Dry Ice 101: The Basics

[DDR-PIII]

So you're an avid overclocker who is constantly trying to get up some awesome scores to show off. You cant afford to spend $500+ for a vapor compression (phase change) setup, or $1000+ for a multi compressor cascade, and you aren't quite extreme enough to try out Ln2 (liquid nitrogen).

Well, if this describes you then fear not, you DO have an alternative. Dry ice cooling is the way to go for anyone looking to get some very nice temps and not break the bank.

Dry ice reaches a temp of -80C and will definitely out perform any Mach II or Vapochill that you throw at your CPU. Dry ice is pretty cheap, going for around $2.30CND a pound here in my town. In this post I'll be walking you through the steps to a sucessful dry ice encounter.

Most people look at dry ice as a terrifying method of cooling which can only lead to disaster. If you feel this way, hopefully this post will change your mind.

Ok, so you want to dry ice cool your CPU, what do you need?

1. A copper container with a solid copper baseplate of approx. 1/4" in thickness. The container should be anywhere from 10-14" in height with the walls of the container also around 1/4" thick, and with the total container being around 3 1/2" or so in width.

2. 20lbs. of dry ice (this will get you through a nice day of benching)

3. Plenty of neoprane

4. di-electric grease

5. liquid eletrical tape

6. You do need a liquid for good heat transfer. As was stated, water is no good since it freezes solid below 0 deg C

- Acetone is available at paint stores, Home Depot, etc. Lowest temperature is -78C

- Methanol (wood alcohol) is also available in the same places. It will give lower temperatures (-90C) and is slightly less flammable and has a higher vapor pressure.

- Ethanol or ethyl alcohol (vodka) will work but freezing might be a problem since getting >80% alcohol is difficult unless you distill it yourself or have a liquor license. Anyway, there are better uses for it.

- Ethyl ether is harder to get but is used commertially for anesthesia for animals. lower temps still (-100c) but it is highly flammable and has a low vapor pressure. I don't recommend using it outside of a laboratory.

-isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) is the least flammable, lowest vapor pressure and gives low temps but has a tendency to get very thick as the dry ice mixture gets cold. It is also the easiest to obtain from your drug store. I would say it is the safest of the above solvents for this purpose.
With all of these solvents good ventilation is required. Safety goggles should be worn since splashes of sub freezing liquid can freeze your eyeball in seconds.

Now once you have all of these items, you will need to start at the bare minimum by placing the di-electric grease in your socket so that it is completely sealed. Next you should cut a peice of neoprane to go behind the motherboard directly below the cpu, along with a gasket cut from the neoprane to go around the CPU socket.

Next you should seal off the neoprane with your liquid electrical tape to ensure that the socket is sealed completely with the neoprane.

Now that you have done this, your socket should be sealed off. Next will be to coat the dry ice container in neoprane. I recommend wrapping at least 1" of neoprane around the container. This will help prevent too much condensation building up on the container.

Once you have everything insulated and installed on the CPU you should begin to pour in the "liquid for heat transfer, one of the ones listed". Fill the container around 1/2 full with the acetone, and begin placing your dry ice in the container. The liquid will be spitting out of the container, so have a peice of plastic wrap cut to go over your motherboard would be a great idea.

Once you have the dry ice in the container, go ahead and fire the system up and go check your CPU temps. The CPU temps should get down to around -65C or so.

Make sure to keep checking to insure that you have plenty of ice left in the container, and make sure that the condensation isn't getting out of hand..

I will be updating this over time, feel free to post your opinion and questions and we'll all try to answer them.

[@md0Cer]

STICKY


Once stuck I will get rid of this :D -THE AMD AND COOLIN MAN :cool: :cool:

[Vrykyl]

surely this should be in the "extreme cooling" section? a lot of people dont want to go this far. But yes, STICKY!

[@md0Cer]

Oh and I might add some socket sealing links and guides. One of which shows you how to get rid of the di-electric grease completely. Like if you had to RMA the motherboard they would not be able to tell anything had been done. I might add that you should put some of the grease on the PCB of the CPU if it does not have a heatspreader. Especially if it is an AMD and has bridges. You wouldn't want condensation forming on the CPU and shorting the bridges. Also You may want to insulate this container too so it does have have condensation. -THE AMD AND COOLIN MAN :cool: :cool:

Ok this is gonna be short and unfortunatly not as informative as the other time becuase I lost this freaking post 2 times now and have spent a ****ing hour on it already. ctrl C had better work this time. Im just posting the ****ing links this time. **** VB!! :mad: oh yea, I forgot, the links are alot but it is really short and has pics, you wont be reading it all day ;)

SOCKET SEALING GUIDE (http://www.octools.com/index.cgi?caller=articles/socket_condensation/intro.html) *note, I would just use the dielectric grease and screw the silicone. I already spent too much of my ****ing time typing out why twice so **** it. just trust me :mad:

SOCKET SEALING OTHER GUIDE (http://www.swiftnets.com/socketsealing.htm)

SOCKET SEALING GUIDE PAGE 1 (http://www.phase-change.com/index.php?action=Articles_page&cat=Guides&id=25&page=1)

SOCKET SEALING GUIDE PAGE 2 (http://www.phase-change.com/index.php?action=Articles_page&cat=Guides&id=25&page=2)

SOCKET SEALING GUIDE PAGE 3 (http://www.phase-change.com/index.php?action=Articles_page&cat=Guides&id=25&page=3)

SOCKET SEALING GUIDE PAGE 4 (http://www.phase-change.com/index.php?action=Articles_page&cat=Guides&id=25&page=4)


:cool:

[@md0Cer]

Originally posted by Vrykyl
surely this should be in the "extreme cooling" section? a lot of people dont want to go this far. But yes, STICKY!


