Extreme Cooling, WTF?!?!

[Lathais]

I did a quick search for mineral oil and did not see anything immediately, so sorry if I missed it and this was posted before, but this is really cool and I want to do it. I just may with my upcoming upgrade.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php

I have a couple questions though. They say on that site they do not recommend OCing with this as temperatures above 75C has a risk of tank failure. Why would that be? Also, I think I read from a few different sources that an i5-3570k OCed in the 4.3 range only reaches temps of 65C, which would lead me to believe under this system of cooling it would be ok. Even if the chip reached those temps the Oil certainly would not.

What do you guys think?

[Sedative]

Anyone else get a Malware alert when going to that link

[DeltrusDisc]

Anyone else get a Malware alert when going to that link

Nay.

@Lathais, it is a fairly old cooling method, but I wouldn't personally use it because of its impracticality and if you ever wanted/needed to get in there for whatever reason, huge pain in the ass. I'm sure the temperature thing has to do with the temperature of the oil heating up or something and messing with the tank itself/motor.

[Lathais]

Nay.

@Lathais, it is a fairly old cooling method, but I wouldn't personally use it because of its impracticality and if you ever wanted/needed to get in there for whatever reason, huge pain in the ass. I'm sure the temperature thing has to do with the temperature of the oil heating up or something and messing with the tank itself/motor.

Actually, I did a little more research, the high temp has to do with the fact the tank is made of acrylic and can crack at those temps.

Fairly old? I guess so, their first one was 2007, 5 years is pretty long in computer terms.

I am actually thinking about doing it, just for the wow factor when people see it. I had never heard of this until today and was simply amazed. For as often as I have to get into my PC, shouldn't be a big problem.

[DeltrusDisc]

You better make a build log thread, because that would be something pretty unique round these parts. I'm so sick of all the Closed-water-loop/air-cooled computers... custom rads and other more obscure measures are so fun to see.

[Deleted]

The whole mineral oil thing isn't new but I agree with DeltrusDisc, it's really not convenient imo. If you want to get to any components you have a bath of oil to drain or delve into. Any components you remove will be covered in oil, who's going to buy oily kit. More tricky than this is effective cooling. You may think that submerging components into the oil will be sufficient to keep them cool but quite possibly you'll have to actively cool some of the more actively heat producing components using a watercooling loop or if the mineral oil is sufficient you'll still have the task of extracting heat from it. I'm quite sure there are loads of considerations to think about. Think about mechanical drives (if you use any) and whether they are okay to be submerged in oil. Some drives need to breathe and that isn't going to be possible if they are in liquid.

On the plus side, it looks cool that's for sure.

[DeltrusDisc]

HDDs don't really need much in terms of cooling. Could just stick them in some cage outside of the tank, maybe with a single fan attached blowing air over them. That'd be about all the cooling HDDs need.

[Belize]

On a side note it really looks like a fish tank... Too bad fishes can't live in mineral oil...

[Cyanotical]

you still need active cooling, such as a pump and radiator, otherwise your pc will overheat once the oil reaches equilibrium with the hottest heatsource,

the oil yellows and turns nasty after a while,

the oil creeps up and ruins the cables for any accessories you have,

all around its a bad idea

[Lathais]

HDDs don't really need much in terms of cooling. Could just stick them in some cage outside of the tank, maybe with a single fan attached blowing air over them. That'd be about all the cooling HDDs need.

Yeah, the link mentions the HDD and DVD Drive are mounted on top of the tank underneath the cover, but outside the oil. It also mentions SSDs would be ok.

As for cooling it and hot spots, that's the cool part about it. It spreads the heat quickly so there are not hot spots. That's the point of the oil. They also have a radiator hooked up to back with like 9 fans pulling air off the radiator. reported temps of 45C with the radiator.

