Computer inside a freezer

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thegreatice

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I didn't know where exactly to post this because it includes case modding and a number of other things, but my plan this summer is to build a computer inside a mini-freezer. I understand all of the technical problems this can encounter and am looking into desiccating agents and systems to make sure that the inside stays as dry and condense-free as possible. Just wondering what people's takes are on what should go in the computer as far as board, RAID or not, chip, chipset, RAM, etc...

So far, I'm thinking an ASUS board with a RAID-0 array including a few hard drives, i want a lot of space, maybe even a terabyte... a dual core chip, most likely AMD, and of course DDR2 ram, but I'd like specifics and people's takes on compatibility and whether or not they think this would even work in the first place.

I promise to post pics when it's done, for your digital pleasur0rz.
 
Errrr, I wish you the best of luck but you are going to have to figure out how to modify the freezers defrost cycle as well. I wish I had better advice for you but I just don't see this as a freezable :p cooling option.
 
If there is a will, there is a way. The first few things you are going to have to overcome.

1) Making a sealed container inside the freezer.
2) Making a vaccum sealed container.
3) Finding a reasonable way that will not let your container get moist air/build.
4) Freezing your electronic componets before they have had a chance to warm up is a good way to kill your circuits.

We are taking about NASA technology....if you got the money go for it. :)

However you can always get one of those containers that allow you to fill it up with cooking oil?

:p I will be watching this thread on your progress!
 
Boy, I'll bet this is going to sound super-stupid but is it possible to have a computer work in a vacuum? How would the processor/chipset/gpu be cooled without an airflow? Or could water cooling in a completely sealed loop do it? I guess a chilled (but not to freezing) vacuum would work in that case? But I'll bet a true vacuum would be very hard to maintain...I'm guessing.
Interesting idea, though.
 
Use automotive antifreeze to a water block heatsink. If that antifreeze gets on the circuits then it's FUBAR!

:p
 
oof, defrost cycle, i had never even considered that... this will take some considerable work i fear, but hey im a chemical engineering major, i should be able to figure it out haha...

and no vacuum can really be a "perfect vacuum".. even the vacuum of space contains some amount of matter, hence the reason for it being so cold, so a vacuum chamber for the circuitry within the freezer might be a viable option, with a water cooling system full of antifreeze running through it. Actually, that sounds like a sick idea.

And moderately vacuum sealing something isn't so hard... take an old vacuum motor, some tubing, and plenty of epoxy or a similar gluing agent to make a box type thing

What I'm thinking now is to fabricate an airtight fiberglass rectangular box with dessicators on two sides of it sucking out any moisture, and a vacuum pump attached to it, all this taking place inside freezer, which itself will have a few dessicators attached to it as well as will be full of silica gel everywhere possible, and then i will use the trusty dremel and some sealant to run a water cooling system through the whole shit to the chip, and use antifreeze in it.

This will be fun :cool:
 
This doesn't seem like it would last very long. You would have to routinely replace the dessicant and conventional refrigerators won't be able to handle the heat output of a computer.

Your best option would be to submerse the computer in a non conductive fluid and place that in a refrigerator. But you're still going to have to have a refrigeration able to handle the heat output.
 
I saw some guy that did this in an issue of Maximun PC a Loonnnnnnnnnnnnng time ago....try and find that article maybe?
 
Ghost$nipa said:
3) Finding a reasonable way that will not let your container get moist air/build.
Click to expand...
last time i checked, if you have an object surrounded by cooler air, water will NOT condense on it... computer will stay dry ;)

cold object + warm air can produce condensation though, depending on humidity.
 
thegreatice said:
oof, defrost cycle, i had never even considered that... this will take some considerable work i fear, but hey im a chemical engineering major, i should be able to figure it out haha...

and no vacuum can really be a "perfect vacuum".. even the vacuum of space contains some amount of matter, hence the reason for it being so cold, so a vacuum chamber for the circuitry within the freezer might be a viable option, with a water cooling system full of antifreeze running through it. Actually, that sounds like a sick idea.