You are correct, it should be in extreme cooling, but I would disagree becuase it was intended for those Origionally posted by the first post

who is constantly trying to get up some awesome scores to show off. You cant afford to spend $500+ for a vapor compression (phase change) setup, or $1000+ for a multi compressor cascade, and you aren't quite extreme enough to try out Ln2 (liquid nitrogen).

[David]

Nice idea, and carbon dioxide isnt exactly a fire risk :D.

Originally posted by @md0Cer
<huge text>

Please edit that, you are breaking the tables.

[Chaser]

LOL, PICS PICS PICS!!

[@md0Cer]

Originally posted by David
Nice idea, and carbon dioxide isnt exactly a fire risk :D.



Please edit that, you are breaking the tables.

Edited :cool:

[afireinside]

Ok so liquid than dry ice. How long does the actone or whatever last before I need more and where do I get it from?

[@md0Cer]

Originally posted by afireinside
Ok so liquid than dry ice. How long does the actone or whatever last before I need more and where do I get it from?

1.) WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!!!!!!!!!!

2.) I am not sure how long the acetone lasts

3.) Acetone is nail polish remover I think. So I guess places like target, Walgreens, walmart, rite-aid etc.

My question is how long the dry ice lasts and how to cut it and get it in the container and how to make sure the container is making good contact with the CPU? Thanks. -THE AMD AND COOLIN MAN :cool: :cool:

[dead_man311]

Very intresting DDR-PIII. hopefully some more people will try it and post some pic's and results.

Id say STICKY too, people need to see this

[David]

Originally posted by afireinside
Ok so liquid than dry ice. How long does the actone or whatever last before I need more and where do I get it from?

Acetone is otherwise known as Propanone (or Propan-2-one, but all Propanone IS Propan-2-one) and is used in nail polish remover. Its liquid at room temperature but quite volatile and smelly.

[Susquehannock]

Nice guide. :cool:

Dry Ice isn't available in many areas. At least not here in
Maryland. The only time I've seen it is when the Elec. Company
provideds it during an outage.

BTW ...........
There is a $30 kit where you can make your own if you
have access to a CO2 bottle.
Almost free that way. :D

They are getting scarce though. Likely because Dry Ice can be
used to make bombs. In fact, it's a felony in some areas. :(
* News Story * (http://www.thespectrum.com/news/stories/20021027/topstories/381640.html)

[Cerberus2k7]

Bumpidy bump :D

[Vrykyl]

do you not get dry ice when you squirt a co2 fire extinguisher into your hand (wearing a VERY thick glove of course)? they are readily available and fairly cheap....

[afireinside]

Kinda hard to make a bomb out of dryice unless you plan on susicide bombing with it :p

So any nailpolish remover will be fine?

Now to find some dry ice around here...

Oh yea thanks for the welcome :D

[DayUSeX]

ah very cool, i was thinking of trying something with CO2 as we have a ton of paintball tanks lyring around. Thnx for the post though great nfo!

[hafa]

One precaution:

Acetone is HIGHLY flamable. In fact, it ranks the highest of any rating (4) on the MSDS. Handle with care.

[David]

Originally posted by Vrykyl
do you not get dry ice when you squirt a co2 fire extinguisher into your hand (wearing a VERY thick glove of course)? they are readily available and fairly cheap....

Because it doesnt get low enough in temperature to solidify.

[Susquehannock]

What David said. :)

[trinitone]

Looking for dry ice? Look here (http://www.dryicedirectory.com/). And when using your dry ice, remember that 1lb of dry ice sublimates into 8.3 cu ft of CO2 gas. So leave your windows open or get yourself some SCBA gear.

Also, if I remember correctly, you can just use alcohol (stronger the better) instead of acetone.

[afireinside]

Would 78% isopropial alcohol be good or no?

If I did it in my basement with the window open and a fan blowing the on the rig pushing it away from me would I be safe?

[iansmith]

A few things to watch with dry ice.

You need some ventilation, but nothing extreme. CO2 is slightly acidic, so you will start to feel like your lungs are burning well before the concentration gets high enough to be dangerous. Other than sticking your head in a large box full of dry ice vapor, you would be hard pressed to get it in a high enough concentration to cause you to black out.

A real danger however is in storing it. Do not ever put it in an airtight container. It WILL explode. Glass bottles are very dangerous in this respect.

