Using Oil to cool your pc

[CptStern]

wow this is crazy

Oil Immersion Cooling Goes Mainstream with Hardcore PC's Reactor

The tank is a custom design which you submerge the motherboard, CPU, GPUs, RAM, redundant power supplies and SSD drives into. Hardcore doesn?t say what exactly the material is except that it?s an ?aerospace? material and ?bullet proof? (we prefer the term bullet resistant.) The oil is also somewhat of a secret but it is biodegradable and completely non-conductive. Hardcore says you can actually drink it but it obviously doesn?t recommend it. It is truly oily though and getting some on your hand will have you running for the sink and a bottle of Dawn. The oil is re-circulated twice a minute with higher velocity oil shot through the blocks on the CPU, chipset and GPU.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/hardcorepc_reactor?page=0,0

but can it deep fry a turkey in an hour?

 

[Kadayi]

There's quite a bit about using oil as a cooling source available on the net. The principle is great in that it's non conductive so you can submerge you MB etc in it, and it means you can forgo fans etc which saves lots of money and makes for a quieter PC. The downside is sealing the box and ensuring you don't have any leaks, plus later upgrading is clearly going to be a mare. Still cool stuff (literally).

 

[Ravioli]

Wow! This is the first time i actually new about something before Stern posted about it, i feel empowered.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo5eZ9VljOk


cool tech nontheless

 

[theotherguy]

the problem I see is the possibility of a leak. If any air bubbles get into the oil, and there is a short in a power supply, its possible that the oil could ignite.

 

[<RJMC>]

could I be able to make frys while playing?

 

[Kadayi]

the problem I see is the possibility of a leak. If any air bubbles get into the oil, and there is a short in a power supply, its possible that the oil could ignite.

You don't immerse the power supply in the oil, just the MB, Ram and graphics cards. Everything else is connected through wires.

 

[No Limit]

I actually saw this a couple weeks ago at a local computer store. Didn't ask any questions since I didn't have any time but it looked absolutely awesome.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

so how low does the stuffz go temperature-wise?

 

[giant384]

You don't immerse the power supply in the oil, just the MB, Ram and graphics cards. Everything else is connected through wires.

so why is the PSU emerged within the oil in that video and still functioning?

 

[Krynn72]

The tank is a custom design which you submerge the motherboard, CPU, GPUs, RAM, redundant power supplies and SSD drives into.

This maybe?

 

[Raziaar]

This concept boggles my mind. Never heard of anything like this before.

This would solve the dust issue also... but as I often sometimes have computer parts hanging around collecting dust outside my computer, I can't exactly say that would ever happen if I ever had an oil cooled computer. How would you deal with all that oil all over the components when you upgrade and need to swap out parts, etc. How would you get it back into a state where you could store it or sell it. It would definitely void any warranties, that's for sure.

 

[hool10]

Yeah this blows my mind as well. Even more insane it's bullet proof, etc. Like something out of the Matrix idk.

 

[CyberPitz]

Yeah, I've been telling people about this for a while, and they are all like "WHAAAAAAAATTTTTT???????"

It's pretty awesomeness.

 

[giant384]

i still wonder how you clean it off as well, upgrading parts shouldn't be to hard to do. its just wtf do you do with a oiled up old card?

 

[Asus]

Oil is non-conductive and yet moves heat off the components...just like pure water. As long as it cools well and is not conducting electricity between components where it isn't supposed to (a short) then it's fine. Normally we use metal heatsinks in spots in the PC but a tub filled with oil/water works too.

The PSU is fine in the oil just as the rest of the components are. The oil is non-conductive.

 

[VirusType2]

but psu's have fans. So they make them without fans now?

 

[giant384]

but psu's have fans. So they make them without fans now?

what on earth are you trying to get at here?

 

[VirusType2]

Oh, never mind, Asus I guess was talking about redundant power supplies

 

[Pesmerga]

The PSU doesn't need a fan if it's submerged in the oil. The point of the fan is to cool whatever it's aiming at. If you watched the video, the fan ran regularly, and it does a good job at dispersing the heated oil through the box. Also, you can't ignite vegetable oil.

 

[Asus]

Fan in a normal PC moves air. The fan would move the oil in that box, whether it needs to or not it doesn't matter. It can be in there.
If it's non-conductive then it isn't going to cause any issue with the electronics of the fans, PSU etc.

Since it is thicker than air it might wear the fans down quicker but that's it.

 

[Ridge]

Would be freakin perfect if you could find transparent oil to run in this...

But the problem still remains, what do you do to that old part once you upgrade?

 

[giant384]

Would be freakin perfect if you could find transparent oil to run in this...

what? thats impossible, the oil would just refract everything inside the box.

 

[-Psy-]

PCGamer ran a test a few weeks ago similiar to the original idea. They simply got a tub, filled it with rapeseed oil then submerged a PC into it.

It's crazy but it works.

 

[Ridge]

what? thats impossible, the oil would just refract everything inside the box.

I mean as opposed to the yellow tint that vegetable oil gives everything...I wouldnt want my rig to look like a tupperware cup thats been left out in the sun for years...

 

[PvtRyan]

Anyone have the balls to try this with pure H2O?

 

[Ridge]

PvtRyan is trolltastic tonight!

 

[Operational]

I know of people who use fish tanks and oil to cool their PC's, guess it was only a matter of time before somebody sold it as a more elegant solution.

Personally I'll be sticking to my boring low-noise fans which do the job fine (my PC is barely audible unless I'm playing a graphics intensive game).

Anyone have the balls to try this with pure H2O?

I'll give it a go right after I drop this toaster into my bath.

 

[VirusType2]

I've got a large aquarium with powerful jets (Powerheads) that could move the oil. You try it.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=powerhead&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

 

[giant384]

Anyone have the balls to try this with pure H2O?

you could do half oil, half water if your tank is large enough. submerge pc in the oil part and suspend it, then maybe you can like put a fish is there or something.

 

[Asus]

Anyone have the balls to try this with pure H2O?

Tom's did it for 5 minutes.