And moderately vacuum sealing something isn't so hard... take an old vacuum motor, some tubing, and plenty of epoxy or a similar gluing agent to make a box type thing

What I'm thinking now is to fabricate an airtight fiberglass rectangular box with dessicators on two sides of it sucking out any moisture, and a vacuum pump attached to it, all this taking place inside freezer, which itself will have a few dessicators attached to it as well as will be full of silica gel everywhere possible, and then i will use the trusty dremel and some sealant to run a water cooling system through the whole shit to the chip, and use antifreeze in it.

This will be fun :cool:
Click to expand...



sounds cool(yay for bad puns) but how are you going to work out the io back plate thing. having to run cables through a wall that is part of a vaccum without lossing the vaccum seams like it would be a pita
 
Why not just work up an exchanger into the works some how. The sides of fridges are just some sheet metal and foam. Putting a rad in there and hoping it doesnt freeze up.
 
MiG29TangentBoy said:
Boy, I'll bet this is going to sound super-stupid but is it possible to have a computer work in a vacuum?
Click to expand...
Satellites seem to work alright in a vacuum...
 
MiG29TangentBoy said:
Boy, I'll bet this is going to sound super-stupid but is it possible to have a computer work in a vacuum?
Click to expand...
Hehe, you've obviously never read ILL WIND (SciFi book) ;)

...But why go through all this trouble when you can just attach a phase change unit (same thing that keeps the fridge cool) directly to your processor?

Vapochill offers some nice phase change options; you would end up with cooler temps (sub zero at load), a much smaller unit, and it wont die under the heat load like most normal refridgerators will.
 
http://sky.prohosting.com/ecm/ecm2df/ecm2dffinalreport.htm

Did you even try googleing to see if anybody has done anything similar?

Seriously just forget the vaccume idea. And do this:

Step one: get fishtank and feezer
Step two: put mobo in fishtank
Step three: buy alot of mineral oil and pour it in fishtank
Step four: put fishtank in freezer

Of course its going to be a little more complicated then that, but thats the basic idea to it
 
You're going to need one hell of a freezer to keep a 200W heat source cool.

A mini-freezer? AFAIK, that won't be enough.
 
you wont need to worry about condensation.... your going to need to worry about overheating. those mini fridges are designed to keep capacitive food items cold. A pizza, for instance, doesnt produce heat. Once its cold, it stays cold, so long as it stays insulated. The only reason the freezer keeps running is to overcome the heat leaking in.

your computer will be sitting in an oven after an hour or so.

you would probubly be better off with an air conditioner ducted into your case. The air would be dry (due to passing the evaporator core) and it will be cold. allow pressure to build to a point, in order to keep moist ambient air from getting in.
 
Not to burst your bubble .... my humble advice is don't waste your time trying to cool a PC with a mini freezer.

nhusby said:
you wont need to worry about condensation.... your going to need to worry about overheating. those mini fridges are designed to keep capacitive food items cold. A pizza, for instance, doesnt produce heat. Once its cold, it stays cold, so long as it stays insulated. The only reason the freezer keeps running is to overcome the heat leaking in.

your computer will be sitting in an oven after an hour or so.

you would probubly be better off with an air conditioner ducted into your case. The air would be dry (due to passing the evaporator core) and it will be cold. allow pressure to build to a point, in order to keep moist ambient air from getting in.
Click to expand...
Pretty much what I was going to say.

This idea pops up every so often on the forums. And the consensus is that you will find out pretty quick a
freezer and/or fridge is not up to the task.
 
I agree with nhusby.

Besides, putting a PC inside a freezer is not the most efficient way to cool it down with that hardware. You might as well build your own phase change system with the same components at that point. You will, however, need to worry about condensation (but this is why you insulate the cpu socket and evaporator block).
 
I think the OP is exploring this route because he does not want to mess with the complexities of building a direct phase change unit. Particularly the way people on forums make it out to be rocket science.

a cheap, pre-asembled phase change device, jerry rigged to his computer is probubly what the OP is looking for.
I would go with an old air conditioner and either duct it, or use it as a water chiller.
 