Another danger is instant frostbite. Don't touch it. Use heavy gloves, tongs if you have them.

There is no way to keep dry ice in storage without using specal equipment that can hit 80 below. Don't put it in your freezer, as the intense cold could hurt it. Best is in a plastic cooler. Don't buy some and plan to use it 3 days later. It will be gone.

Lots of small peices will sublimate faster than one large peice. The bigger it is, the longer it will last. Get twice as much and it will last 3 times as long in storage.

And don't forget to drop a peice in some soapy water. That is very cool. Try the screaming spoon and knife trick too. :-)

And although dry ice is nontoxic and you CAN put it in your drink safely... you have no idea where it's been stored or how it was made. Contaminants may be inside it, so avoid this particular gimic.

[eobard]

Moved to extreme cooling, stuck. :)

[afireinside]

Thanks :)

Anyway yea I've been reading about dry ice and I know not to put it in the freezer or close it up. Especially after reading a story about some girl who put some in a bottle, closed the top and it blinded her in one eye :(
I'd get it, put it in one of those styrafoam coolers (with added insulation of course :p ) and bring it home than smash it up as I put it in a smaller cup for use. And I'll wear insulated gloves.

Question:
At akiba-pc they have a video of cascadecooler man eating a little piece of dry ice. How the hell?

[Gautam]

1 Q:

Where can I find this?

1. A copper container with a solid copper baseplate of approx. 1/4" in thickness. The container should be anywhere from 10-14" in height with the walls of the container also around 1/4" thick, and with the total container being around 3 1/2" or so in width.


And what purpose does the acetone serve?

[afireinside]

The acetone or whatever transfers the heat because you use a bunch of little pieces meaning you wont get good cooling without a liquid ti transfer the heat.

As for the copper try onlinemetals

[squeakygeek]

Originally posted by Gautam
1 Q:

Where can I find this?




And what purpose does the acetone serve?

Thermal interface between the dry ice and copper plate.

[g0dM@n]

Originally posted by Susquehannock
They are getting scarce though. Likely because Dry Ice can be
used to make bombs. In fact, it's a felony in some areas. :(
* News Story * (http://www.thespectrum.com/news/stories/20021027/topstories/381640.html)

Hah! I remember years ago when my friends had some dry ice and I thought up that idea with the dry ice bottles. We actually put it in the Arizona glass bottles and boy were they LOUD! I didn't know it was actually called a "dry-ice bomb." Wow, am I smart! :p

[squeakygeek]

They are getting scarce though. Likely because Dry Ice can be
used to make bombs.

I doubt that's the reason. There's alot better things to make bombs out of. More likely, there's not much of a demand for them.

[ManicHaze]

if u want dry ice then order some omaha steaks. they come packed with a big chunk of it and then u can do some serious overclocking and grilling at the same time. lol.

[afireinside]

lol to bad its not enough dry ice :p

How much do those steaks cost anyway? I heard there great :O

[Meow Cat]

Originally posted by hafa
One precaution:

Acetone is HIGHLY flamable. In fact, it ranks the highest of any rating (4) on the MSDS. Handle with care.
when u doing such supercooling, such type of liquid need to be used. That's part of the risk you will have to take..

I use methanol.. freezing point@ -97.8C, which is more than powerful enough to handle DI easy... even outperforms pure alcohol by slightly.

[DDR-PIII]

Originally posted by eobard
Moved to extreme cooling, stuck. :)

thank you sir ;)

[felinusz]

Do you have some more info as to where I can get a copper canister, and the dry ice itself locally? This sounds like a lot of fun :). I'm probably near you, in Toronto :).

Also, how do you clamp the copper dry ice cannister to the motherboard, or do you just set it on? Ideally wouldn't the cannister have mounting holes, and mount like most waterblocks do, via the four holes in a motherboard?

Does the cannister need to be lapped, and how do you know when to refill it, and when to stop benching and pushing your chip, besides the acetone/alchohol level getting low?

Thanks for the neat info - I can;t wait to see if I can give it a try! :)

[blinky2183]

Originally posted by felinusz
Also, how do you clamp the copper dry ice cannister to the motherboard, or do you just set it on? Ideally wouldn't the cannister have mounting holes, and mount like most waterblocks do, via the four holes in a motherboard?
like so:
http://deuce.made2own.com/~blinkyr/dryice.jpg

on the left u have a hold down bar thingy at the top of the tube and long bolts

and on the right u have hole in the base of the tube and run short bolts through those

[FrostByte]

You can pick up dry ice @ welding supply houses, some carbonic sales/service companys (they sell/sevice soda dispensors). Oh & try looking in yellow pages for regular ice vendors, most have it or know where to get it.

As far as dry ice machines u can buy them, more than $30 tho!. A 50lb bottle of C02 makes about a 7lb block of dry ice.

[Baratis]

I created a catch basket at one time and put it on the outside of my case intake and then filled it with dry ice. It blew very cold air into my case and dropped my temps by alot.

[blackshadow]

Can the copper container be open at the top assuming you have the motherboard lying down horizontally? Also someone mentioned that alcohol can be used are we talking about the drinking kind:D and if so how strong must it be?

