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suspending a rig in oil?

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Wiggy Fuzz

Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
we were having a discussion at uni about overclocking (i'm pro, somebody is against), and we came to the subject of cooling. a bit of yapping later, and i jokingly suggested putting your rig in a freezer. then got berated about condensation, and how not even putting it in a plastic bag would work. and obviously putting it in water would just short it. but then pure water can't carry electricity because it has no ions to carry it. however it would be made very impure by putting your computer in it and end up carrying a charge. then somebody suggested oil, and our lecturer overheard, and mentioned that oil (specifically vegetable oil) doesn't carry electricity, therefore eliminating the issue of condensing water and what not. so we came to the conclusion that sticking your whole rig in a vat of vegetable oil (including the psu) and then in a freezer is the best way of keeping your whole rig nice and cool. naturally the harddrive and anything with moving parts would be kept out of the oil... but then that's where solid state drives come in :beer:

imagine... vegetable oil and liquid helium... sorry, pointless rant over. anybody willing to try?

sorry, did a search after and turned up some interesting results...
 
Veggy oil breaks down.. Mineral oil however, does not.

And just like aja said, the fridge/freezer cannot handle a constant heat load.
 
The other issue might be that oil may break down insulation material. In auto applications you have to use the right grade of power steering fluid, for example, because the wrong kind will degrade the seals in the pump and hydraulic servo.
 
Veggy oil breaks down.. Mineral oil however, does not.

And just like aja said, the fridge/freezer cannot handle a constant heat load.

Depends on the fridge actually. Think about it how can you control the temperature of a room full of computers with AC but not be able to control the heat of 1 computer in a fridge? Also most fridges can handle a constant heat load just fine just look at things like open front coolers.
 
Open front coolers operate differently than residential Refrigerators. They have compressors designed for a 24 hr duty cycle. A Refridgerator is designed for fairly short cycles, running for 10 minutes or so to return the temp back to the chilled temp, then it cuts back off
 
Open front coolers operate differently than residential Refrigerators. They have compressors designed for a 24 hr duty cycle. A Refridgerator is designed for fairly short cycles, running for 10 minutes or so to return the temp back to the chilled temp, then it cuts back off

This. Putting a computer, even a low power one, in a fridge or a freezer will eventually kill the compressor on the unit, no ifs, ands, or buts. They just can't deal with the constant heat load, as has been pointed out.
 
This. Putting a computer, even a low power one, in a fridge or a freezer will eventually kill the compressor on the unit, no ifs, ands, or buts. They just can't deal with the constant heat load, as has been pointed out.

no, as the guy above you said, a refrigerator with a 100% duty cycle, IE an industrial one will be able to handle the load fine.
 
Dr Freeze was the first I saw doing it in 99. Ever since it is a reoccuring topic.

Recently a company even built submerged computers. With a price to put the Voodoo pc's to shame I bet they love the recession. The result is they have something which costs more than a prometia but cooles like watercooling.
 
Search function is your friend, the Oil method has been posted and done many times, the fridge issue has been talked about alot as well.
 
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