---------- Post added 2013-01-25 at 06:27 PM ----------

you still need active cooling, such as a pump and radiator, otherwise your pc will overheat once the oil reaches equilibrium with the hottest heatsource,

the oil yellows and turns nasty after a while,

the oil creeps up and ruins the cables for any accessories you have,

all around its a bad idea

It's mineral oil, not vegetable or another type of oil, it doesn't turn yellow, or at least didn't after they ran it for 5 years. Also, they said in the v3 version they solved the problem of the oil creeping up. Would have to read more on that to see, but there is a way around it apparently.

[DeltrusDisc]

I really do advise against this though, dude. It's probably going to be more expensive on the electricity bill as well... honestly an air-cooled system is more than good enough for most any SandyBridge/IvyBridge system nowadays. Unless doing extreme OCing. I'm one to stand with Cyanotical on this one, sorry. =X

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

On a side note it really looks like a fish tank... Too bad fishes can't live in mineral oil...

Plastic fish.

If you want to do it, go ahead, post lots of pictures in the computer build thread. But don't expect better cooling than a 60 dollar CPU cooler, don't expect it to be cheap, and don't expect it to be easy to maintain either.

It may well be "extreme cooling", but the cooling performance will be anything and everything other than "extreme". More like "same as any other cooling method other than sub-zero".

[Sedative]

The word "extreme" here is used to describe the method, not necessarily the results. The operating temps with this method are nothing of note, simply acceptable.

[Deleted]

The word "extreme" here is used to describe the method, not necessarily the results. The operating temps with this method are nothing of note, simply acceptable.

It amazes me that the oil alone is capable of extracting and moving enough heat energy away from a Sandy/Ivy CPU (possibly overclocked too) or a heat producing GPU without an active pump/flow of oil.

[DeltrusDisc]

It amazes me that the oil alone is capable of extracting and moving enough heat energy away from a Sandy/Ivy CPU (possibly overclocked too) or a heat producing GPU without an active pump/flow of oil.

Sandy/Ivy are nothing compared to older generation CPUs...

Much less the CPUs of 5 years ago when this was first realized.

[Lathais]

I really do advise against this though, dude. It's probably going to be more expensive on the electricity bill as well... honestly an air-cooled system is more than good enough for most any SandyBridge/IvyBridge system nowadays. Unless doing extreme OCing. I'm one to stand with Cyanotical on this one, sorry. =X

Yeah, the DYI kit sold at that site is $600, a bit much, but they have everything you'd need. I am sure I could probably cobble something together myself, but meh. I think it would really be nice to have, extreme OCing and just plain wow factor, but probably more hassle and $$ than it is worth.

I still kinda want to though, just for the hell of it. Maybe I will take my old parts and try to do something with it, in a smaller tank that uses less oil.

[DeltrusDisc]

I wouldn't say extreme OCing. =X Especially with Ivy Bridge's heat issues, I doubt this would be optimal.

[jmacphee9]

I wouldn't say extreme OCing. =X Especially with Ivy Bridge's heat issues, I doubt this would be optimal.

i just saw an much more modern version using a 3m synthetic that they claimed had extremely high potential, i will try and find the link. same idea though..

[DeltrusDisc]

Would be interesting, I'd love to see it!

[Barnabas]

The whole mineral oil thing isn't new but I agree with DeltrusDisc, it's really not convenient imo. If you want to get to any components you have a bath of oil to drain or delve into. Any components you remove will be covered in oil, who's going to buy oily kit. More tricky than this is effective cooling. You may think that submerging components into the oil will be sufficient to keep them cool but quite possibly you'll have to actively cool some of the more actively heat producing components using a watercooling loop or if the mineral oil is sufficient you'll still have the task of extracting heat from it. I'm quite sure there are loads of considerations to think about. Think about mechanical drives (if you use any) and whether they are okay to be submerged in oil. Some drives need to breathe and that isn't going to be possible if they are in liquid.

On the plus side, it looks cool that's for sure.

You can clean the oil off with about a dozen towels. Mineral oil has high viscosity so you won't have any heat problems. I dunno if you noticed but most kits like this one has a radiator on the backside of the aquarium. It's a really bad idea to put a mechanical or optical drive in the oil. You can submerge an ssd though.