[TheNewbie]

Thanks for the links Amdocer.

[QuantumPC]

This is SOO awesome. I am going to try it this weekend.

See what i can get a k6-2 450 up to!!!! (550 on air)

Any predictions?

[9mmCensor]

Originally posted by iansmith


And don't forget to drop a peice in some soapy water. That is very cool. Try the screaming spoon and knife trick too. :-)

Please explain.

I found that the Praxair Company sells it, and at $1CDN per pound its a bargin.

[9mmCensor]

http://maximumoc.com/

Has LN2/Dry Ice containers for sale that are wicked sick.

[lclark2074]

Looking for dry ice? Look here (http://www.dryicedirectory.com/). And when using your dry ice, remember that 1lb of dry ice sublimates into 8.3 cu ft of CO2 gas. So leave your windows open or get yourself some SCBA gear.

Also, if I remember correctly, you can just use alcohol (stronger the better) instead of acetone.


SCBA gear hehe

[Ashura287]

This stuff doesn't seem too travel-friendly... I mean, you have to have your m0b0 on its side or your LN2/CO2 spills. What becomes of people who want to go to a LAN or something? I'd rather not have to put my rig on its side and bring a cooler full of dry ice. There isn't exactly loads of space at places like that... Not to mention people making fun of me :|

Would it be possible to use a really thick container and weld it shut so that it both keeps the coolant pressurized and doesn't explode? It'd be a pain in the ass to set up initially, but overall it'd be cheaper and more efficient, right?

[squeakygeek]

This stuff doesn't seem too travel-friendly... I mean, you have to have your m0b0 on its side or your LN2/CO2 spills. What becomes of people who want to go to a LAN or something? I'd rather not have to put my rig on its side and bring a cooler full of dry ice. There isn't exactly loads of space at places like that... Not to mention people making fun of me :|

Would it be possible to use a really thick container and weld it shut so that it both keeps the coolant pressurized and doesn't explode? It'd be a pain in the ass to set up initially, but overall it'd be cheaper and more efficient, right?

eh, it doesn't work that way. You won't be going to lans with liquid nitrogen or dry ice cooling, you'll be benchmarking, and when you're done benchmarking, you'll be putting it away and going back to you're regular form of cooling. And no, you can't close off the tube, you have to let it evaporate/sublimate.

[lclark2074]

also you can make the CPU cold plate on the side of bottom of cup and a hole on top to put dry ice in but thay will still laff at you:)

[9mmCensor]

This stuff doesn't seem too travel-friendly... I mean, you have to have your m0b0 on its side or your LN2/CO2 spills. What becomes of people who want to go to a LAN or something? I'd rather not have to put my rig on its side and bring a cooler full of dry ice. There isn't exactly loads of space at places like that... Not to mention people making fun of me :|

Would it be possible to use a really thick container and weld it shut so that it both keeps the coolant pressurized and doesn't explode? It'd be a pain in the ass to set up initially, but overall it'd be cheaper and more efficient, right?

The bigger the peice the slower it sublaminates. So get a big peice and put it in a cooler, and try to insulate it as much as possible. Encapsulating it in a sealed closed container is dangerous.

[lclark2074]

This stuff doesn't seem too travel-friendly... I mean, you have to have your m0b0 on its side or your LN2/CO2 spills. What becomes of people who want to go to a LAN or something? I'd rather not have to put my rig on its side and bring a cooler full of dry ice. There isn't exactly loads of space at places like that... Not to mention people making fun of me :|

Would it be possible to use a really thick container and weld it shut so that it both keeps the coolant pressurized and doesn't explode? It'd be a pain in the ass to set up initially, but overall it'd be cheaper and more efficient, right?
no it only gets cold when dry ice changes from solid to a gas

[Neco]

Someone should like.. find the biggest manufactured piece of ice possible and custom build a tank for it. Design a bracket that clamps the mobo/CPU to the container, instead of dropping the container on the precious expensive electronics you just bought.

Man.. Imagine someone with an oil drum full of dry ice... heh

[lclark2074]

Someone should like.. find the biggest manufactured piece of ice possible and custom build a tank for it. Design a bracket that clamps the mobo/CPU to the container, instead of dropping the container on the precious expensive electronics you just bought.

Man.. Imagine someone with an oil drum full of dry ice... heh
you can make the pece of dry ice any size as long as you have a mold and enuff money to fill it

[SilverJag]

I would so do this if it was a permanent solution; meaning that I wouldn't have to clean it up after my benchmarks and stuff. :temper:
If I could have that thing 24/7 on..oh man. I would be OK with changing the DI once in a while though.

[pronoob]

Why can't u use water instead of acetone?

[squeakygeek]

Why can't u use water instead of acetone?

Water has a tendency to become solid at 0c.

