- Joined
- Feb 1, 2009
- Location
- Illinois
There has been a very large influx of new benching team members, and of people willing to go cold. As usual, with new members, old information needs to be passed on. After watching a few people try it out for the first time, I decided this might be helpful.
First off, I won't cover insulating the motherboard or the pot because information can be found here from Deanzo and there have been numerous threads on the topic recently as well. I will however go over basic steps of mounting and getting a pot running well.
Secondly, this is a guide for DIce, and while the ideas are similar for DIce and Ln2, you can check out Miahallen's guide for Ln2. For alternatives to Frost King, like I used in my guide and eraser like Miahallen used, check out Dolk's thread for advice on Dragon Skin. Ed's Guide is another guide for DIce and has helped many a member already.
Mounting the Pot
After insulating the motherboard, make sure to apply your thermal paste. A common paste used is Arctic Silver Ceramique due to it's availability, cost and overall usability.
Apply a thin layer or use one of the many methods for applying thermal paste. Then place the pot on the processor, making sure the pot is correctly orientated.
Use the supplied bracket and mounting hardware to secure the pot and finish that aspect by wrapping the pot in any type of absorbent material. Blue shop towels, paper towels, and Sham-Wow's all work very well for this purpose.
You may think you're ready for DIce, but proper contact between the pot and the processor is crucial. For either brand of chip (Amd or intel), it is beneficial to start the computer and sit in the BIOS (or boot into Windows for low power chips) in order to heat the paste and allow it to flow between the processor and pot. The temperatures don't need to be extremely high, but should be high enough to assure proper flow.
While heating up the assembly, a great way to check if the pot and processor make efficient contact is to check the temperature of the pot, and of the processor. If their temperatures consistently increase together, they have a solid contact.
After heating the pot, make sure to tighten the mounting hardware a bit more to assure proper pressure and keep the solid mount. Turn the computer off and move on to the good part!
DIce!
You're now ready for DIce! If you buy large blocks, break it into smaller pieces and start the process by adding very fine pieces to the pot without adding your interface liquid (commonly acetone). This helps to prepare the pot for the cold and prevent the volcano of acetone that can occur at room temperature.
After five to ten minutes you can SLOWLY add acetone to the pot. I want to emphasize slowly because too fast can cause volcano-like results to come from your pot. There are many ways to add acetone, but adding directly from the container is probably one of the worst ways. I recommend a funnel, but a measuring cup or gravy cup are both great ideas. For smaller pots, a shot glass could even work.
Maintaining the Pot
The first DIce will evaporate very quickly in order to pull the pot down to the temperature of DIce (~-80*C). Don't be alarmed when the first DIce is gone very quickly. Continue to add small to medium chunks and stir the pot occasionally with a chop stick, or the end of a wooden spoon to keep the slurry in the pot from freezing and sticking. The stirring also helps to keep bubbles from forming in the bottom of the pot.
Now it's time to turn the computer back on. Boot it up, and bench as you normally would. You might notice that you can go a bit farther than you usually can though.
During your first session, you will get a feel for your hardware when it's under cold. You also get a feel for how fast you will need to add DIce to the pot and it only gets easier as you bench sub-zero more and more.
Summary
In conclusion, the steps to running a DIce pot can be summarized as:
1. Insulate the pot and motherboard.
2. Apply thermal paste and mount the pot.
3. Break the thermal paste in, and tighten the pot once more.
3. Chill the pot for five to ten minutes then slowly add acetone.
4. Maintain pot slurries to keep the pot cold.
5. BENCHING!
I'll post pictures of this process in the following weeks to help those visual learners out there.
I also want to mention that I take no credit for this other than putting it all together. I won't mention names because there are far too many, but all the benching members of this forum have contributed information that is now in this article. Thanks to everyone that has helped and continues to help the others on the team.
First off, I won't cover insulating the motherboard or the pot because information can be found here from Deanzo and there have been numerous threads on the topic recently as well. I will however go over basic steps of mounting and getting a pot running well.
Secondly, this is a guide for DIce, and while the ideas are similar for DIce and Ln2, you can check out Miahallen's guide for Ln2. For alternatives to Frost King, like I used in my guide and eraser like Miahallen used, check out Dolk's thread for advice on Dragon Skin. Ed's Guide is another guide for DIce and has helped many a member already.
Mounting the Pot
After insulating the motherboard, make sure to apply your thermal paste. A common paste used is Arctic Silver Ceramique due to it's availability, cost and overall usability.
Apply a thin layer or use one of the many methods for applying thermal paste. Then place the pot on the processor, making sure the pot is correctly orientated.
Use the supplied bracket and mounting hardware to secure the pot and finish that aspect by wrapping the pot in any type of absorbent material. Blue shop towels, paper towels, and Sham-Wow's all work very well for this purpose.
You may think you're ready for DIce, but proper contact between the pot and the processor is crucial. For either brand of chip (Amd or intel), it is beneficial to start the computer and sit in the BIOS (or boot into Windows for low power chips) in order to heat the paste and allow it to flow between the processor and pot. The temperatures don't need to be extremely high, but should be high enough to assure proper flow.
While heating up the assembly, a great way to check if the pot and processor make efficient contact is to check the temperature of the pot, and of the processor. If their temperatures consistently increase together, they have a solid contact.
After heating the pot, make sure to tighten the mounting hardware a bit more to assure proper pressure and keep the solid mount. Turn the computer off and move on to the good part!
DIce!
You're now ready for DIce! If you buy large blocks, break it into smaller pieces and start the process by adding very fine pieces to the pot without adding your interface liquid (commonly acetone). This helps to prepare the pot for the cold and prevent the volcano of acetone that can occur at room temperature.
After five to ten minutes you can SLOWLY add acetone to the pot. I want to emphasize slowly because too fast can cause volcano-like results to come from your pot. There are many ways to add acetone, but adding directly from the container is probably one of the worst ways. I recommend a funnel, but a measuring cup or gravy cup are both great ideas. For smaller pots, a shot glass could even work.
Maintaining the Pot
The first DIce will evaporate very quickly in order to pull the pot down to the temperature of DIce (~-80*C). Don't be alarmed when the first DIce is gone very quickly. Continue to add small to medium chunks and stir the pot occasionally with a chop stick, or the end of a wooden spoon to keep the slurry in the pot from freezing and sticking. The stirring also helps to keep bubbles from forming in the bottom of the pot.
Now it's time to turn the computer back on. Boot it up, and bench as you normally would. You might notice that you can go a bit farther than you usually can though.
During your first session, you will get a feel for your hardware when it's under cold. You also get a feel for how fast you will need to add DIce to the pot and it only gets easier as you bench sub-zero more and more.
Summary
In conclusion, the steps to running a DIce pot can be summarized as:
1. Insulate the pot and motherboard.
2. Apply thermal paste and mount the pot.
3. Break the thermal paste in, and tighten the pot once more.
3. Chill the pot for five to ten minutes then slowly add acetone.
4. Maintain pot slurries to keep the pot cold.
5. BENCHING!
I'll post pictures of this process in the following weeks to help those visual learners out there.
I also want to mention that I take no credit for this other than putting it all together. I won't mention names because there are far too many, but all the benching members of this forum have contributed information that is now in this article. Thanks to everyone that has helped and continues to help the others on the team.
Last edited:
![[H]pututu](/forums/data/avatars/s/241/241673.jpg?1704411343){kind=avatar}
