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PC in a fridge

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Camelot One

Registered
Joined
Jul 10, 2002
Location
Sarasota FL USA
Before you say it, I know, its been covered. I read through all 5 pages of posts that came up in my search. But in all of that, I didn't find a definitive answer.
One user posted the thread "Project Condensation" It was off to a good start, but I didn't get the answer I was looking for. I also found reference to this: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~insanex/fequently_ask_questions.htm#Condensation

Which sounded promising given my idea. So here goes. I have a brand new GE 1.8cf dorm fridge I found on sale for $70. My system specs are:
AMD 1800+ - will be unlocked by the time this project is started
Soyo KT333 Platinum
Gainward GF4 4600 Golden Sample 750 - HSF
2X Maxtor 740X 80Gb HD Raid Striped
Enermax 450W PS
Thermaltake Volcano 7+ CPU HSF
TT Crystal orb chipset HSF
Philips DVD+CDRW drive
Teac Floppy

I want to stay away from water cooling, just don't have the money for it. And my gola is a quite, self contained system. The fridge is so quiet when running that it cannot be heard from 5 ft away.

I know if I just stick the MB,CPU, HDs, and PS in the fridge, condensation will kill it. My understanding is that once everythingis in there and running for awhile, condensation won't be an issue, its just the warm air that rushes in when you open the door you need to worry about. (right?) From what I can tell, this fridge doesn't actually blow any cold air in, it just has a lead wire attached to the ice cube tray, which cools the tray, and in turn cools the surrounding air. So I am thinking about putting the PC parts in a plexi box. Given all of that, how should I set everything up? Fans in the plexi box? And what about the HDs? They have a minimum operating temp of 5C, which worried me. Then again, the fridge may not have enough juice to freeze everything anyway, but it might. Suggestions?
 
Id say put two fans on that plexi box. One in, one out. Just to keep the air moving over the pieces. If you plan to overclock everything, Im sure the heat will keep things over 5c. Kind of a new concept for me, but it seems logical that a fan or two should be in use. Good luck, hopefully the hardcore guys here will have somethin better to tell you.
 
Even if you forget about condensation, air is still extremely inefficient at transfering heat. You can achieve the same effect by ducting the output from your AC to the HSF, for example. If you want to go with a fridge, use it to cool water in a WC setup.
 
After staring at the fridge for awhile, I had another thought. Add a second chamber to the PC plexi box. Then set the intake fan to blow over that, another to blow from that into the PC box, then another out to the open air. That would use the freezer plate like a dehumidifier. It would need somewhere to drip water, but that should be easy enough to figure out.

The goal in this is not super cooling, I am just trying to achieve the same temps I get with my current air cooling (which is reduculously noisy) in a closed, quiet system. Since I have the fridge, parts cost are low, but going to water cooling would require quite an investment.
 
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