[fabulouscoops]

As an organic chemist with 25+ years of experience, I might be able to add somethings here. I used dry ice often in the lab and it is a very effective way of cooling to low temperatures inexpensively (compared to liquid nitrogen).
Dry Ice stays around for a long time as large blocks (several days) if kept insulated. Wrapping in a towel and storing in a styrofoam cooler works well. It is easily broken into chunks with a hammer while still wrapped in the towel. Keeping dry ice under pressure is a no-no. The sheer quantity of gas formed from the solid would rupture most containers easily and possibly, explosively. Pour the liquid a little at a tiime over the dry ice rather than add chunks to the liquid since splatter is common when adding dry ice to room temperature liquids that have low densities such as the solvents I am discussing here.

You do need a liquid for good heat transfer. As was stated, water is no good since it freezes solid below 0 deg C
- Acetone is available at paint stores, Home Depot, etc. Lowest temperature is -78C
- Methanol (wood alcohol) is also available in the same places. It will give lower temperatures (-90C) and is slightly less flammable and has a higher vapor pressure.
- Ethanol or ethyl alcohol (vodka) will work but freezing might be a problem since getting >80% alcohol is difficult unless you distill it yourself or have a liquor license. Anyway, there are better uses for it.
- Ethyl ether is harder to get but is used commertially for anesthesia for animals. lower temps still (-100c) but it is highly flammable and has a low vapor pressure. I don't recommend using it outside of a laboratory.
-isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) is the least flammable, lowest vapor pressure and gives low temps but has a tendency to get very thick as the dry ice mixture gets cold. It is also the easiest to obtain from your drug store. I would say it is the safest of the above solvents for this purpose.
With all of these solvents good ventilation is required. Safety goggles should be worn since splashes of sub freezing liquid can freeze your eyeball in seconds.

Condensation is a problem since any water in the air will immediately condence on anything this cold.
As the CPU adds heat to such a system, the CO2 will sublime within the liquid causing bubbles of CO2 gas to escape from the container. With a lot of heat this action could lead to the liquid frothing over and spilling the solvent. Take care.

Might I add that a much more safe and less costly method of getting to modest low temps is salt and methanol/water. As you may know, salt is used to lower the freezing point of water ice. You can get to -15 or so that way. Crushed ice and salt would be very effective. Add some methanol and you can get down to -30C using chemicals you may already have in your house.

[lclark2074]

fabulouscoops
In my state Rhode Island you can by 95% grain - Ethanol in your local package store.

[hafa]

...Methanol (wood alcohol) is also available in the same places. It will give lower temperatures (-90C) and is slightly less flammable and has a higher vapor pressure.

Should you choose to use methanol, you may be able to find it at office supply stores in the form of spirit duplicator fluid. Us oldsters remember it as "ditto fluid"

[jokers_greg]

WOW thats insane. WOULD LOVE TO SEE PICS of the final product. This is really interesting stuff goin on here

[jack222]

Ok i cant find neoprane anywhere..?? Can someone giveme a link(USA) and i cant find a container either...

[skou]

Would it be possible to use a really thick container and weld it shut so that it both keeps the coolant pressurized and doesn't explode? It'd be a pain in the ass to set up initially, but overall it'd be cheaper and more efficient, right?

That is a perfect description of a Co2 bottle, or a Co2 fire extinguisher bottle.

Except that as the dry ice "evaporates," (sublimates really) it will warm up. It cools back down, when you release the pressure.

All dry ice is, (like regular ice) is a phase change storage device. Compress a gas, cool it down, and then release the pressure. You have "cold." Dry (and regular) ice, just stores that "cold."

steve

[g0dM@n]

Keeping dry ice under pressure is a no-no. The sheer quantity of gas formed from the solid would rupture most containers easily and possibly, explosively.

Awwww, the good ole days. That reminds me of my teenage years. Let's not get into detail... it's fun, yet EXTREMELY dangerous without precautions.

[shellshock]

This is what happens if you put dry ice in a bottle, the lid shot off and hit him right between the eyes






edit: I wont get in trouble for this pic will I ?

[skou]

Shellshock, that guy is LUCKY!!

What did his underwear look like? Mine wouldn't be all that pretty, if I was stoopid enough to do that.

steve

[shellshock]

Shellshock, that guy is LUCKY!!

What did his underwear look like? Mine wouldn't be all that pretty, if I was stoopid enough to do that.

steve



i dunno who that guy is, i got that pic off teh internet

[SolidxSnake]

Okay, I see a lot of posts about "where can I find this container?"

You have to make it by hand. Get a copper plate and copper tubing, and braze them together, then lap the copper plate.

[jack222]

You can just get a really good one from Chilly1, PC ICE, or FUGGER.

[skou]

Okay, I see a lot of posts about "where can I find this container?"

You have to make it by hand. Get a copper plate and copper tubing, and braze them together, then lap the copper plate.

Or, get a 2 inch piece of copper pipe, and a 2 inch pipe cap, and solder them together.

You'll have to fabricate a hold-down, but it'll work. (a couple of pieces of pipe, cut and bent, and soldered to the sides will be enough.)

steve

[lclark2074]

A peace of lexan or Plexiglas cut to outer size tubing but smaller than the pipe cap will make good hold down clamp.

