FREEZER extension WHAT!?!!!

[Conumdrum]

Best of luck. I'm sure the 1,000,000 others world wide over the last 10 years+ hope you can figure it out. If they had figured it out, we'd all be using it.

Still, prove us wrong, I would love a low/no power (electricity cost) non condensing rig setup that's cheap and effective.

Research, take notes, come back to us and become a PC god if you figure it out.

 

[doyousmoke]

Best of luck. I'm sure the 1,000,000 others world wide over the last 10 years+ hope you can figure it out. If they had figured it out, we'd all be using it.

Still, prove us wrong, I would love a low/no power (electricity cost) non condensing rig setup that's cheap and effective.

Research, take notes, come back to us and become a PC god if you figure it out.

PSHHHH... half way there

 

[nightelph]

Half way denotes acquiring a fridge or AC unit.. updates!

 

[doyousmoke]

OK! watts x roughly 3 = Btu/hr

a mini fridge is said to move about 100 Btu/hr
a bigger fridge is said to move around 400 or 500 Btu/hr
and i read a window ac unit moves 5000 Btu/hr

so FULL LOAD, if one of my cards is sucking in 300 watts, just to keep the temp of the loop at a constant temp, i'd need something that can move 900 Btu/hr(that's JUST the one card and NOTHING else)

F***! is it so much to ask for a window AC unit in the form of a mini fridge?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!

my entire loop(or both loops combined) on FULL LOAD is going to be dealing with around 3900 Btu/hr fffffffffffWWWWUHHHHHHHHH??

 

[doyousmoke]

and on that note: if you have something that moves more Btu's/hr than you generate, youre going to cool your loop, creating dew

so not only do i need something that i havent looked for and probably wont find, but it needs to match my loop's Btu load minus any Btu's moved from my loop by air or radiator

too many Btu's moved = wet motherboard
not enough Btu's moved = overworked Btu mover

 

[m0r7if3r]

Condensation is less of an issue than you'd think in that it's pretty easy to manage. There are people who run 24/7 phase change.

 

[alinosa]

If you're going all out, why not just a/c the crap out of your whole room? Put the window unit in the WINDOW. Then crank it up, point the cold output at your (recently moved to make it so) adjacent computer case intake and put a hoodie on. You could even duct the output of the ac over your whole case then into the room. This makes your whole computer cold and let's your computer have a chance at adding some warmth to the air before it gets dumped into your room. If you have more than one box in your room, it gets a net benefit too.

 

[Diggrr]

...with any ammount of copper in your fridge, it's darned difficult to judge exactly how much you can expose to the fridge air without causing condensation problems in your computer.

Now you see what I was talking about, matching an unregulated chiller with a highly variable heatsource.
Honestly, a chilly room is a great solution cause the size of the room is a buffer, and your computer's exposure to the chilly temp is regulated as easily as turning up/down your rad fans.

*Strange Idea*: Since you won't find a fridge that will do what you want, make one.
Build a tall insulated carton that has a window on the back for a small A/C unit, and also houses your computer.
Yes, it will heat up the room, but not much more than the heat from a computer and fridge (or two computers) would anyway.

I get crazy sometimes....

**The A/C unit would cycle much more frequently, so don't spend a lot of money on one. At least get one with digital temp regulation though.
**Prepare yourself for hugs from your electric provider.

 

[m0r7if3r]

With that much AC cooling that little heat, you'd have to be really careful about freezing over the AC. A guy ducted his AC to his heatsink not-so-long ago and that was the issue he ran into.

 

[Diggrr]

Very true, but with ducting you:
a) Slow down the airflow over the coils considerably by forcing an open air system into a 4" tube.
b) Turn the temps to maximum so the unit stays on.

TBH, I'm not sure he'd get his sought after results at all, never tried anything like this, never seen it done. Maybe it's a question best posed in the extreme cooling section for those pros.

 

[alinosa]

If you're going all out, why not just a/c the crap out of your whole room? Put the window unit in the WINDOW. Then crank it up, point the cold output at your (recently moved to make it so) adjacent computer case intake and put a hoodie on. You could even duct the output of the ac over your whole case then into the room. This makes your whole computer cold and let's your computer have a chance at adding some warmth to the air before it gets dumped into your room. If you have more than one box in your room, it gets a net benefit too.

 

[nightelph]

You could just move to Alaska and run the water tube out the window and back in..

 

[alinosa]

You could just move to Alaska and run the water tube out the window and back in..

Sounds like the most "leave it unmessed with" answer to me. Living in South Texas our weather varies from hot to Satan's armpit. Once in a while it's not just muggie, but he really works up a sweat and it rains. So cooling a computer here is really work. Alaska? Pssh just leave the window open.

