Watercooling Idea

[Lo Pan]

What do you think of using a non conductive coolant (such as PC ICE). And just building a water-filled case, no waterblocks, no pumps, just a radiator?
Would it be as effective, less effective, or more effective than regular air cooling?
I could probably also add a sort of copper heatsink to the top to extrude heat.
Is the idea sound?

 

[dnottis]

LOL

Seriously, where do you people come from

 

[Lo Pan]

I come from ghetto-land. Where building this stuff is cheaper than buying it. Now, I think the idea itself is scientifically sound as long as I have something around to dissipate the heat from the water. But this would remove the necessity for waterblocks and all the un-cool tubing associated with Watercooling. I could also hook up UV cathodes in it, being non conductive, and make it the coolest case EVAR.

 

[Arcygenical]

Um. It's been done. Using a synthetic oil (not organic oils... more like mineral oils) to submerge everything.

I do believe that temperatures are higher than the should be.

Here's a link, it worked well till it broke.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5k1ttl3/sets/567321/

Or search the forum for "Project thinktank" (think tank?)

And yes, I thought I was original with that idea too, I even tried to make one last summer. I heard, however, that oil can seep between the layers of silicon in the CPU (scary).

 

[Lo Pan]

Right. So the idea is not sound. Therefore I will not try it. Thanks for the advice. I never thought it was original. Everything worth doing has been done.

 

[bob]

Thanks for the advice. I never thought it was original. Everything worth doing has been done.

Reminds me of that quote from the US Patent office, which they said something of the likes "everything that can be invented already has been invented", I think this was in the late 1800s. Although I see case modding like motorcycle modding (think american chopper). Theres only so many ways things can be done, but someone is always going to come along with some interesting unique idea.

No ones stopping you from trying subersion cooling. I encourage any type of cooling on this level . Always some interesting different way things can me done.

 

[Lo Pan]

Well. I could use normal...distilled water, which is non-conductive with no impuritied. The problem would be keeping it pure.

 

[malicious]

how about potting soil?

 

[rohcky]

Search for Project Thinktank in these forums.

 

[Darkala]

Search for Project Thinktank in these forums.

been done a few times, but you still need a pump for circulation and such.

 

[Lo Pan]

Ah cool. I thought I could use something as viscous as water and use (multiple, to reduce strain) fans. Would I need the peltier cooling coldplates or could I run it "ghetto style" with just the liquid and pumps?
(Peltier cooling is....no in my budget to say the least.) Maybe I could use cheapass peltier and buy a minifridge....would cool the components AND the immserion liquid, but wouldn't look nice.
This got me to thinking on a first idea:
Build an acrylic cube or somethin.
Build a "hole on top" for filling.
Put compy and liquid inside.
Put some aftermarket high-torque fans inside it to pump the water over the (fanless) CPU.
Insert UV lights
Make it glow green and see if it runs.

 

[Stuey83]

1) A fan is not going to run when submerged. It's designed for low density extremely viscous air and only air.

2) Let's say for some reason they give you a deal and charge you $10 for a liter of high quality non-conductive coolant. It'll cost you a LOT to fill a case.

3) Where are the HDs going to be?

4) If you seal everything up, how do you get back into it if you need to change something?

5) How do you prevent contaminents from entering the system?

6) If it's a closed system you still need separate compartments or at least a partial liquid-free compartment for HDs and optical drives.

Maybe I could use cheapass peltier and buy a minifridge....would cool the components

7) A peltier cools on one side and heats up on the other side. In a typical implementation, the CPU is cooled and the hot side of the peltier is cooled probably with a water block. If you immerse a peltier, its going to transfer some of the heat back to the "cold" part of it.

8) With the amount of time and money you would spend on this, you could do so much more.

 

[Lo Pan]

True. I would not use a "closed system" so much as an airlockable system.
Also, I think that the expense has been noted already.
The minifridge would be a substitute peltier.
I think that fans would move water. Moving them well/without strain is another question.
Right. I could so *so much more* Ideas?

The thought process is to remove fans entirely. The cooling liquid would be essentially the most kickass passive cooling ever. (This WILL be tested on a super-cheapo mobo and processor first)
I could buy a peltier and then cool it with a waterblock, running the liquid from the comp tank and over the hotplate, then running it through a radiator.

 

[bob]

The thought process is to remove fans entirely. The cooling liquid would be essentially the most kickass passive cooling ever. (This WILL be tested on a super-cheapo mobo and processor first)
I could buy a peltier and then cool it with a waterblock, running the liquid from the comp tank and over the hotplate, then running it through a radiator.

I still think it would be a cool idea to just use a wet-sump system, rather than total immersion. Why not have a sump in the bottom of the case, pump a few liters of oil (or some other non-conductive liquid) through a radiator, and have it spray on the mobo, and pump through a waterblock on the cpu/gpu, then have it drain back to the bottom of the tank?

Seems like it would work similar to having the whole thing submerged, but with less weight and less money involved.

 

[Lo Pan]

I'm thinking this is a bad idea. A lot of money simply for +epenis.
I'm first gonna try cascade-peltiering my CPU.