Absolut Zero

[enraged78]

[H] Readers,

I submitted this to Kyle about two months ago, and he was kind enough to let it grace the front page of the [H], and I promised I would post it in the forums when I had done some more work to it. Well, I'm pretty much finished with this project, so here you all go. Hope it gives you some new ideas to work with, and show you how I did this crazy little job.

The idea was to create a functional, cheap, and visually pleasing cryo-cooler. The parts used to create it were as follows:

1.6 Cubic Foot Mini-Fridge. Sourced from Wal-Mart for $68.00
3 Gallon Acrylic resivoir. Sourced from Petco for $13.00
1 Lexan sheet. Sourced from Home Depot for $22.00
1 AC 8-inch flourescent holder. Sourced from Wal-Mart for $12.00
1 8-inch black light. Sourced from Wal-Mart for $3.00
Eheim 1048 Pump - Used from previous setup
Aluminum waterblock - Hand built, used from previous setup
3 Gallons "Winter Windshield Washer Fluid" Containing Ethylene. (Don't breathe this shit in!) ~$4.00
20 Feet Vinyl tubing. Sourced from Home Depot for $10.00.
12 Feet Neoprene insulating wrap. Sourced from Home Depot for $12.00
3 square feet of 1/4" neoprene sheets. Sourced from a bunch of mouse pads.
1 Tube of Silicon dielectric grease. $6.00 from electronics supply store.
1 Can of Dow Conformial coating. $10.00 from somewhere I don't remember.

Now, on for my lessons learned. First, this project was fun as hell. I learned quite a bit about the dangers of condensation, and how it can be prevented. I also learned that using a fridge of much larger size should have been a given if I wanted to reach my end goals, which were sub-zero (Farenheit) cooling, all the time, on an overclocked FX-51. That didn't quite happen. At 1.750 Volts, the FX-51 would run at 2.6Ghz for quite a while. Then, the fridge would become saturated with more heat than it could rid itself of.(It had no heat exchanger to speak of. The coils were routed through the shell of the fridge to shed heat. NOT very efficent.) After about 24 hours of 100% CPU utilization, the temperatures would creep up to about 108 Degrees farenheit. Before that, the system would start at 50F, back down to 40F over a few hours, then climb up to about a max of 108F. At that point, I would turn the system off, cut the pump, and have the fridge cool the coolant back down to -20 degrees F. Then, I'd power it back on and let the fun begin again. Backing the voltage down to stock netted me a system that was below ambient for 48 hours. Underclocking the chip to 1.5Ghz at 1.40 volts netted me a system that never got above 70 Degrees Farenheit (CPU core reading). I ran it for a solid week like that at 100% CPU usage. It was great. Bottom line: My system would become saturated with heat after 24 hours when dissipating more than 90 Watts.

So, anyway, I'm probably going to start another project soon, I'll keep you posted. On with the pics!!!

 

[enraged78]

Very real condensation:

Neoprene is your best friend.

 

[enraged78]

Money Shots:

 

[enraged78]

In action...

 

[enraged78]

If I did a poor job of explaining anything, please ask!

Oh, and seeing how this little project is over now, and I have no use for it (want to go peltier or phase change), someone make me an offer on it, or I'll have to get rid of it. This would absolutely dominate on a P4 or mobile XP. Anything dissipating less than 90 watts.

Matt.

 

[maxxo]

kind of strange title considering absolute zero is actually -273 degrees celcius . looks like a great project, nice work! i guess it would work really well if your mobo implemented the cool and quiet feature.

 

[enraged78]

kind of strange title considering absolute zero is actually -273 degrees celcius . looks like a great project, nice work!

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, absolut(e) zero is -273, but Absolut Zero is just plain cool.

Yeah, C'N'Q' would net me some amazing temps, and it was well proven when I dropped the voltage to 1.4, but I that wasn't really the goal of the project. I wanted to see whether something like this could A: be done, especially with a plexi-window in the fridge, and B: would get me more cycles out of my FX-51. It did, but it was marginal. I'm finding out now that if I want to get really crazy, I'm going to have to go another direction.

Matt.

 

[enraged78]

Oh, and one other thing. The coldest I was ever able to get the internal CPU probe was 30 Degrees farenheit, which was damned cool to read using MBM. Coldest coolant temp ever recorded was -25 Degrees Farenheit.