 

[doyousmoke]

SOUNDS LIKE IF I DO ANYTHING NOW, IT'S GONNA HAVE TO BE THIS:

i'll just get a window ac unit and put it in the window.. i'll attach the ac unit to a custom box using hosing.. the custom box will be thin and long with inserts that create a zig-zag path for the cool air.. i'll run my 10 foot tubing through that box as well.. the box will exaust through another hose at the end, which will lead back to the ac unit (SO MY ROOM DOESNT GET COLD AND S***! I LIKE IT TO BE 71' IN MY ROOM. NO MORE, NO LESS!)

this just calls for a LOT of tubing and a LOT of water in my loop

I AM NOT LOOKING TO COOL MY COMPUTER OR ITS COMPONENTS DIRECTLY. too many Btu's moved and you get dew eventually. even though this still applys to a water cooling loop, i feel using the loop to cool my computer and cooling the loop with the ac would be the safest bet... this way i can monitor the temp and flow of my loop after the ac box and just turn the ac off when it begins to get within a couple degrees of the dew point

 

[alinosa]

... and you get dew eventually.

You won't get any condensation as long as the colder part (computer) is segregated from the warmer air. The a/c air is cold and dry and will cool whatever is in its airflow. You will not get condensation on anything that isn't coming into contact with warmer, moist air. I could see condensation building up if you turn off the computer and the a/c at the same time letting the warmer ambient air come into the area with the cold case. But if you turn off the a/c while the computer is running and let the case come back to ambient before turning it off you shouldn't get any condensation. This idea applies to cooling just a large loop of your water cooling setup. as long as you turn off the cold and let the loop come back to ambient/warm enough you will avoid condensation.

Just thinking out loud.

If you worried about condensation why not sleeve the cooling hose that is running between the chilly air and the waterblocks? My camelbak came with a neoprene hose cover to help keep my water chilly while resting in the hose instead of getting baked in the suns UV.

Also, does this mean moving to Alaska is off the table?

 

[doyousmoke]

You won't get any condensation as long as the colder part (computer) is segregated from the warmer air. The a/c air is cold and dry and will cool whatever is in its airflow. You will not get condensation on anything that isn't coming into contact with warmer, moist air. I could see condensation building up if you turn off the computer and the a/c at the same time letting the warmer ambient air come into the area with the cold case. But if you turn off the a/c while the computer is running and let the case come back to ambient before turning it off you shouldn't get any condensation. This idea applies to cooling just a large loop of your water cooling setup. as long as you turn off the cold and let the loop come back to ambient/warm enough you will avoid condensation.

Just thinking out loud.

If you worried about condensation why not sleeve the cooling hose that is running between the chilly air and the waterblocks? My camelbak came with a neoprene hose cover to help keep my water chilly while resting in the hose instead of getting baked in the suns UV.

Also, does this mean moving to Alaska is off the table?

Nice... where i was thinking i'd get condensation was on the waterblocks themselves, if i let the temp get too low.... but im not worried about that, just wanted it to be clear that it's an issue that can be handled (a few ways from the sounds of it), if it becomes an issue at all

i just strongly feel like i would have more control if i changed the temp of the loop rather than throwing an *** load of cold in the computer
...im still gonna be sleeping on this for a few days/weeks, but i really feel like im gonna end up going for it

*LET YOUR LOOP WARM BEFORE YOU TURN YOUR COMPUTER OFF
now that's good stuff

alaska's cool i guess... everyone has a gun and no one sleeps. sounds like a winning combo

 

[m0r7if3r]

The block, the socket, the back of the mobo...all of them have the potential to get cold enough to cause condensation. You need to insulate the board. You don't need to keep it warm, you just need to keep the warm air from touching the cold parts. This can be as simple as having a fan to keep the surface of the part warm to as complex as filling the socket with vaseline to ensure that the CPU pins do not get bridged...and you have to handle this hurdle for every part. Go post in the benching section and see what those guys have to say, they'll get you on the right track.

 

[alinosa]

The block, the socket, the back of the mobo...all of them have the potential to get cold enough to cause condensation. You need to insulate the board. You don't need to keep it warm, you just need to keep the warm air from touching the cold parts. This can be as simple as having a fan to keep the surface of the part warm to as complex as filling the socket with vaseline to ensure that the CPU pins do not get bridged...and you have to handle this hurdle for every part. Go post in the benching section and see what those guys have to say, they'll get you on the right track.

I'm not sure that all of this is necessary if he's cooling just a little below ambient. It's not like he's going to put a vapochill on his proc. just some experimental water chilling. Of course, if it's worth doing, it's worth over doing, right?

 

[m0r7if3r]

I'm not sure that all of this is necessary if he's cooling just a little below ambient. It's not like he's going to put a vapochill on his proc. just some experimental water chilling. Of course, if it's worth doing, it's with over doing, right?

Depends how certain you are of the parameters of the system. Personally, if I haven't done the calculations, I'm gonna insulate it like I'm running phase till I know what's going on in terms of temps and such and then tone it back if needed. I've got well over $1500 in my computer, the time it would take to do it safely is more than worth the risk it mitigates (for me)

 

[alinosa]

Good point. I don't know anyone that can just give away 100 bucks much less $1500. Might I then suggest conformal coating? We had it on all our pcbs when I was in the army and it renders most stuff impervious to water. (it can be messy though, but have fun.)