[xFlankerx]

WHAT?! Create a 14" tall, 1/4" thick, and 3 1/2" wide copper container by hand?! That pretty much rules it out for a lot of people. Wow...this would've been SO COOL if we could just buy it online or something.

[9mmCensor]

WHAT?! Create a 14" tall, 1/4" thick, and 3 1/2" wide copper container by hand?! That pretty much rules it out for a lot of people. Wow...this would've been SO COOL if we could just buy it online or something.
Its pretty simple to make. Copper pipe, and a copper plate. Braze em together, add some holes for mounting and taddah!

Also there are some people who make them, but charge a pretty penny for them.

[pik4chu]

just a little side note here. Make sure when using the liquid electrical tape you got some ventilation. Used some to repair some wiring in an Arcade Cabinet and the stuff is VERY caustic. I'm talking sniffing paint thinner would be BETTER than getting a small whiff of this stuff, so be careful ;)

[proth]

I couldn't believe I read through almost 2 years of thread posting about this topic with NO RESULTS. Where are the benches from this experiement. ??

Someone's got to have the balls to do this.

[squeakygeek]

I couldn't believe I read through almost 2 years of thread posting about this topic with NO RESULTS. Where are the benches from this experiement. ??

Someone's got to have the balls to do this.

Most people who have the balls to use dry ice have the balls to use liquid nitrogen, and so dry ice is not popular.

[afireinside]

Most people who have the balls to use dry ice have the balls to use liquid nitrogen, and so dry ice is not popular.

Not really... LN2 is harder to use and in my case harder to get. It's also more expensive.

[squeakygeek]

Not really... LN2 is harder to use and in my case harder to get. It's also more expensive.

Only harder to use because you have to put more effort into insulation because of the cooler temps. But cooler temps is kind of the whole point of this, isn't it? If you are going to insulate for dry ice, you're already putting a lot of work into it, so you might as well do a bit more.

Are you sure it's harder to get and more expensive for you? I live in a relatively sparsly populated area and I've gotten it from two different places. One time, me and some friends just walked into the place and told them we were going to use it for science experiments (really just messing around), and they didn't even charge us for it. They even lent us the dewar and told us to come back if we needed more. Ironically, I don't even know where I would go to get dry ice.

I don't mean to criticize anyone for doing this or wanting to do it, but someone wanted to know why the topic died off and I gave them my opinion. Am I wrong that liquid nitrogen is more popular than dry ice?

[Gautam]

Could you list those places please?

[skou]

Baskin-Robbins (31 flavours) sells Dry Ice.

Most grocery stores in my (greater Phoenix) area does, too.

steve

[skou]

LN2, try any welding supply store. If they don't have any, I'll bet they know someone who does.

steve

[squeakygeek]

Could you list those places please?

BOC Gasses
Airgas

Both welding supply stores.

And jeez, now I'm at a big engineering university and I could probably get it like it was water.

edit: And quite literally now that I think about it... I could probably just get a bucket, walk up to a building, and open a valve :santa:

[afireinside]

Only harder to use because you have to put more effort into insulation because of the cooler temps. But cooler temps is kind of the whole point of this, isn't it? If you are going to insulate for dry ice, you're already putting a lot of work into it, so you might as well do a bit more.

Are you sure it's harder to get and more expensive for you? I live in a relatively sparsly populated area and I've gotten it from two different places. One time, me and some friends just walked into the place and told them we were going to use it for science experiments (really just messing around), and they didn't even charge us for it. They even lent us the dewar and told us to come back if we needed more. Ironically, I don't even know where I would go to get dry ice.

I don't mean to criticize anyone for doing this or wanting to do it, but someone wanted to know why the topic died off and I gave them my opinion. Am I wrong that liquid nitrogen is more popular than dry ice?

Harder as in you have to learn how to pour it right and constantly hold a temp. You don't just fill the tube to the top and go. You need to control it. Insulation has nothing to do with it being harder.

[squeakygeek]

Harder as in you have to learn how to pour it right and constantly hold a temp. You don't just fill the tube to the top and go. You need to control it. Insulation has nothing to do with it being harder.

I don't understand.

[afireinside]

How can you not understand? You don't just fill the tube to the brim with ln2 like you do with a cup of soda. You need to do controlled splashes on the base so it doesn't get to cold, especially with AMD.

[squeakygeek]

How can you not understand? You don't just fill the tube to the brim with ln2 like you do with a cup of soda. You need to do controlled splashes on the base so it doesn't get to cold, especially with AMD.

Because I haven't heard this before. I didn't know there was such a thing as "too cold", I've never heard that before either...

[Gautam]

The latest AMDs and apparantly some of the 65nm Intels have a so-called "cold-bug"; in which they have trouble either flat out functioning at a certain temperature cut off, or begin to require sometimes drastic decreases in HTT.

[Epox4life]

Yea, im not sure if it was my board or CPU.
But if I were to leave the computer off for 2mins with dry ice in the container.
It wouldnt boot, it would beep once then shut off.
But it ran fine so long as I didnt leave the computer off for 1min or more.

