Boiling a CPU

[Kwint Sommer]

I built this thing on a $20 budget and lacked gaskets so there is no door to open and take pictures through. While I don't want to unseal the unit and take internal photos I'll post pictures of the outside this afternoon and when I turn this monstrosity into a much more streamlined and efficient direct-die system I'll take photos as I do it and post a bit of a guide but that won't be until early January.

 

[BladeVenom]

I hope it's a frost free freezer.

 

[crydee]

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/01/09/strip_out_the_fans/

 

[Kwint Sommer]

The window unit kept freezing up (the blower has seen better days) so the kind folks of 5th East donated it. I played around with it but couldn't get it to pull enough air to stop freezing so I decided, why fight it? If I make a sealed box it can hit freezing temperatures (good for my PC) and a closed system has very little water vapor so ice formation isn't an issue. The plan was to take a small fridge, take the door off, put the window unit up to it, cut a whole in the side for cables and then seal the whole thing so that it's air-tight.

So I searched for a bit and got a dead cube fridge off of 2 West. I then ordered a some nice long SATA Cables ($7) and something to fill in the gap between the Window Unit and the fridge. I eventually found more than a hundred square feet of dense foam board insulation sitting in a storage room in building 7. After a little schmoozing I convinced them to part with a few square feet and then I picked up a can of Great Stuff foam fill ($6) from the local hardware store. I was then faced with preventing the fridge/AC from shifting relative to each other yet still be mobile as a unit. After a little measuring I realized that I needed a platform that was 36x25 and that almost perfectly fit the dimensions of wood I had left over from building a loft.

That was weekend before last. It came together pretty easily, the longest part was mounting everything on the platform but it all came together in less than 24 hours. I'm still screwing with the control the AC controls and I need to insulate the freon lines but when my system idles and the ambient room temp is at or below 20c the temp in the unit goes below -30C.

If anyone has more specific questions or wants better pictures, feel free to ask.

Adapted Water Cooling System I built this summer. used Ethanol

Note the size of the radiator, this is a 10,000 BTU unit

When I'm done with it all of the cables will be tucked away nicely

I'm in the process of chopping up an old case to build a hard drive enclosure

The hole through which all data travels

From behind

Top view

 

[bjp999]

You're not going to win too many style awards with that behemoth. But pretty impressive! What is your OC?

 

[Kwint Sommer]

I'm running my E6600 at a relatively unimpressive 3.6GHz at the moment; it will stably do 3.8GHz but only if the ambient temp. is significantly below 20C but to control the fan I'm using a sensor that turns off a 16C so it's currently too much trouble. My hall is having a big party this Thursday (we have Friday off) and I'm bar tending as well as helping setup the audio so I won't be insulating and fixing the sensor until this weekend. After the necessary corrections I will be able to do 3.8GHz and possibly get close to 4.0GHz.


EDIT: Should I put this stuff in its own thread?

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: Kwint Sommer
EDIT: Should I put this stuff in its own thread?

Yes.

 

[NaOH]

Please ban OP and buy him an ESL book

 

[thescreensavers]

the OP please get some lessons its disturbing

 

[TanisHalfElven]

this thread should be marked NOOOOOB alert

 

[Bill Brasky]

LOL at this thread.

Anywho, back to dunking cpu's. I thought IHS's (assuming his proc. has one) had a small hole in the side to allow for air pressure changes. So wouldn't dunking it in anything, boiling or not, crap up the thermal compound between the die and IHS?

 

[The-Noid]

Kwint Sommer that is pretty much the worst idea I have ever heard of. That is a condensation nightmare. You are going to get water molecules under the IHS. If the delta between your processor temperature and ambient is more than 25 degrees and your ambient is below zero you will start to form condensation under all chips. Video card, cpu, memory!!! That is why phase kills at a rapid rate. If your processor is ever above 0 on phase you are in major trouble!