The Silent Oil PC

[Rabidpeanut]

AFAIK water has the highest heat capacity of anything in the universe, that is why earth supports life ~4180Kj/C. So distilled, deionised water would be your best bet, but air is still by any means the safest, and of course easiest. Personally my computer can make as much noise as it wants, my sound covers it up just fine.

 

[fishmahn]

The little 'do not cover' hole on HDD's is a hole in the metal casing and it's a rubber plug (might be what shows from a full rubber coating - not sure) that needs to be able to flex to account for changes in air pressure. The drive is sealed because the heads & platters can't handle any dust at all.

Mike.

 

[TunaSoda]

It would be cool to have a pc that could support fish...

 

[Rabidpeanut]

A truck is to a brick wall
as a read head is to a speck of dust. (and God FORBID a finger print which is like an entire mall.)

 

[borandi]

I don't know anything about this at all, but would it be cool if it was suspended in a vacuum? Or would it just overheat and explode...
at least it'd do it quietly :?

Immensly cool if it was. Or suspended in zero grav.

Unfortunately a vacuum would be the anti-christ of cooling (except coving with lighter fluid and lighting it). Energy transfer works by warm particles hitting cold particles (fast particles hitting slow ones). With a vacuum, you'd have energy going in from the PSU, but no way for the CPU to get rid of energy, except if it emitted a high amount of infra-red radiation (this is commonly known as heat). i.e. it would get very hot!

I reckon THG should try liquid helium - though its expensive! Liquid nitrogen is about £1 a pint, and liquid helium is £50+

 

[Rabidpeanut]

Who actually WANTS to freeze to their computer case? It is cool but it is still a bit gimmiky.

 

[Snale]

I repeat: why not use Super-Versatile Car Coolant to fill up the case??

 

[Human1]

Vacuum is a really bad idea. Your computer would overheat. Heat transfer requires something to transfer the heat to, usually air or a liquid. I guess it could radiate really well once the CPU got white hot...

 

[unsmart]

check this site out http://guides.pimprig.com/special_projects/non-conducktive_fluid.php he gives some hints to what his using. Google oil cooled pc and this is'nt the first, theres a ton!

 

[Rabidpeanut]

Uuuum because all the additives in that just stop it from freezing, they dont really imrove water so pure h2o should be better. And the more types of molecules you have in something increase the chance of a reaction due to heat from say a CPU maybe? If anyone knows beyond the shadow of a doubt if i am wrong, please correct me, but only if you have facts. I would like to find a better coolant than water, the stuff in antifreeze amy make it a better heat conduit, ie loses and gains heat more easily than water, i think surface tension may have something to do with it.

 

[unsmart]

3M's Fluorinert, this is the stuff the pros use in oil cooling heres the specs http://multimedia.mmm.com/mws/mediawebserver.dyn?iiiiii6pAuxiC4JiW4Jiii4WxUeIIIIg- I would think the price is sky high.

 

[Human1]

3M's Fluorinert, this is the stuff the pros use in oil cooling heres the specs http://multimedia.mmm.com/mws/mediawebserver.dyn?iiiiii6pAuxiC4JiW4Jiii4WxUeIIIIg- I would think the price is sky high.

Now that is some cool stuff!! Thanks unsmart!

 

[Rabidpeanut]

That is quite ironic eh, coolants causing global warming.

 

[MxM]

Would not be more practice to make fat heat pipes (just fat pieces of aluminum) and connect crucial components (CPU, Graphic Cards) to the metal case, which is specially made (thicker and may be with some fins) to be a radiator to disperse hit into air due to its large aria?

There is only a question of the power supply, I do not know if you can do it similar thing with the standard PSU.

 

[Spielwurfel]

I really liked the idea of this cooling solution (though I won't be able to try it until I have my own house ), but... Does this oil works (well at least) forever??

