Can i buy a water cooling kit and then replace the water?

[samraptor]

replace the water with mineral oil so that if it leaks it wont even matter?


would it affect performance?

 

[ahnilated]

I wouldn't suggest that. You can cause lots of problems changing out the fluid to another type if you don't know all the risks.

 

[alvine]

no dont do that. the pump is designed for water like coolant, oil will be too thick making it work harder to push the liquid around and probably making the pump overheat. if your afraid of leaks then get some enclosed from factory water cooling kit like corsair h80, h100

 

[rubix_1011]

Tell me why you would do this instead of using water?

Are you meaning a closed loop cooler like a H80 or an actual watercooling loop?

My answer is still no to either for several reasons. If you are afraid of leaks, just don't use any form of liquid cooling- mineral oil can leak and spill, too. Watercooling only leaks if you don't take precautions when setting up your loop.

 

[DarkSable]

Most stand along liquid coolers are closed loop systems - messing with that is a bad idea.

In addition, mineral oil is not nearly as useful as you might thing. It has thermal quality closer to insulation than to a coolant, and keep this in mind. It's a LOT more viscous than water, which means a pump rated to move water at a given rate will move mineral oil a lot slower... this means that you're going to have hot mineral oil sitting on top of your CPU.

TLDR: Do not do this. Very very bad idea unless you want to fry your processor.

 

[rubix_1011]

It isn't necessarily going to cause him to fry a CPU, but mineral oil doesn't exactly play nice with o-rings and thermal compound as well as plastics and materials designed to work with water or water-based coolants.

The sticky has a link to an index of many other mineral oil threads if you are curious to read through them. It also has some info comparing mineral oil and water thermal properties.

 

[matt_b]

You cannot use mineral oil in a water cooled setup that's affordable. The viscosity is much higher than water to the point that:
1) Your overall flow will be dramatically lower
2) Your pump will burn up in no time from working too hard.
3) Your setup will run hotter due to the ability of mineral oil to transfer heat being much lower.

The only ways to utilize mineral oil in water cooling:
1) Buy a powerful industrial pump (again cost) but even then your blocks will impede flow quite a bit,
2) submerge the entire setup in an aquarium.

Option 2 is your best, cost-effective choice here if you want to really run mineral oil (not that the other option can't be done).

Stay away from acrylic/plastic blocks and you'll be fine really. Water with additives or a slight glycol mix, or what comes in a sealed unit is the best option period in all aspects - except of course trying to not conduct electricity.

 

[rubix_1011]

The mineral oil submersion isn't as good of an option either...you still have to cool the oil, which still needs a heat exchanger of some sort. It's just not a very feasible way to cool your normal PC. It works for some industrial equipment simply because there aren't a lot of options.

If you still want to do this, go for it...and make sure you document it in a thread so we can see your cooling results. Maybe a comparison of coolants? I just want you to be aware of all the problems you might run into.

 

[matt_b]

The mineral oil submersion isn't as good of an option either...you still have to cool the oil, which still needs a heat exchanger of some sort. It's just not a very feasible way to cool your normal PC.

Translation: mineral oil just isn't a very solid cooling option unless one has money to burn or the submersion idea appeals in an aesthetic way. In the server world though, submersion gives the best outcome period when it comes to keeping components clean and dust free. For cooling alternatives. if someone picks running as cool as possible as the top reason on their list for using liquid cooling, mineral oil isn't the right path at all.