[Guide] M15x with water cooling

[Jahnsinn]

First of all, let me say I haven't finished yet. I'm still working on it and will update this thread from time to time due to much work at the moment.

When I fitted my 940xm and the 7970m I got really mad of the heat and the fan noises even in idle mode. So I decided to get it all cooled with a silent, most important quiet, external water cooling system. I checked the internet and found evth I need to get it done. The most difficult thing was to find slim water blocks to cover the dies. I will list all the parts I used with article number and website if you're interested at the end of this post.

First the overview. These parts are going to be used:

Actually not much, so let's start.

I start tubing at the inner hose socket of the reserator. This is the place where the pump is placed behind. You have to use a 10/8mm hose. By this, 10mm means the outside diameter of the hose, 8mm means the inside diameter. This is very important to know by everything you do on water cooling systems due to different fittings, barbs or reducers.

Fit the hose and tighten it well with a spanner.

Now you need a reducer to get on a 8/6mm hose. This is necessary to get in fitted to the chiller.

At the other end you need to fit the 8/6mm hose.

After this is done the 8/6mm hose leads into the chiller. A chiller pushs down your temps to a predefined value set by you, the minimum you can get theoretically is +3°C. Basically you can say it works like a refrigerator. This is very helpfully when you start gaming or other intense work on the laptop to keep the temps low.

Here are some pics of it.

To get the hose fitted the first custom made had to be done. Maybe I didn't know how it actually works, but I had no clue how else to do it without a modification...

As you can see on the picture, the 1/4" adapter didn't fit to the chiller's nozzle. I really don't know what's the original idea by the developers.

So the first adjustment had to be made. Cut the end of the nozzle as you can see on the pic.

When this was done I noticed really pour casting quality inside the nozzle. This would massively reduce your flow speed.

So I used a drill to get it out.

Finally I got an outside diameter of 13mm at the nozzle.

The adapter has 12mm inside diameter

So just perfect to cut a M14 thread to both parts.

Unfortunately I couldn't get closer due to the layout of the die.

two washers solve this problem to get it proper tightened.

To get it proper sealed I used teflon tape. Just the best way to get something sealed. Don't do it without any sealing!

Use some Vaseline before you stick in the nozzles.

Do the same with second side of course. At the end it'll look like that.

Let's get to the CPU water block. I purchased the Thermaltake CL-W0052 Tide Water, originally made for desktop PCs to cool down the graphics card, on ebay to get all the stuff I'll need to do it. I chose that one because the water block has just a height of 8mm. Also all the hoses and clamps will be helpful.

First drain the coolant.

Then I opened the chassis and robbed all hoses and clamps. You'll need them in a couple of minutes. They're all bonded quite well, so just cut them at the ends.

I also cut and removed the hoses of the water block itself, just to make sure everything is okay. I didn't want to get upset when I filled the system with water. So I cut them and removed the old adhesive.

I then removed the original cpu heatsink

and compared the die with the water block

The water block as it was out from the box was just a touch too small to fit correctly onto the die. So I just removed the tape around the block. Now it was ready to get fitted.

All I needed to do was loosing the existing bolts on the water block and tightened it with M2.5x20 hex nut bolts into the existing holes. At the end it looks like that.

By the way, the mosfet heatsinks came with the tide water vga cooler. I also fitted the black hoses as they were, just without the glew and it still seals perfectly.

To get the hoses guided out of the laptop you need to remove your fan control at the back of your laptop. When you're doing this, be careful not to touch the chassis as I did with whatever you use. I used the dremel and didn't see it for a while. What a shame!

Nevermind, so let's get over to the gpu side. I bought a very tiny water block with just 15x15x7mm dimensions to not to exceed the height. So may be later I will be able to fit the backplate cover again.

The water blocks would actually fit on the die, perfectly. But due to the layout of the gpu die the block just fits in diagonal postion. So useless for me.

To get the water block in the right direction I unsoldered the copper plate of the original heatsink. That one has got the right dimensions to get this solved.

Clean the copper plate from the old tin on top by using the Dremel or sandpaper.

At the end that's the way it should work. Just to mention, also the holder came with Thermaltake tide water cooler. The bolts I bought seperatly on ebay. They are M1.6x20 but too long, so I cut them down to 15mm. Now they fit into the existing holes and push down the block properly

Use now the -->small<-- black hoses robbed from Thermaltake chassis. These are the inside hoses, they're smaller. You need to use some adhesive because the clamps coming with the hoses are just a way too big and don't keep it tight to nozzle.

Now just add some thermal paste between copper plate and die, and copper plate and water block. Tighten it all down.

Finally it looks like that.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5105[/ATTACH]

hoses leaded through the fan grill, gpu side. I mention again, just temporarily cause I'm still waiting for parts. in progress...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5107[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]5106[/ATTACH]

cpu side

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5108[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]5109[/ATTACH]

The hose laying is actually just in common sense. Nothing particular I should mention.

