Insulation for the phase cooler

I assume that the insulation should be lower than the cooler itself. How much extra should I leave below this kind of setup?

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Depends on the board you're going to be using it on. It should seal completely against whatever insulation you are using on the board, but it should not prevent you from getting the phase change head securely against the CPU.
Be aware that it will glue itself to eraser pretty nicely, you'll want a layer of paper towel/shop rag between them.

It's a Rampage Extreme IV Black. I'll be using art eraser, then shop towel, and lastly Armaflex insulation tape and just to be on the safe side, dielectric grease in the socket.

I just assume that it needs to be a tad lower than the cooler head to form a seal. If it was the same length as the head it could leave a little gap to allow air in. This will be like neoprene touching neoprene.

Yeah that's perfect. Maybe 0.25" lower, to give it some crush against the other neoprene layer.

Sounds like you are spot on, here are few examples of how I do it, however I do not use insulation around the head as this is more a bench set up rather than a 24/7 solution

First time sub ambient ? if so you are in for some fun

Is this for long term use or for a benching session? I would be pretty hesitant to put dielectric grease in the socket. That stuff sucks to try and get off/out. Ever since having issues with Vaseline and z77, I have skipped the grease if possible. IMO, as long as the socket area is well sealed from the air, you shouldn't need the grease.

This is for long term use. It wouldn't always be 24/7; only for stress testing my overclocks.

Yes, first time sub ambient. I've done water cooling for years, but it's been awhile since I've done even that.

I've heard it's easy to get out the grease. Just throw the motherboard in the dishwasher. I've been going back and forth with using the grease. I have never had to RMA a board before. I've seen pictures of corrosion on pins and CPU's when people haven't used it. I'd hate to ruin a 500.00 CPU and 400.00 motherboard to save 3.00.

The dishwasher will not remove it very well. If you were hoping to be able to ever RMA the board, I wouldn't use any grease. Also, it will attract dust and grime forever.

I don't ever use it for SS, but I usually insultate well and run only for a few hours at a time.


Edit: I do live in the desert though, I know some places may have much higher humidity and more precautions may need to be taken.

I have never used grease in the socket on my SS or even cold

You will be digging it, things just work better cold

Hope you have a good CPU

Vaseline mostly sort of comes out in the dishwasher.
Silicone dielectric grease never comes off. You can get much of it if you attack the grease thing with B-12 Chemtool, but B-12 Chemtool will likely dissolve the motherboard as well as the grease.

Is this good enough with the eraser?

That looks good! Would try to smooth down the level of the eraser a bit so that any condensation flows away from the cpu. Could also use some more pressing down around the edge of the cpu (I use a thin, wooden shish-ka-bob skewer). Make sure you do the back of the board with eraser and put a rubber mat between the backplate and eraser (pretty sure you've got that covered already but since it's not mentioned here, thought I'd throw it in).

I'm another one that doesn't use grease and never had an issue but I tend to do max runs of about 12 hours (not anything close to 24/7).

Since you removed the cpu holdown...BE VERY VERY CAREFUL WHEN YOU REMOVE THE PHASE HEAD!!! You're more or less guaranteed a great seal between the head and cpu but the downside is they get stuck together pretty tightly. Getting it off's a pita and if it slips off at an angle it can result in bent pins. I just got my board back after accidentally crushing ~80 pins (and it's not covered so they charge for the repair). I'm keeping the holdown on from now on.

Edit: Great point from Bobnova in the next post....it is really thick. I make the eraser layer as thin as possible....that's all it takes to insulate against water.

It's thicker than I like to use, but that's largely personal preference and is based on DIce (-79°c) and LN2 (-196°c) where cold transfer is a serious issue.
That should be OK for phase.
You can always run it and see how it goes.
My advice is to do an hour or so of running, then do a full teardown and see if there is water anywhere it should not be. I take a hair dryer to it after running.

If you suddenly run into "weird" instability, turn it off, tear down, and dry out.
When things start behaving strangely, something has gotten wet.

Daddyjaxx, hope you don't mind me posting this here, it's on the same subject. I'm thinking of making the move to DICE since all my cold air is gone outside. Has anyone ever used something like saran wrap on top of the board ie under the erasure to help remove it when needed. Is there any potential problems with doing that?

No need, the eraser comes off esily, just don't forget to hold the caps in place when removing, you will like dice much better than cold air, Unfortunatly it will not quensh your thirst, better star looking for a dewar awhile .........

I just had enough eraser to finish the back. Yes, it comes with neoprene backing and a backplate. 2011 sockets are huge front and back and took forever. I also decided against using any grease in the socket. I don't do 24/7. 8-10 hours is all I run usually.

I'm pretty proficient with water cooling and can do it with my eyes closed, but I don't like it running unattended too long either. I lost a 6800 Ultra a long time ago watercooling. That's been my only permanent casualty so far.

Well, it's all in the case now. Bleeding the loop right now. Ill post some better pics when my camera charges. I hate taking pictures with my I-Phone.

Looks awesome! Look forward to some test results!!

Well...there won't be any test results with this case. You've heard of idiots, well I'm their king. Someone (me) didn't bother to run the phase system before I spent ALL the time installing everything in the case. I get it powered up and it starts its four minute countdown like it should. After the four minutes, the fans for the evaporator started up, but not the evaporator. The temp of the evaporator just stays at room temperature.

I've got an email off to Lil Devil, but I need to get in touch with Frozen CPU in the morning. I can order another one and get credit for this one after I return it. Now I have to tear apart the loop, take everything out, spend a fortune sending it back.....

I know nothing about these things, so I have no clue what to even check. I did check the fuse and it's fine.

Worst come to worst, I'm looking at the loop. Besides the rad and res, everything in on the motherboard. I may try and take everything out intact. It sure beats draining it and redoing it later. The only problem is FCU only has a BTX (reverse) case in white and I really don't want a white case.

Well... according to LD:

We find out that starting resistor needs to be added in to the phase change.

Can I add a water block on top of the erase and insulation until I get the parts from Slovenia?