 

[Human1]

Sadly oil doesn't last forever. Depending on the type of oil, it will degrade in a matter of several months, I'd guess. Motor oils should last longer though, I think.

 

[unsmart]

MXM, you should check out the zalman tnn systems, they're what you are thinking of.
A heat pipe isn't just a piece of metal,. It's a tube with a wick of sorts. the tube is filled with a water, alcohol mix in a vacuum to lower the boiling point. When the liquid evaporates it moves the heat to the other end of the tube and away from the heat source, where the heat sink is. Once there it condenses and is wicked back to the base.
One guy I saw [when I googled oil filled pc's claims he has one with soy bean oil thats been running for over a year. He has pics on his site too.
I also found what I was talking about in my first post, direct die cooling and using alcohol in water cooling. They both have good result form what I've
seen. phase change is what I was thinking of, vaporizing alcohol off the die [they use freon which has even lower boiling point] and is the best cooling around. it's more complicated then I thought, with compressors and stuff.

 

[MxM]

MXM, you should check out the zalman tnn systems, they're what you are thinking of.

Yep, that is very close. Only I was indeed thinking about just a thick piece of metal, as oppose to the actual heat pipe. I think it will be still more practical or even lighter than oil cooling.
Of cause if you use the actual heat pipes, then it is even better!
So, is the purpose of this oil exercise "We do it because we can!" or there is some benefit of oil cooling?

 

[Rabidpeanut]

if you can get hold of a non ioonic non polar antibacterial agent the oild could last forever if you seal the case thoroughly.

 

[TheMaster]

if you can get hold of a non ioonic non polar antibacterial agent the oild could last forever if you seal the case thoroughly.

Couldnt that be solved with a pair of UV lights?
UV kills everything.

 

[Rabidpeanut]

That would work, but it could photo-oxidise the oil too. VERY good idea though! what i would do is leave everything in a room under intense uv, then sterilise my work surfaces, leave a rain coat or somethng under the uv, put that on and seal the arms, and get one of those white masks, dress up bio hazard style, and then assemble everything under the uv light, nothing will survive and once you have sealed the pc leave it under uv for a while longer and you theoretically could have ever lasting oil. (wear protective eyewear of course.) Do this in a clean,dry bathroom. You could always take it down to your nearest food plant and have them radiate it for you

 

[jaculum]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it you have a farm of peltier coolers on the top of th pc somehow interfaced with the oil, couldn't you bring the temp of the whole system well below freezing? There wouldn't be any issue with condensation on the processor as it would be insulated by the oil, and the tiny gap of air in between it and the mobo wouldn't have enough humidity to form harmful ice crystals.

I think it'd be pretty badass, having condensation forming on the case, frosting the outside like the inside of a freezer, but the top is almost at the boiling point. ^_^ You could even set up a fan that blows the excess heat at you during cooler weather....

 

[Rabidpeanut]

That will work, just hope it does not turn into a grease computer from going too low.

 

[unsmart]

Sorry, MxM I misunderstood your post. I think using more,smaller pipes would be better then one big one. I may be wrong. I think this is a usefull mod for servers and media pc, especially if wireless. You could boot from mem stick and run off of the network, you would olny need ports for vid and aud. Wireless keyboard and mouse receiver, wifi card would be in the case.

I think mr_fnord is on to something with his lava lamp idea. It would look good but also move heat when the heaver oil moved up and cooled off.

Could'nt you put a thin layer of oil ontop of water and hang the board so the heat sinks where in the water?

Has anyone considerd using one of those wave motion lamp things or fake fish tanks as the case?

I realy need to go back to work and stop thinking about this crap!!

 

[hawkstar]

Well I think we need a new case format.

I propose CTX for Chilled To Extreme.

It would have all the motherboard components at the bottom so they can be submerged in whichever cooling liquid is best, and at the top all the drives and external connectors which could remain in air.

I like the lava lamp idea but I fear that fish would not survive in de-ionised water; which is a pity. Perhaps we need new fish.