I wanted to know if I could make a special box that my PC would stay in and leave it outside. This box would be sealed, so water cant enter, and would have filters on it for dust and stuff. What I want to know is if condensation will occur? I know that it occurs when warm air touches something colder, if im correct. So would condensation still occur if I put my PC outside when its around -9.4 C (15 F), when my PC temps are around 65 C (149 F)? FYI, I wont turn off my PC at all.
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Keeping My PC Outside For Winter?
- Thread starter Chmewy
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2002
- Location
- The Empire State
Condensation will occur trust me. The components will warm up the board and eventually condensation will start. All it takes is 1 drop/droplet and it's all over. You have to seal the entire motherboard, Cpu socket, ram slots, pcie slots, evry little nook and cranny. Not worth the risk imho for just cooler temps.
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2001
- Location
- Kansas, USA
Trust me, those that are on or have been on the benchmarking team have tried various ways of doing this and I even saw a guy mod a small refrigerator to put his computer in. I did see a couple people try something I always wanted to do, duct cold outside air in using a dryer vent hose and fans. Back in my single days, I put long-john underwear on and a warm sweater and kept the house cool in the winter. The heating bills were lower, but my cat was not a happy camper. He preferred being warm. I'm pretty sure my wife would not let me do that nowadays, although I could close the door to my man cave and open a window when it gets cooler.
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2011
doesnt condensation occur when an object is cooler than the air?
if the outside was like in a garage or something i think it would be fine. setting it outside the window.. no because of precipitation (snow sleet rain) and dew ect.
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
Been there. Back in my single days, I used to keep the house around 14-15c in the winter just to let the computer run cooler and squeeze out a little extra performance. Many benching sessions in three layers of warm clothes. Even after getting married, I would often seal off the room as best I could and crack a window in winter. I might try to build a PC/gaming room again some day, something I can seal off from the rest of the house with it's own ventilation and temp/humidity control.
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2001
- Location
- Kansas, USA
Regarding condensation, typically it's caused when water vapor cools enough to turn into water droplets. The classic example is a glass of iced tea sitting on the coffee table on a summer day, it'll became covered with beads of condensation in minutes (assuming there is some humidity in the air). That's why mothers and wives nag us to use a coaster. Generally, I would not expect condensation to form on an object that was warmer than the ambient temperature (actually, condensation doesn't occur until the water vapor temp drops below the dew point which is usually cooler than ambient temp unless the humidity is 100%).
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
in the winter i turn the heat off in the garage, open the doors, chuck the rig out there over night and bench in the cold of the morning, I get the rig out there the night before and have had no issues.
a friend of mine has a company the warehouses frozen chicken for shipping, at -40 I had lots of issues, fans that would not spin up, gpu's that would lose contact with the slot, great fun though.
a friend of mine has a company the warehouses frozen chicken for shipping, at -40 I had lots of issues, fans that would not spin up, gpu's that would lose contact with the slot, great fun though.
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2005
- Location
- North Brookfield, MA
had one in an uninsulated garage for years. never had a problem with it.. that thing stayed nice and cold and was probably the only way top keep a 4870x2 cool. this is through mass winters.
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2011
Back in the days of Athlon64 I did something like that in my dorm room. Duct tape, some wood, and a dryer vent tube in the window. It worked well, I was able to hit 3.1ghz in the Winter, from 2.7ghz regular OC, 1.8ghz base. My 9700pro also profited from the cold nicely. I remember being amazed by my load temps being rather close to room temp. I wouldn't leave my PC outside though, no way. But yeah, the tube through the window method does work.
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2010
Spinning drives don't like the cold, use a SSD.
The older drives PATA had a min operating temp of 55f (12.5c), most new drives today can go as low as 0c but consider that they have fluid bearings and it could freeze. So good rule of thumb is 12c-35c. Also the metal disk platters can change shape and size when hot or cold.
here is a screen shot from a WD PDF SATA drive:
Attachments
LOL! I agree with the rest here, I have tried some crazy stuff in the past with AMD MP server systems and I did tried using the air form out side into the case and then back out. Once I started to notice moisture due to a sensor system I had. I turned it off left it to dry for a while and then power it back on. was fine, damn thing was like a pullet proof system but I knew it only took one drop to destroy the whole thing. This was on my early stages to learn how to keep a system cool using various of stuff. lol I got lucky but is to risky in my opinion to even attempt it. Notice the moisture on my system because it was being filter with a fan and filter but the metal around it was getting wet. You have better luck putting that thing in a fish tank with mineral oil instead. Hahahaha.
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2011
well oil is lighter than water, so any condensation or moisture would settle into the bottom of the oil possible coming in contact with the board on the way down.
- Joined
- May 4, 2011
You may be forgetting something about this; doing this makes the case EXTREMELY heavy. And a pain in the rear to clean everything up when he wants to bring it back in for summer
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2015
The thing is that you have to dissipate the heat, be it through air, water, oil or ice cream!
If you run your PC once in a while, yes, your temps will stay cool. But if you run it a few hours in tow, at load, the oil will heat up. It is still ambient cooling.
The only way to get sub ambient without going dice or LN2 is evaporation cooling, using a "bong", water will drop 5 to 10c below ambient. Like this (one of my old setups). Works as soon as youdon't bother living in a tropical forest! Well, yes water evaporates and go somewhere: in your room!
If you run your PC once in a while, yes, your temps will stay cool. But if you run it a few hours in tow, at load, the oil will heat up. It is still ambient cooling.
The only way to get sub ambient without going dice or LN2 is evaporation cooling, using a "bong", water will drop 5 to 10c below ambient. Like this (one of my old setups
). Works as soon as youdon't bother living in a tropical forest! Well, yes water evaporates and go somewhere: in your room!
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2004
I have had my window open and rad outside in -40 deg c temps for a bench session but would not do it for the whole winter
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2015
Unless you have a 3siberia certifed" coat!
Edit: never have temps below 0°C in winter, I am kind of jealous!
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2004
Unless you have a 3siberia certifed" coat!
Edit: never have temps below 0°C in winter, I am kind of jealous!
Siberia and Canada have similar temps .
I work out side in a long sleeve t-shirt and a vest till it gets -15 ish .