[Jarod888]

I would not suggest methanol. It is highly toxic by all routes of entry into the body. the exposure for methanol is 200 ppm; (parts per million) TWA( time weighted average); 260 mg/m3 TWA and the IDLH is 6000 ppm ( immediatly dangerous to life and health) TWA is explained as 8-hour Time Weighted Averages (TWA) - are an average value of exposure over the course of an 8 hour work shift.

Basically what all this says is that if you can smell Methanol you are over exposed.



I work with this stuff on a weekly basis, and I have to wear respiratory protection.

I think that the easiest item to get would be Ethanol that is denatured with Isopropanol; rubbing alcohol; this way you would not have to have a liquor licence to have it. there are plenty of websites that will teach you how to distill your own ethanol. You just have to apply for a permit. A lot of people are doing it now to help combat high gas prices.

remember if you do get ethanol that is denatured with anything DO NOT DRINK IT!!!! Denature means to make the ethanol poisionus to drink..

[squeakygeek]

Also, if you ever accidently ingest methanol, you can save your life by getting drunk off regular booze. The same enzymes process both substances, and they prefer ethanol. If there is plenty of ethanol around, they won't touch the methanol.

[n0aH]

Some great info in this thread...to bad we all found out that DDR-PIII is a scammer troll...what a shame i thought he was pretty cool

[Darur]

Aloha, folks!

The past year myself and another student did an overclocking project for school and worked with dry ice. Figured I'd lend some expereince we had with it.

Making the box:

We used an old peice of copper gutter, the peices we formed into the box were polished and cleaned. The edges were folded to help keep it together.

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/3173/dscf0823do3.jpg

To join the walls, sauter from a hobby shop is a waste of time. We found it very difficult to get the sauter to stick. Instead we used plumbing sauter and a propane tourch.

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/7221/dscf0825pa8.jpg
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/834/dscf0826vf7.jpg
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/3096/dscf0827kx2.jpg
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/5894/dscf0828sb9.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2483/dscf0829fd0.jpg

The final product (minus the copper wire, that was just to keep everything together) :

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/3919/dscf0830sc7.jpg

With the dry ice:

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/2189/dscf0856ut6.jpg
(sorry, blurry pic)

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/3811/dscf0857xb8.jpg

Again, we didnt know about liquid, so we improvised with that copper peice in the middle, it REALLY helped to make more surface area and get more out of the dry ice.

[Darur]

The effects:

(sadly, I lost the pics of it being used on one of the newer PCs we were cooling, this was an old board we were testing on. The temps, btw, were around -2 degrees F in this pic)

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/9746/dscf0858ec3.jpg

The box and sauter were very strong and hardly effected by tempuratures as shown here when we poured LN2 in it.

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/3726/dscf0860wh2.jpg

All in all it worked great, after smoothing out the bottom of the copper block we didnt even need thermal greese or anything. Issues with condensation were practically non-existent, the copper walls were too cold to allow ice on them to melt, although most of the equpiment we were working with was laughable by today's standards. Mostly I'm focusing on making a suitible box for applying dry ice.

Also, if you are too lazy to make a box or cant apply it to your processor well, a simple heatsink minus the fan will give similar results, just slap the dry ice on it, however you will probably have issues with condensation and the effect wont be nearly as great.

(this is on an amazingly old IBM, we tried this just to see if dry ice applied to a heatsink would work)
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8156/dscf0895tm8.jpg
(sorry, blurry pics again)
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8601/dscf0864eo1.jpg

Hope this was of some help, best of luck!

P.S - The comment about CO2 extingushiers and producing dry ice from them, it would work but wouldnt be that efficent. When they make dry ice, from my understanding, its compressed to a liquid then released into a low preassure room. Part of the liquid boils but it takes away heat from the rest which causes it to freeze into dry ice flakes. This is then compacted into blocks.

[v3x]

if u want dry ice then order some omaha steaks. they come packed with a big chunk of it and then u can do some serious overclocking and grilling at the same time. lol.

so true

[Propaganda]

At the cafe' I worked at they get dry ice every tuesday... what a good day!

It's soooooo fun. bombs and more bombs. I get a lot of people angry w/me over my loud boom fetish.

BTW... dry ice inside beer = sucky beer.

[Janus67]

Since this is a guide I figure I am OK to bump it as it was linked from the sticky.

How difficult is it for someone to switch between DICEing for a day of benching and then switching back to the normal cooler (I use a normal air venomous-x)? Is there a lot of cleanup?

[Seebs]

Since this is a guide I figure I am OK to bump it as it was linked from the sticky.

How difficult is it for someone to switch between DICEing for a day of benching and then switching back to the normal cooler (I use a normal air venomous-x)? Is there a lot of cleanup?

Not too difficult. All you need to do is let the pot warm up a bit... Once it can safely be removed from the chip just take it out. If any frost has formed anywhere on the board you will want to let that dry out until you're 100% sure no moisture is left on it. Once the board is dry; you're good to go with air cooling.

[Janus67]

I assume you have to remove the eraser gum stuff as well (which I read is re-usable?)

