Guide to: Setting Up, and Benching your DIce Pot

[m0r7if3r]

It's a sticky!

 

[ChanceCoats123]

:whistles to himself:

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Bumpage for any new guys.

 

[muddocktor]

Hey Chance, how bad are the fumes coming off the pot with the acetone? I'm seriously considering getting a pot for some dice action in the future, but I need to know how bad the fumes from the acetone get. The reason for the questions is that I live down here in soggy bottom Louisiana and the humidity is an absolute killer most of the time. So setting up in the garage will be very problematic due to the extreme amount of ice that will form while benching. If it's not too stinky, I could do the occasional dice session in my computer room. But I don't want to build up enough fumes from the acetone to make an explosive mixture either in my computer room.

 

[hokiealumnus]

I bench DICE in our office. I put a fan in the window but that's mostly because of the CO2. (CO2 sinks; office is on 3rd floor, kid is sleeping on 2nd...better safe than sorry.) The acetone is noticeable when you first open the can and pour it into the pot. Once it's cold, except for the occasional whiff (say, when you stir the pot and some is still on the chopstick), you can't even smell it.

 

[Bobnova]

I only smell acetone when I open the can, once it's at -79*c it doesn't evaporate really at all.

Well and on teardown too of course.

 

[EarthDog]

Open the can, it smells, outside of that, nada. Just benching in a 12x10 bedroom/office as well.

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Exactly what everyone has said. Personally, my basement isn't "Well ventilated" by any means, but the CO₂ nor the smell are ever problems. I say get that pot and join us for some good times.

 

[muddocktor]

How would Neuro's LN2 pot (in the Classies) do with Dice do you guys think, as it sits? Because he is selling it at a pretty good price for a brand new pot.

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Well, the current bases for the Gemini are more geared towards LN2, but I would buy it if I had the cash since the DIce base is supposed to be out soon. One thing I'm not sure of is leaking since Miah's pot leaked LN2 for a bit when he benched. It quickly froze closed, but not something I would want to deal with.

 

[Bobnova]

It's likely to leak, I wouldn't plan on dicing it without making a gasket of some sort.

 

[muddocktor]

I guess you could seal it up with some good old duct tape and hope it froze up before leaking too bad. Or maybe I could use some Dow high vacuum silicone grease to seal it, which I have. The stuff is damn viscous at room temp and I imagine it would freeze hard pretty quickly at dice temps. We use it to lubricate o-rings on high temp filter presses on the valve stems to keep them from cutting and leaking under high temps and pressure.

Now all I need is to cough up a couple of Ben Franklins.

 

[ChanceCoats123]

 

[ChanceCoats123]

 

[TsunamiJuan]

With the recent increase in insulation problems lately for people, I high recommend Some Vasoline for the memory sockets (super easy to clean off with a hair dryer) Aswell as making sure you cover the back of the boards pins with something around the CPU and ram.

 

[ChanceCoats123]

You think so? I've only ever run Vaseline when I ran my gpu cold. I just put it in the PCI-E slot. I've gone through 10+ cold sessions (ln2 and Dice combined) and had zero issues surrounding the ram.

Insulating the back of the motherboard under the socket and RAM is a must though.

 

[TsunamiJuan]

Yeah, bobnova has had the problem and so have I, When you go from a light load on the cpu to a heavy load or intermediate load. Theres a high chance that some of the Frost will melt.

Cram some vasoline in the sockets and between them and even if some water does get there your safe. I find that by the end of the session the vasoline in the second slot over is crystalized somewhat from the cold. Just enough that if there was a moisture buildup there, that it could easily change states and cause alot of annoying problems.

 

[Seebs]

With the recent increase in insulation problems lately for people, I high recommend Some Vasoline for the memory sockets (super easy to clean off with a hair dryer) Aswell as making sure you cover the back of the boards pins with something around the CPU and ram.

You think so? I've only ever run Vaseline when I ran my gpu cold. I just put it in the PCI-E slot. I've gone through 10+ cold sessions (ln2 and Dice combined) and had zero issues surrounding the ram.

Insulating the back of the motherboard under the socket and RAM is a must though.

I'm on the same boat as Chance. I have never used Vaseline, or any other type of insulation other than Frost King, Eraser, Neoprene and Paper towels; and I have never had any moisture issues that were related to lack of insulation. The one and only mishap I had was due to noobishness on my part... (remember that beautiful REX I had just purchased?)...
As far as greasing up the boards, I've done about 15 DICE sessions with nothing buy FK + Eraser + Neoprene + Paper towels and condensation never got anywhere.
One thing to note is that I do go a bit overboard with the eraser and cover as far out from the socket as I can with all the eraser I have at my disposal and on top of that eraser goes a healthy dose of paper towel/neoprene layers... And on top of that; the entire base of my K-V2 is covered in FK, then paper towels and lastly neoprene... It is a chore to put on/take off, but it has worked for me so I ain't deviating from what works.

I also apply FK to the entire back of the board, not just behind the socket area.

This is no way intended to contradict the advice that TJ is offering; on the contrary, I think his suggestion is quite solid and represents one more layer of protection. I know for a fact that my P5Q-E board will get the "Conformal" treatment soon and that some Vaseline will find its way onto it as well. I'm sure LN2 will bring out my insulation's shortcomings soon enough, but I will be prepared for that time with fully conformalled boards and tons of grease all over the place.

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Yeah, while what TJ is saying is true (I've seen it before where the change from no load to loaded causes the ice to melt), but typically the ram is too far away for this to matter, IMO.

If the insulation has been setup thoroughly and methodically, then I honestly see no reason for Vaseline to be used all the time. While it's nice to have, and is a necessity in a few situations, it can be easily avoided. If you take the time to create a barrier between the ram and the cpu, there is no way for the ice to even get there. If you start to have some "creeping" ice, then put a fan pointed at it, and it will keep it in place without melting it.

 

[MIAHALLEN]

vasoline sucks....just make sure you have paper towel or TP inbetween each slot, I even poke some down into the unused slots....like this