Sub zero

[leiurus]

Hello,
in the hypothetical situation where a processor could be kept safely in a sub zero heat conductive liquid; do we actually know what the optimum low temperature would be of existing processors/components?
Sorry if this is a newbie question and/or the wrong category but as far as i can tell, previoous questions alluding to this have resulted in discussions about the problems inherent in producing the environment, not the actual desired operating temperature of the components.
Many thanks

 

[leiurus]

also, does anyone have any details on the performance characteristics of components at sub zero temperatures?

 

[popatim]

freezing your cpu doesn't really have an effect on its performance by itself. What it does get you is the ability to overclock the processor to higher levels than you can with traditional cooling with the ultimate being able to superconduct all the components but I'm not even sure that's possible given the variety of materials used to currently make things like processors.

 

[leiurus]

ah, thanks for your response. Well, as far as i can tell, the best coolants would solidify beyond -50C anyway so i guess for the CPU the question is restricted to overclocking performance stats up to this point. I realize that the spot temperature wouldnt be as low as this. Is the same true of the other components? Has an optimum operating temperature been established?

 

[popatim]

Liquid nitrogen was used in the latest overclocking record I beleive. which ran the cpu at over 8ghz to give you an idea of whats been done so far. I don't know of any attempts to laser cool a cpu down to near absolute zero have been tried.

 

[leiurus]

I guess if the components can handle liquid nitrogen they will come to no harm at -50C!
So just low as possible then? If the rig can be submerged in sub zero coolant, the colder the coolant, the faster the system can be run. It would be good to get performance data -50 - 0C. I thought i had read that one of the intel processors didnt like being below 0