[Seebs]

I assume you have to remove the eraser gum stuff as well (which I read is re-usable?)

Correct... Remove all insulation from the board before going on back on air. And yes; eraser is reusable...

[m0r7if3r]

You don't really have to remove the insulation tbh. Remove most of it, but some of the more difficult places to insulate you can leave. If you just get frost king, the whole switch becomes very easy.

[Bobnova]

It takes me between 45 minutes and an hour to warm the pot, remove the insulation, dry everything out, stuff the mobo back in the case and put the normal cooler back on.

[MattNo5ss]

Just buy another system for benching (or cheap system for 24/7), that makes it easy :D All I have to do is move my monitor, mouse, and keyboard. If you have a KVM switch, then you don't even have to do that (if you're benching near your 24/7 system).

[Janus67]

Just buy another system for benching (or cheap system for 24/7), that makes it easy :D All I have to do is move my monitor, mouse, and keyboard. If you have a KVM switch, then you don't even have to do that (if you're benching near your 24/7 system).

That would be nice if I could do that, but yeah, definitely don't have the funds to just buy another machine for benching, and my 24/7 machine is my gaming/benching machine. So more importantly I just have to be careful with the PC (don't want to break it).

Thanks for the tips, all. Going to do some more homework here and on XS to see what my capabilities are.


Next question - is there a 'go-to' DICE pot that is purchased, or do most people make their own somehow? I was checking out the Kingpin stuff (seems pretty expensive @ around $200 for the F1 Gemini, which also appears to be made for LN2 only and would have to be modified for DICE usage).

lol, forum search for the win - http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=653113&highlight=pot

Looks like this is the one to go for? Koolance V2?
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10360/ex-blc-727/Koolance_DIY_Liquid_Nitrogen_Evaporator_Chamber_-_CPU_CPU-LN2-V2.html?tl=c441s1121b4#blank

[Blitzmann]

Just found my day project. Going to setup a system on the benching desk and try fabbing up a container and knocking out a few (20lbs worth) of DICE benches.

[ChanceCoats123]

Just found my day project. Going to setup a system on the benching desk and try fabbing up a container and knocking out a few (20lbs worth) of DICE benches.

Sounds to me like someone wants to join the benching team. :)

[Janus67]

Quick Q, where is a good place to buy Neoprene foam? I checked and both Homedepot and Lowes don't seem to carry it. I don't want to spend a fortune on the stuff, of course. And secondly what thickness would be about right? 3/16''? 1/2''?

[TsunamiJuan]

Most kits include 1/4" neoprene or some other closed cell foam,which is about you will find for readily available pipe insulation, 1/2" is definately more effective, can be found fairly easily aswell.

Frostking and electricale grade waterproofing can be found at most electrical supply places, you might have to look for a place that mostly deals with contractors, most of these places if you ask them nicely and assure them you aren;t gonna be trying to return a large amount of products or look for consumer level support will still sell to you without a contracters liscence or buisness liscense.

[Seebs]

Quick Q, where is a good place to buy Neoprene foam? I checked and both Homedepot and Lowes don't seem to carry it. I don't want to spend a fortune on the stuff, of course. And secondly what thickness would be about right? 3/16''? 1/2''?

Grainger.com (http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/rubber-sheets-and-strips/rubber/raw-materials/ecatalog/N-c1z?contextPath=Grainger&itemsPerPage=60) sells the neoprene sheets and everything else you can't find at HD or Lowes...

If you need Frost King and can't find it; they do have it at HD... just ask they guys there to tell you where item FV516 is located.

[Janus67]

I ended up finding the frost king stuff at lowes for $20 after taxes on my 3rd trip there -- the first two they had the wrong product on the shelf, and not until I found out their stock numbers did I have someone go and find it for me (on the top shelf of some random stack), fortunately that isn't not too bad and got a big roll of it.

Looks like I will be splitting my time between grainer and mcmaster to see where I get a better price on the stuff. Thanks guys!

The mcmaster stuff is 1/4'' and relatively cheap. It is what Gautum posted a while ago.


8647K23
In stock for $7.43 per ft.
Material Type: Weather-Resistant Neoprene/EPDM/SBR Foam Rubber
Shape:Sheets, Bars, and Strips
Backing:No Backing
Thickness:1/4"
Thickness Tolerance:±0.025"
Length:Cut-to-Length
Maximum Continuous Length:50'
Width:42"
Width Tolerance:±1-1/4"
Temperature Range:-40° to +200° F
Density:4-8 lbs./cu. ft.
Foam Structure:Closed Cell
Texture Type:Fine Cell
Foam Firmness:Extra Soft
Firmness, psi:2-5 (25% Deflection)
Compression Recovery:Fair
Color:Black
Finish:Textured
Tolerance:Standard
Specifications Met:American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Military Specifications (MIL), Underwriters Laboratories (UL)
ASTM Specification:ASTM D1056
MIL Specification:MIL-C-3133C, MIL-STD-670B
UL Specification:UL 94HF1
Properties:Weather Resistant, Flame Resistant
Notes:Material does not have a skin.