I remember reading a Toms hardware article about filling a PC case with a nonpolar solvent. What if you combined this with the freezer idea. That way you dont have to worry about polar condensation shorting out expensive stuff. Random though
 
nhusby said:
I think the OP is exploring this route because he does not want to mess with the complexities of building a direct phase change unit. Particularly the way people on forums make it out to be rocket science.

a cheap, pre-asembled phase change device, jerry rigged to his computer is probubly what the OP is looking for.
I would go with an old air conditioner and either duct it, or use it as a water chiller.
Click to expand...


I'll look into it, but the whole minifridge idea was just my case-modding freak getting out, I just wanted it to look cool... like visible I/O ports and a power switch on the door of a minifridge, with the ability to open the door and see all the parts inside.... this will take a great deal of planning and work, but like I said whatever it comes out to be I'll definitely post and take pics, and profit++
 
Actually it could somewhat work...

Creating a true vacuum would be difficult... but if even partially possible you might have a good chance. What you would need to do is to create a vacuum around your motherboard and fill the vacuum with an inert or noble gas such as Helium or Xenon. If my chemistry serves me correctly (2nd year college chemistry was a bit ago) inert gases do not bond or react but they can absorb due to their low electron count. The heat that the electrical parts generate will not form hydrocarbons due to the nature of the inert gas empirical properties. So basically no moisture and a constant temperature, which is being kept constant by the freezer.

That's a start but my chemistry is rusty. Anyone feel free to point out what I have overlooked and expound on this theory.
 
The biggest problem you'll face is that is just blatantly won't work.


A freezer only works and keeps things frozen because nothing inside is creating heat. Look at the back of any freezer and you'll see the weediest of heat exchangers. THAT'S what's going to be cooling your entire PC and it just isn't enough.


A mini freezer's heat exchanger is even smaller and simply can't cope with the heat output of a modern PC.


I advise you to not waste any time with this project because you'll be doing just that; wasting your time.
 
Do what I plan on doing for my first water cooler. Buy a mid range fridge mini type but not mini. I'm talking one with a full freezer stick your resivore and your radiator in the freezer and use pure alchol or some type of non freezing coolant.
 
^ That was what I was going to suggest. Or you could keep the rad external and have a large res in the fridge/freezer to create basically a ghetto chilled watercooling (I think peltier is the correct term, if I am not mistaken). The difficulty behind creating the vacuum-sealed chamber will be rediculous, think about it; refrigerators and freezers usually have some sort of an air circulation system in them and I am sure that you would have to block it off or seal it up, lowering the effective cooling.

I wish you luck, but like everyone else has said, the idea is cool but making it work is very difficult.
 
thegreatice said:
and no vacuum can really be a "perfect vacuum".. even the vacuum of space contains some amount of matter...
Click to expand...

just throw a couple of chicken nuggets in there, then, and you should be golden.
 
Well, i can say this, moding the fridge to stay on 100% of the time sould be as easy as cut, strip and tape.... Just shirt the thermostat and you;re good to go.
 
it doesnt matter what way you cut it... after about 30 minuts at any load will turn your fridge into an oven...

did you ever wonder why your parents yell at you for leaving the door open on the fridge? its because it cant keep up with the outside heat source. The cooling sytem in the fridge is only powerfull enough to overcome the heat leaking in through the insulation and the occasional short door opening...

if you want to prove (or disprove) my statement, then take your freezer, set the thermistat to high with the door wide open and a fan pointed into it. after 20 minuts stick your hand in the fridge... it might be cold, but not a few degree's cooler than ambient.

or, you could put a hair dryer set to medium or high into the freezer and shut the door. The results will disapoint you...
 
nhusby said:
i< snip >
or, you could put a hair dryer set to medium or high into the freezer and shut the door. The results will disapoint you...
Click to expand...
^^^ - Great example!
 
we did something like that at our winter lan parties, we would take hoses and run them to windows which were open to suck in the -20 degree air to cool the pc's more :p
but sometimes it did make for cold gaming :p
we learned not to open the window the hole way after the fist winter one
lol :p
 
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