Mineral Oil Submerged PC and Overclocking

[jfkillers]

Hey guys,
I am about to build a new computer with the following components in order to overclock as far as I can.

e6420
asus p5b deluxe wifi
geil pc6400 4 4 4 14
sparkle 8800gts 640
big typhoon vx
etc.

I am interested in building a case as seen in http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php

I understand that this system after 12hrs experiences what I would consider bad heat problems even though they found it still ran stable.
From what I can tell there are three things they did wrong.

1. Put the powersupply in the oil and below the cpu.
2. Used too small an aquarium (larger allowing more then 12 hrs to reach high temps)
3. Didnt have anything circulating the oil.

I was thinking of going for a bigger tank and leaving the power supply out. I also was going to get a fuel pump and have it circulate the oil across the cpu specifically and throughout the whole aquarium.

I was just wondering if there is any chance that this setup would allow for the same level of overclock that I would get if I just used the big typhoon vx/tuniq 120 or water.

I understand the other negatives and they arent a problem so no need to bring them up.
i.e, case cant be moved - never move mine.
cant change/upgrade components - very rare for me
possible damage to capacitors - I believe my build is all solid state. I may be wrong though so feel free to call me on that


Thanks

 

[everett]

Try this.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/01/09/strip_out_the_fans/

 

[valis]

so you have nothing but money and free time?

must be nice

 

[jamesgoddard]

The problem is heat build-up in the oil, you would have to start pumping the oil out to a few rads to keep it cool... A water cooling kit / rad / pump should cope with very low viscosity oil just fine..

And oh yes… your mad!

 

[lmimmfn]

wont the oil molocules break up eventually by electrolysis's or require new ol changes?

I agree, youre nuts 8O

 

[jfkillers]

I believe because the oil is a dieletric, very good insulator, it will not be effected by the currents/voltages in the system and will not break down. Especially with white oil (mineral oil) as it is so refined.

 

[OldGoat]

I agree with jamesgoddard, you are MAD!!!!!
Anyway, I do believe all motherboard have capicitors. they are the little black or blue cylinders mostly located around the CPU socket.

Even with the pump circulating the oi, you will still have heat buildup within the tank if you do not pump the oil through some type of external radiator.

I would locate the power supply out of the oil, unless it has good dielectric properties. ie don't buy cheap mineral oil. slurge for the highly refined oils.

Good luck, keep us informed of the progress.

 

[jfkillers]

I believe because the oil is a dieletric, very good insulator, it will not be effected by the currents/voltages in the system and will not break down. Especially with white oil (mineral oil) as it is so refined.

 

[lmimmfn]

can we ask why( just interested ) you are doing this? especially with a good rig?

 

[jfkillers]

Well,
I started considering water cooling instead of just a tuniq tower/big typhoon vx and prices started going up by 400. So im like, if I can build that oil pc and get the same overclock... fun.

 

[Mugz]

Let's see what happens.

Just a thought - a lot of industrial transformers are oil-cooled, so the theory is very well-established.

 

[aziraphale]

".... cant change/upgrade components - very rare for me ...."

Are you looking for a job? Because We definitely need people like you who can predict failure rates of components, yet avoid them almost totally... :lol:

No seriously man. You WILL, sooner or later, change something in your system. And if a component fails try to RMA it... I wouldn't do that if I were you. (Unless you have tons and tons of money and spare time on your hands...)

 

[jfkillers]

The change out of hardware in the linked oil system isn't as hard as others.
The motherboard and everything is attached to a removable motherboard tray and slotted in vertically. So you could just slide it up, support it somehow and let it drain back into the tank before removing anything.

What I really want to know is overclocking within a system like this. No one ever tries overclocking. They just run the system and say wow it doesnt short.... lol

 

[Cabletwitch]

Hmm, its been done before, but you seem to have an idea of how to make a better scenario of it, so sure, go for it.

I'm intregued though... will you just have passive heatsinks and allow convection to move the heat away, or will your pump system bring cool oil to the heasinks, and vent it away to a radiator? You could certainly keep temps cool with a good circulation system. My own prefference would be to have the pumnp 'suck' the oil over a heasink, and take it away to be cooled, before being dropped back into the main tank again. This would certainly require custm heatsinks to be made, but it may be worth it.

Certainly if the system is a money-no-object project, then I say go for it. After all, how do you know wher the limits are if you dont break something occasionally?

 

[jfkillers]

Does anyone know if a pump will be able to pump mineral oil through a heatercore? Im not sure how viscous mineral oil actually is, I hear its alot better than other oils but still..

 

[everett]

http://www.xoxide.com/swiftech-mcp655.html

I will look around some more.

 

[OldGoat]

Does anyone know if a pump will be able to pump mineral oil through a heatercore? Im not sure how viscous mineral oil actually is, I hear its alot better than other oils but still..

According to the MSDS sheets that come with bulk purchases of mineral oil, it has a viscosity of about 13. (68 deg F water has a viscosity of 1; motor oil at 104 deg F has a viscosity of 104; just for a reference)
I have not seen mineral oil pumped with anything smaller than a 5 horsepower pump (industrial facility). But I do not see any reason why you could not use a good quality aquarium pump or a computer water cooling pump.

 

[jfkillers]

What sort of relationship is represented by 1 and 13? Obviously it is not 13 times more viscous . Any translators out there? 8O

 

[OldGoat]

What sort of relationship is represented by 1 and 13? Obviously it is not 13 times more viscous . Any translators out there? 8O

In short viscosity is the shear resistance of a fluid. In simple terms the viscosity of a fluid is compared to water, which has a viscosity rating of 1 at 68 deg F. So the higher the viscosity rating the thicker the fluid.

 

[everett]

Mineral oil is a newtonian fluid which means the viscosity of it is only effected by heat and not shear rate or time. So as the computer builds up heat the viscocity would decrease making the flow rate much faster. I would think it might drop from 13 to maybe around 8.

@ oldgoat beat me to it :tongue:

 

[OldGoat]

@ oldgoat beat me to it :tongue:

Don't worry after reading your reply I had to go back and make sure I was looking at the right info.

 

[goldragon_70]

No seriously man. You WILL, sooner or later, change something in your system. And if a component fails try to RMA it... I wouldn't do that if I were you. (Unless you have tons and tons of money and spare time on your hands...)

90% or better rubbing alcohol will clean most components right up. just need a small pan and a few minutes of in between time. 8)

 

[jfkillers]

mmm alcohol

 

[lmimmfn]

i think its still nuts, better ways of cooling with less implications

 

[jfkillers]

So you think water cooling will always be better?