Matt.

 

[gclg2000]

how did you insulate the block. Got any pictures. did you use the sealant stuff around the socket?

 

[enraged78]

how did you insulate the block. Got any pictures. did you use the sealant stuff around the socket?

The second pic gives you an idea of how much insulation is on the block. The block itself is covered in conformial coating, and then was covered with three layers of Neoprene, each sealed with silicone RTV. The socket is filled and sealed with silicone dielectric grease. The gap between the socket and water block was sealed with more Neoprene. So far, not a single drop of condensation. This is actually the second time I had prepped the block, as it previously only had one layer of Neoprene on it, and it wasn't enough to stop water from condensing on top of it. The motherboard also has two layers of Neoprene on it, one above the board, and one below, held by the retention bracket.

Matt.

 

[Stugots]

you should put a radiator in the fridge and maybe a fan of somesort to get the air moving around in there. also, maybe cut an exhaust hole in the window or something to vent out some of the hot air.

 

[enraged78]

you should put a radiator in the fridge and maybe a fan of somesort to get the air moving around in there. also, maybe cut an exhaust hole in the window or something to vent out some of the hot air.

As far as a radiator goes, there really isn't a need for one. This particular system does not work by convection, but rather by direct water cooling. If you look in the pics, you will see that the evaporator is completely submerged into the cooling solution. As far as the hot air, there really isn't any. The system cools the best when it's completely sealed. It's just like leaving the door open to your refridgerator at home. It doesn't work as well when all the energy it's taking out of the system is brought back in with the air. Also, you really shouldn't be breathing Ethylene in, and an exhaust fan would make you do that.

Thanks for the comments. Keep em coming.

Matt.

 

[darktiger]

That's pretty cool

 

[Enigma]

I can see one major problem with your setup and the reason that you had such high temps..... I did a project just like this with the exact same fridge from the local walmart my setup went as follows:

Abit kt7a raid
1.2ghz mobile athlon t-bird
768 megs of pc 150 ram from ocz back in the day




with my fridge setup and everything insulated properly I was able to get the water/antifreeze to cool down to -15C without a problem under full load, and the socket thermistor was reading a chilly -12c on the cpu while it was overclocked to 1.68ghz with the voltage set at 1.95.....

now on to my suggestions... 1. why did you take off the insulated fridge door???? to me that makes no since because that would help keep the cold in...... probably would have gained you another 20-30*F cooler because the fridge is not trying to fight off the heat from the outside area in the room..... 2. I think that iff you put a small fan on the back side of the unit (where the compressor unit is) you will attain better cooling results also, with mine setup the way I had it (about 6 months) the compressor only ran maybe 12 hours out of the day under full load, and really did not have to stuggle with the heat. any way look at me I am rambling on and on.... those are my suggestions, I am just trying to let you know what worked for me to improve my chilled water loop

 

[enraged78]

I can see one major problem with your setup and the reason that you had such high temps..... I did a project just like this with the exact same fridge from the local walmart my setup went as follows:

Abit kt7a raid
1.2ghz mobile athlon t-bird
768 megs of pc 150 ram from ocz back in the day

with my fridge setup and everything insulated properly I was able to get the water/antifreeze to cool down to -15C without a problem under full load, and the socket thermistor was reading a chilly -12c on the cpu while it was overclocked to 1.68ghz with the voltage set at 1.95.....

now on to my suggestions... 1. why did you take off the insulated fridge door???? to me that makes no since because that would help keep the cold in...... probably would have gained you another 20-30*F cooler because the fridge is not trying to fight off the heat from the outside area in the room..... 2. I think that iff you put a small fan on the back side of the unit (where the compressor unit is) you will attain better cooling results also, with mine setup the way I had it (about 6 months) the compressor only ran maybe 12 hours out of the day under full load, and really did not have to stuggle with the heat. any way look at me I am rambling on and on.... those are my suggestions, I am just trying to let you know what worked for me to improve my chilled water loop

Enigma,

Actually, your design is what I modeled this after. As to why I didn't keep the door, the reason is twofold. First, I couldn't fit the resivoir I wanted with the door intact. Second, I wanted the plexi door because it looked 'cool'. Bad idea.
I've thought about the fan on the compressor a few times, and judging by its temps, a fan would definately help. The real problem with this system is really just the lack of a heat exhanger. The heat is radiated out of the external chassis of the fridge, and painted sheet metal is not exactly the best conductor. If I had a heat exchanger and a door on this unit, it could definately cool it down a little better.