Reserator -> 10/8mm hose -> 10/8mm to 8/6mm reducer -> 1/4" compression fitting -> 1/4" adapter for chiller -> chiller nozzle -> chiller -> nozzle, adapter, fitting -> 8/6mm hose -> Y-splitter

first end hose -> 8/6mm hose -> quick coupling -> black hose (termaltake tide water) -> cpu block inlet-> cpu outlet -> black hose -> quick coupling -> 8/6mm -> Y-splitter

second end hose -> 8/6mm hose -> 6mm barb -> small black hose (thermaltake tide water) -> gpu block inlet -> gpu outlet -> small black hose -> 6mm barb -> 8/6mm hose -> Y-splitter

|

Y-splitter -> 8/6mm hose -> 10/8 to 8/6mm reducer -> reserator

update in progress...

[mw86]

You sir are my hero! Awesome work. I love the pics you did amazing. Keep up the outstanding modding!

Paranoid Galaxy S3 on Tapatalk 2

[Jahnsinn]

updated the pics. nearly all working now. need to figure out what's worng with the others. tomorrow I will add temperatures and benchmarks. Let's see if I can get higher clocks without throttling. But now it's time for a couple of beer

[StamatisX]

Awesome! Pretty sure you will get really good temps.

[mw86]

4ghz 920xm with 1050/1650 7970m ftw okay maybe not. Im sure there is plenty of potential though.

Paranoid Galaxy S3 on Tapatalk 2

[StamatisX]

Well, now the bottleneck will be the supply of adequate power by the mobo...

[Jahnsinn]

Well, now the bottleneck will be the supply of adequate power by the mobo...

that's true, unfortunately

but even by moderate OCing the cpu and gpu, I got drops due to high temps on the gpu. So now it's quite more stable and should get just a bit more performance. Maybe there's a little bird, telling me a mobo mod to get some more power on the mobo

[DR650SE]

Excellent write up, and nice work! I have to ask though, for all this the system will be tied to the desk, why not just get a desktop?

Sent from my Samsung Captivate/ICS CM9 via Tapatalk.

[Jahnsinn]

Excellent write up, and nice work! I have to ask though, for all this the system will be tied to the desk, why not just get a desktop?

Sent from my Samsung Captivate/ICS CM9 via Tapatalk.

Because I already have a laptop^^ a desktop is much more expensive and wouldn't be something special, actually

I don't need the laptop as a "laptop" anymore. Got a asus transformer tablet with keyboard. So no reason to keep the heavy laptop handy. Also it'll be an eye catcher once all is propper placed.

[moral hazard]

Very nice!

Best example of water cooling on a notebook that I have seen online.

Can't wait for more updates.

I could see myself following this guide some day.

[coolwave911]

So the laptop is no longer mobile Still, this is a very clever & neat looking mod!

[postalpainmaker]

So do you have any benchmarks or temp results?

[JakeyBoy1991]

Awesome might have to invest in water cooling my M15x myself!

[nidcuim]

Jahsinn, awesome mod! Thats a lot of dedication and effort. Since you overclock your GPU. What are the voltage on the GPU and whats your CPU overclock settings at? Since you're eliminated thermal throttling and your temps are absolutely amazing, brilliant even.

[LightSpeedTaco]

Oh how I miss my days of liquid cooling. My desktop was fitted with a beauty 3/4' ID setup that worked wonders and was quiet as could be. This brings me back! I switched back to regular air cooling since I wouldn't have the time to change the coolant every now and then or refit the waterblocks when I changed my hardware when I went to university.

[DeeX]

Yes, I too look forward to seeing some data regarding this. Nice work!

[triturbo]

Great mod! One question, how did you unsolder the shim - heatgun, BGA reflow station?

[moral hazard]

I've done it before on a different heatsink with a heatgun set to 600C.

[lyylove50]

Nice DIY you got there, make me want to mod my machine in a similar way. plz give us updates on the temp.

[unityole]

still looking for more of the story lol. stuff you'll only see in tech inferno.

[dwaid]

Interesting for me - as I started something similar with my 8560p EliteBook. Now what's different - I abandoned the original shell which also made me free to use rather awkward desktop water blocks for now.

Display is on the same side as keyboard, water pump is AlphaCool bulk bottom with custom top of epoxy resine. 160 mm fan (advertised as 230mm as yes - 160 is propeler itself) makes the cooling. I am rather curious about the pics attached here - as a newcomer I am not allowed to see them yet. This post however seems as a lucky mod, now I wonder where have the tems gone?

[King of Interns]

Very interesting mod! Really look forward to see the results!

[AemiliusPaulus]

Amazing that you did this with M15x, but do you have an M18x R1/R2 to try it with? I feel like watercooling that will yield much better returns for the work you put in, lol.

[King of Interns]

Not if the m15x is the primary machine. Don't write the little machine off yet I have the CPU at 3.7 - 4ghz on heavily modded air let alone water!

This mod could yield pretty amazing results!

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[Cyero]

guide is awesome. thx a lot!