• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Submersion

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

Cow2kie

Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2003
What substences are good for doing a total submersion of the mobo/cpu/vidcard. Besides Mineral oil. Whats the best? If this container was put in a mini fridge.. would it need protection since its submerged in the mineral oil (or other substance)?
 
the best is some of 3M's engeinered fluids (like HFE-7100) but those cost upwards of $200 a gallon.

ive also heard of a oil that power companys use in transformers, thats cheaper, but havent really heard of anyone doing a submersion with it.

as for putting it in a minifridge, thats not a good idea. the fridge is made to keep things cool, not cool under a constant load. your best bet would be to find a small, quiet, effecient window AC unit and stick the evaporator coils in your case.

im half way considering doing a submersion PC myself.
 
Is there anything I could strip from the mini freezer to use to cool the tub. I cant go w/ expensive oil. Is pure mineral oil not good?
 
It isn't a very good heat conductor.....If you do it, I'd be temped to get a nice big copper heatsink, and at that point you aren't gaining much if any in temps, and making an expensive mess.
 
i believe that most oils have similar heat transfer properties. my question to you is why are you doing a submersion cooler. the only good reason ive seen is for making a very quiet computer, and thats it. i suggested to another user fo these forums that they could do it to prevent condensation from building up a half inch thick layer of ice when using liquid nitrogen to cool their system. beyond that i cant see much use for it.
 
yes, the best thing about it is that it would be insanley quiet. Even if it was same temps that i get now.. it would be better w/ no sound. I would want something like prometia or vapochill. but thats toooo much $$$
 
That seems way to complex & time consuming to get all those parts.. Plus i have no where near the tools he used to do that. :(


how much money did he spend on that?

prometia vs vapochill?
whos better
 
i'm working on a submerssion idea(will be a few months till i actually do anything because i need money)

my idea is more for looks than for performance. i was planning on the submersion to be for cooling the mosfets and the rest of the motherboard that doesn't really need alot of cooling but still helps out. and then running a WC setup to the CPU and GPU. it's not a cheap alternative expecially when you're going for style.

mineral oil(has to be pure) works, motor oil ( i know some work, not sure about which), and i've even seen a guy use salad dressing. just have to look around.

anyone know about maybe certain types of antifreeze? have to make sure it doesn't get acidic over time though.

: ) :
 
i'm thinking about doing it too, but i want it for coolong more than for looks, but i will make it look good, i think mineral oil is cool i have heard many people say thay but two questions, when i wanna upgrade(change video cards) would there be a problem, and what should i use to pump it and cool it?
 
Contra said:
i'm thinking about doing it too, but i want it for coolong more than for looks, but i will make it look good, i think mineral oil is cool i have heard many people say thay but two questions, when i wanna upgrade(change video cards) would there be a problem, and what should i use to pump it and cool it?

It's going to messy changing anything that gets submerged. One of the things that drove me away from the idea was the accessiblity of the mobo and it's associated components. If you overclock a lot, consider how many times you have reset the CMOS by the jumper! Make your container accessible!

As far as pumping it, the jury is still out. I would think a good w/c pump like the Eheim 1250 or Danner Mag 5 should do the trick. This goes hand in hand with cooling the oil. The colder it gets, the thicker it gets. How cold do you want it? You would cool it the same way you cool water. Pelts, rad, chiller...etc.

Read the link I posted above...it should give you some insite.
 
Back