Also, there is a big difference in an FX at 1.75 volts, and a T-Bird at 1.95. While the T-bird most definatly puts out a LOT of heat at 1.95, its not over 110 watts, which is what the FX puts out at that load. I don't have the data for a 1.2Ghz, but I have the wattage for a 1.0 and 1.4. A 1.0G T-Bird puts out 54.3Watts at 1.75V. It puts out 60.50 watts at 1.95. A 1.4 will put out 81.90 watts at 1.95. Lets say for sake of argument that you're dissipating about 70 watts of heat. If I cut 40 watts of heat from my system, I would expect to shed about 20 degrees. What I would really like to see is an FX in your rig, but unfortunately, I don't have one to part with .

Thanks,
Matt.

 

[thewhiteguy]

Rip the sides off the fridge, mod the door so you can use it, then it will perform much better. It won't look as good without the sides, but then at least the consdensor heat can get away from the fridge. I agree, the design of those fridges is pretty stupid in terms of the physics of the fridge.

 

[mesyn191]

Nice homemade water chiller unit, dunno how long it will last though from what I've heard those small fridges aren't built to run 24/7 all out and using them as you are will burn them out quickly.

One question though, where did you get the heatsink you have on the northbridge?

 

[Enigma]

Thanks for the reply, I am sry if I came across a little bit harsh.... according to this page: CLICK HERE the t-bird processor that I was using was dissipating.... : 116.0926530612245 Watts of heat So it is a little bit more than the figures you were showing but in any case this is not an arguement it was just a simple reply on how to improve your system Just FYI to every one out there..... my setup died about 2 weeks ago because of condensation issues lol


P.S. I put in the figures for running the processor at 1700mhz here is the figure for 1680mhz like I usually ran that particular setup : 114.72685714285713 Watts of Heat a bit below the figure above but not by much

 

[enraged78]

Rip the sides off the fridge, mod the door so you can use it, then it will perform much better. It won't look as good without the sides, but then at least the consdensor heat can get away from the fridge. I agree, the design of those fridges is pretty stupid in terms of the physics of the fridge.

Hmm. Didn't even think about that. Thanks for the idea!

Matt.

 

[enraged78]

Thanks for the reply, I am sry if I came across a little bit harsh.... according to this page: CLICK HERE the t-bird processor that I was using was dissipating.... : 116.0926530612245 Watts of heat So it is a little bit more than the figures you were showing but in any case this is not an arguement it was just a simple reply on how to improve your system Just FYI to every one out there..... my setup died about 2 weeks ago because of condensation issues lol


P.S. I put in the figures for running the processor at 1700mhz here is the figure for 1680mhz like I usually ran that particular setup : 114.72685714285713 Watts of Heat a bit below the figure above but not by much

OUCH. Sorry to hear about your condensation issues. Just an FYI, you weren't coming off harsh at all. I'm just a little curious as to how the web site gets their numbers. The way that I got my thermal numbers were as follows: Take the manufacturer's numbers for voltage and wattage. Divide voltage by wattage to obtain the CPU's amperage consumption. Take your overclocked voltage number and multiply it by your amperage consumption to obtain your overclocked wattage. That's how I got the numbers that I posted before. Any flaws with my theory? Just a little electronics calculations from college. I used the same method to obtain wattage on my FX, so my numbers for my calculated wattage might just be off as well. I might be cooling way more than 110 watts....

Matt.

 

[enraged78]

Nice homemade water chiller unit, dunno how long it will last though from what I've heard those small fridges aren't built to run 24/7 all out and using them as you are will burn them out quickly.

One question though, where did you get the heatsink you have on the northbridge?

I cut that heatsink and grinded it down for about two hours, as it used to be much bigger. It started off life as a passive heat sink off of a Pentium Pro 200. I used the other half of it on the eight mosfets to the right of the Northbridge (I'll see if I can find a pic, that one doesn't have them on yet). The stock heatsink on the NB used to get really hot when overclocking, as did the mosfets. Now, the NB is almost cool to the touch, but that mosfet sink stays pretty damned hot all the time.

