Here is the first of some guides I've prepared to help out some of the new guys to ln2/di cooling. It seems to be getting more and more popular everyday, as I have been getting tons of emails and pm's about preperation and methods. This should help alot of you using my units or anyone else's.
Temperature probes in your CPU and GPU units are a must if you are going to do any sort of benching with DI or liquid nitrogen. Knowing the temps at the base of your units at ALL times during ln2 benching sessions is critical to your success. There is also nothing worse than having issues with your temps being read innacurately while benching due to improperly installed/ loose temp probes. Here is how I install K-type temp probes for my UEI meters on all of my units:
For materials, you'll need a drill and a 1/16th bit, rubber bands or electrical tape, some artic silver adhesive (two part mix),temp probe (bead type) of your choice suited for your meter, and of course gpu/cpu unit. I will be using one of my Tek-9 GPU units and k-type probe for UEI meter in this example:
Using your drill and 1/16th bit, drill your hole at the top of the contact area maybe about 1.5mm from the surface. I always take temps from the top of the conact area of the unit and not the bottom as these will tend to be your highest readings. make the hole about 1.25mm deep, or just deep enough for the bead to fit in nicely. DO NOT apply alot of pressure on the drill or you will freak when the drill bit breaks off in the container. Copper is a very gummy soft metal, and it is very easy to break bits machining it... whether it is machining the actual unit or making a small hole for a temp probe. Be sure to pull the bit out and blow the copper shavings out of the hole a few times before it is fully drilled out:
Now take your two part AS adhesive and mix up 1 pea sized drop of each on a piece of paper to activate it, and put a little gob on the bead probe and rubber band/tape the probe in place before you insert it into the hole. Electrical tape works great, but I like to use rubber bands, as the electrical tape gets really nasty on there after alot of freezing/thawing and it will just split and break anyways:
Last step is to line it up and place in the drilled out hole and put a little more adhesive behind it so it can't come out. I usually let it cure overnight before I bench with it for the first time:
Do it like I have shown, and you will never have any problems with your temps being read improperly, and the probe will definitely stay put.
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