Stepped block, how high mounting pressure can I use?

[Shlomo]

^title.

I want to get some different, stiffer springs for my mount and I wanted to know how high of a mounting pressure I can get before the stepping puts too much pressure on the core.

[skinnee]

what block?

[Shlomo]

what block?

Custom block of my design.

pic of stepped base for reference:

[Sadasius]

Why use springs then if you want a a tighter mount? Just hard mount them without springs to about 65lbs of torque and your golden.

[Shlomo]

and what chip ?

e6300

Why use springs then if you want a a tighter mount? Just hard mount them without springs to about 65lbs of torque and your golden.

Because I don't have a way of knowing whether or not I just put 65 lb's of torque on it or not without the aid of spring compression. It is much easier for me to just test a spring for its max compression force than doing a hard mount.

But thanks for the 65 lb number, anyone else got a good baseline to compare with?

[Martinm210]

I like 50lbs myself, but I've tried up to 75lbs on stepped bases. The OCZ Hydroflow I tested with started to reverse bow and get worse temps with 75lbs vs. my normal 50lbs.

Bowing is better for higher mounting pressure if the base is very thin.

There's not really any specification regarding pressure per unit area, so there is no magical number. Just be careful not to put too much on, there is a risk of crushing/damaging the core especially if you were tilted/off axis when cranking down.

I would suggest incrementally trying more rather than going for a max number. Chances are there is an optimum and more may cause reversed bowing and bridging across the step.

[skinnee]

Mount pressure is one of those things that I still just don't grasp properly yet. The stepped block I am testing now seems to do better with slightly less mount pressure than if I was to crank the thumbnuts down. Like I said, still don't grasp it properly yet.

I guess if I were in your shoes, do a wet mount with the pressure you have now take a look at your TIM imprint and make sure its evenly distributed. From there apply a certain amount of pressure (measuring the height of the spring or top of the thumbnut) and run a Load test. Remount, increase pressure and run it again. I guess on a custom made block, you have to experiement with the mount.