As for fridge life expectancy, I've had it on constantly for four months, no issues yet.

Matt.

 

[Rild]

The money shots are truely things of beauty , you should sent on eo fthose photos off to Absolut to use in an add ( the color scheme already fits with a number of marketing requirements , and , well the thing just looks so damn good in the dark

An idea for the door : simply add another layer of plexiglass or ( perferably ) glass with a bit of insulation space between them . doesn't have to be much space a few millimeters maybe . If possble you could construct a "double pane" window as the front 'door' and actually evacute some of the air from between the windows panes . , but in either event itwould help with your thermal insulation properties .

another idea is to put another pump in the system solely to create a either a foutain ( water jettign up in to the air ) effect behind or on both sides of the absolut , or

a water fall. if would be really cool if the 'waterfall' were either free fall ( water pouring off a suspended ledge" or pumpin over somthing that appear to be ice ( perhaps plexiglass heated and manipulated to look like a chunk of glacier that the water is running down )

the concept behind either being A) aestheticly pleasing , and B) a way to help transfere heat between the water and the air inside the fridge .


one other thign that might be help full ;
for reduction of condensation on the lines( short of actually insulating them ) try to keep dust off of them and you might try coatin gthem with the automotive product fogX this prodcut helps reduce the miniscule "seed" areas where water can find purchase to stick and condense

( personally I use rainX on the inside of the shower door to keep it from building up soap or calcium stains, but that is a slightly different story

 

[mwarps]

Thanks for the reply, I am sry if I came across a little bit harsh.... according to this page: CLICK HERE the t-bird processor that I was using was dissipating.... : 116.0926530612245 Watts of heat So it is a little bit more than the figures you were showing but in any case this is not an arguement it was just a simple reply on how to improve your system Just FYI to every one out there..... my setup died about 2 weeks ago because of condensation issues lol


P.S. I put in the figures for running the processor at 1700mhz here is the figure for 1680mhz like I usually ran that particular setup : 114.72685714285713 Watts of Heat a bit below the figure above but not by much

Ow. The overuse of non-existant significant figures hurts! Please stop!

 

[thecrazzyman]

i did the exact same thing but ran into condisation probs. put a fan that blows on the tubes and that will stop a lot of them. also yes get a bigger frige. i had my redbull mini frige doing this for a while and ran into the same probs as you did. i ended up getting a bigger conpresser and new fluid stoped the heatint up probs but counterd all my anti condisation. also if you put a a radiator in the fluid in the tank it helps a lot. as more of the water is in contact it lowerd my temps by abou 2 c and my frige was under less stress

 

[enraged78]

i did the exact same thing but ran into condisation probs. put a fan that blows on the tubes and that will stop a lot of them. also yes get a bigger frige. i had my redbull mini frige doing this for a while and ran into the same probs as you did. i ended up getting a bigger conpresser and new fluid stoped the heatint up probs but counterd all my anti condisation. also if you put a a radiator in the fluid in the tank it helps a lot. as more of the water is in contact it lowerd my temps by abou 2 c and my frige was under less stress

Very nice. I'll have to think about that with my new project. Might have to hang onto this thing a little longer. I'm starting to think that running two seperate cooling loops within the fridge might just be a better idea. Kinda like the difference between Russian and US nuclear reactors.

Matt.

 

[enraged78]

Update:

Absolut Zero is now dismantled. It is also no longer for sale, as I'm putting it in the trash this weekend. The reason it is gone is because I lost a very nice, and very rare Nvidia 5900 Ultra 256 reference card. I now have a $400.00 paperweight. The cause of the failure was because the insulation tubing I bought from Home Depot had split on me. Literally. The zip ties every four inches on the tubing was just not enough, and eventually the tubing tore in half, and the condensing water from the lines dripped down to my video card. In all honesty, I'm lucky not to have lost anything else. I've just finished another Absolut themed water cooling sytem, based loosely around my first project, but with a lot more cooling power. Pics will be posted soon.

If anyone learns anything from this, I hope it's this: Wrap every inch of your insulation tubing with packing tape so it does not split. I don't want this happening to anyone else.

Matt.

 

[Stang Man]

edit: i'm blind.

 

[umbra]

that has to hurt sorry to hear it