lowest SYSTEM temp you've had/seen

I want to know what the lowest system temp anyone has seen or if you live in a cold climate what temp you have had. Im talking COLD. I know some people duct cold air from outside into your computer and I want to know what your lowest temp has been and if it has done anything to your computer.

Why am I asking this? because I am thinking of making a inclosed air chiller that is 100% sealed and I know I will be seeing about
-50c temps but I donno what that will do to the motherboard or bios. If someone knows at what point PCB board starts to crack please say I dont want to make this thing and the first thing I see when I fire it up is a cracked motherboard or a bios thats died.

Condensation will be a real problem at those temps and I doubt the bios will read that low.

You plan on blowing this -50C air into your PC? Hope it's grounded!

no way your gonna get it -50c........... absolutly no way....... there are so many things that would go wrong i don't even know where to start...

I will be making a air tight case for it and will be putting some kind of clay like stuff in it that will suck up any moister thats already in there. Condensation will not be a problem, I just need to know if the bios will take those temps. Some people put there whole mobo in a freezer but Im not sure what kind of temps they get. I will be at sometime sticking some ice in a bag and setting the bag on the bios chip and see what happens (I have an extra flashed bios already).

Liss said:

no way your gonna get it -50c........... absolutly no way....... there are so many things that would go wrong i don't even know where to start...

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believe me it will with a 12,000 btu compressor

didn't the screen savers cool a p4 with dry ice (i think thats well below -50c)

ive seen -160 something

The PCB might crack when you get it to below -20c.

Be careful - cos it'll get really brittle when it's that cold...


If you plan to turn your chiller On and OFF with your computer, then that will definitly do your computer some damage - the expansion and contraction when it changes temp can cause some nasty damage... if you did set up such a setup, you would be best advised to run the compressor 24/7 (you may as well leave your computer folding 24/7 in that case )


Have fun... if you decide to back out, mod a spare case and use it to hold beer

Why don't you just build a phase change block?

iamthegreatest said:

The PCB might crack when you get it to below -20c.

Be careful - cos it'll get really brittle when it's that cold...


If you plan to turn your chiller On and OFF with your computer, then that will definitly do your computer some damage - the expansion and contraction when it changes temp can cause some nasty damage... if you did set up such a setup, you would be best advised to run the compressor 24/7 (you may as well leave your computer folding 24/7 in that case )


Have fun... if you decide to back out, mod a spare case and use it to hold beer

Click to expand...

damn I was afraid of that, there wouldnt be much tension at all on it, just the heatsinks...Im also going to making anothing box around the first one with the mobo in it that will be vacuumed so there will be almost no noise or heatloss, Im going to be sticking 4 120mm high speed fans in it circulating the air around so it will have very good airflow. I can prolly leave the computer on 24/7, will have to think about that. Good point though.

Why don't you just build a phase change block?

Click to expand...

Im already trying that now but I would really like to see what happens if I cool the whole shebang (sp?)

I dont know if you meant personally hit, but i hit an all time low tonight. I was bored and it was cold tonight so i opened up the windows and doors and let the room get as cold as it could. It was 39f outside, and i hit 13c/55f (according to onboard sensor). I set the clock speed at stock speed since i was going for low temps, but at max oc it is usually no more than 3-6c more.

Link (Warning 56k'ers, large pic)