, one day I'll have to get me one of those!! Dang it's nice!

[Frambosie]

I would surely be willing to spend extra money to get such a quality block, one that will take any other to town.

[3Tripnip]

Awesome stew!

Since this may be your last CPU block, have you started looking into a GPU block to match?

Excellent question!

[fareastgq]

I never ask you how much stew, just when, hehe. So,.... when I can I get 1? Like I always say, it's not about the price, ..price is irrelevant, I'm not crazy, just xtreme.

[Vapor]

I think this might be in order as a part of my WC overhaul....just maybe.

[Thomas FJ]

I'm just wondering if you are making any patents on your block designs?
Anybody with a CNC machine and a bit of skills could copy them with ease...
/Thomas

[Overconfidence]

I'm just wondering if you are making any patents on your block designs?
Anybody with a CNC machine and a bit of skills could copy them with ease...
/Thomas

At the point that he's at, I don't think we can copy his design with ease. I'm sure a design ~TBX or G4 is feasible, but anything higher and it's HIS optimizations.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

Anybody with a CNC machine and a bit of skills
/Thomas

which is like what, zero of us?
I believe that at this point, with the storm blocks, they're advanced enough to be very difficult without wasting a ton of time taking precise measurements of a real one... that you already bought. not to mention, cathar sells his blocks not-for-profit IIRC, meaning you're just paying for the CNC work, materials, and shipping... not much (=nothing) to gain by ripping the design off IMHO.

[cronic]

cather your work is extremly impressive as always. i look foward to getting my paws on one of these.

[Reinvented]

Stew, I'm looking very forward to this. When nik showed some of the pictures, i got a warm fuzzy feeling...and then i realized...i NEED to spend more money on stuff like this. The price doesn't seem too bad from the estimates you just gave. A hefty chunk of change for some, while for others just half an hour of work or less...or even mom and dads credit card. Either way, nice job my friend.

Also...a quick question regarding the mounting plate, etc:
Will it be Universal? And, will it be able to be used on AM2?