Fantasy Mods

[gabemcg]

I'm sure all of us have a few Ideas for a crazy mod theatwe would probably never do ourselves, (for whatever reason, technical, financial, practical, ect.) but that we'd love to see someone else pull off.

I thought we could all post our "fantasy mods" here, who knows, maybe someone will be inspired to give your mod a shot.

I suppose the only reason I really started this thread was to post my fantasy mod, for the best air cooling solution arround (problably the least practical)

alot of people have servers in there homes, for music, movies, backup, ect. these servers are rarely accessed physically, and are normally running 24/7. my Idea is to build a data server into an air conditioning duct, a constant source of cool, clean air. Bonus points for anyone who manages to wirelessly connect the computer's tempature probes to the AC/s thermostat for automated climate controll.

As for accessing the computer in the case of a problem, or upgrade, it would have to be mouted in a removeable cetion of the duct, and the moniter could be wall mounted within close proximity to the duct, and a wireless keyboard/mouse could handle the Input neccecities.

What do you think?

Feasable, but impractical?
Not Feasable?
toatally a stroke of genious?
or just a waste of forum space?



Gabe

 

[miketheidiot]

air ducts have a habit of being dirty, but other than that I suppose it would work.

 

[gabemcg]

this is true, it could be avided by placing high quality alergen dict filets directly before the pc

OTHER PROBLEMS

many ac vents are also shared by central heating units, so in older homes this may be a problem

newer systems, however, have multi-zone climate controll (seperate thermostats/vents for individual rooms/areas). If the pc were it's own dedicated zone, with it's own thermostat, I suppose it would be more practical

on the whole, however, it's probably more trouble than its worth

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: gabemcg
on the whole, however, it's probably more trouble than its worth

Bingo

 

[akira34]

It might be better to simply (if you can call it that) build up a 'cooler box' for the system to sit in. Set it up so that the interior of the box is kept at a constant ~60F and give it sound insulation. You'll need to rig up something for optical drives, or use all external units on it to keep both the sound and cooler air inside the box. With the box, you could use conventional air coolers on the hardware inside the system and not have to worry about things getting too hot. Plus, with the sound insulation, you would hear nothing from it. Granted, the entire configuration could get rather large, depending on what you use for the box and such...

 

[Tiamat]

Perhaps an enclosed non-conductive liquid environment. Maybe something like Flo-inert. But at 1000$ per gallon, its kinda pricy. The enclosure would be electrically cooled.

 

[Chudilo]

I've seen some posts about winter time solutions. People run a duct to the window and pull air from there (simple and VERY effective)

 

[Kasper4christ]

didn't i see somewhere that like, distilled water, or some other household (ish) liquid was not conductive

or, what about removing the hsf, and completly surrounding the motherboard in plastic, some sort of high temp stuff, that makes a really really good seal, around all the components, RAM CPU etc.
then submerging that into say, a fishtank. the cpu is cool'd becuase the plastic is very form fitting and allows good heat transfer etc. and extension cables or something could be used to bring power and other things to the surface. is that kind of plastic even available?
also, goood circulation is a must in that fishtank, even if you don't have fish in it.

how cool would that be? your media center PC in the fishtank. runs quiet, water cooled

 

[akira34]

Originally posted by: Kasper4christ
didn't i see somewhere that like, distilled water, or some other household (ish) liquid was not conductive

If you did, then someone was on drugs...

or, what about removing the hsf, and completly surrounding the motherboard in plastic, some sort of high temp stuff, that makes a really really good seal, around all the components, RAM CPU etc.
then submerging that into say, a fishtank. the cpu is cool'd becuase the plastic is very form fitting and allows good heat transfer etc. and extension cables or something could be used to bring power and other things to the surface. is that kind of plastic even available?
also, goood circulation is a must in that fishtank, even if you don't have fish in it.

how cool would that be? your media center PC in the fishtank. runs quiet, water cooled

The ONLY time you should submerge your computer is in fluid that's certified to be non-conductive. That's NOT cheap stuff either (big bucks for small amounts). I don't have the current prices, but as of a few months ago, it was at least $15-$25/quart. To submerge the computer, you'll need to have more than enough to cover the heat producing items, but NOT get into drives and such. You don't want to have it getting into the hard drives or optical drives, since they'll not work properly (too much resistance from fluid on parts made to spin fast=NOT a good idea).

Got any other bright ideas?? :disgust:

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: akira34
It might be better to simply (if you can call it that) build up a 'cooler box' for the system to sit in. Set it up so that the interior of the box is kept at a constant ~60F and give it sound insulation. You'll need to rig up something for optical drives, or use all external units on it to keep both the sound and cooler air inside the box. With the box, you could use conventional air coolers on the hardware inside the system and not have to worry about things getting too hot. Plus, with the sound insulation, you would hear nothing from it. Granted, the entire configuration could get rather large, depending on what you use for the box and such...

that kinda sounds like a reverse humidor

 

[akira34]

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong

Originally posted by: akira34
It might be better to simply (if you can call it that) build up a 'cooler box' for the system to sit in. Set it up so that the interior of the box is kept at a constant ~60F and give it sound insulation. You'll need to rig up something for optical drives, or use all external units on it to keep both the sound and cooler air inside the box. With the box, you could use conventional air coolers on the hardware inside the system and not have to worry about things getting too hot. Plus, with the sound insulation, you would hear nothing from it. Granted, the entire configuration could get rather large, depending on what you use for the box and such...

that kinda sounds like a reverse humidor

Not really... More like a fridge set to a warmer level... Cooling the air just enough to promote better hardware cooling, and keeping the air around everything close to the same temp should make for longer component life. Of course, you will want to make sure no moisture gathers inside the box so you don't fry your chips...

 

[NewBlackDak]

I want an all glass or acrylic desk with the pc actually part of the desk, and still be easy to work on with a swing/slide of a door.
I want the mobo mounted where it's easily in view with the optical drives about where the drawers normally would be at my right hand. Under the optical drives should be a large-ish res for the water. The water should run in channels through the desk, and glow some cool color. I want the whole thing cooled by a large radiator mounted in the back behind the res. I want the mousepad to be etched and smoked glass. The KB should drop down about 1" from the desktop. At the top of the KB(in the glass) I want the USB, firewire, headphone, and mix jacks that are normall in the front of the PC. EG, I'll plug my USB pendrive straight down into the desk. I want there to be a swing-arm mount that will connect like any standard LCD wall-mount. There should also be plenty of room for CD/DVD storage.
Hope I didn't leave anything out.
Whoever wants can build/market this as long as I get one at cost. !LOL!

 

[Mrvile]

Akira, distilled water is definately not conductive. Didn't you ever do the experiment in science class, the light bulb in the distilled water that didn't light?

 

[akira34]

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Akira, distilled water is definately not conductive. Didn't you ever do the experiment in science class, the light bulb in the distilled water that didn't light?

If we did, that's so long ago that I don't remember it one bit. I do remember working with acids (always fun :Q ) and burning things, but not the bulb trick.

Of course even IF distilled water really has 0 conductivity, your chances of actually finding PURE distilled water is slim to nil. The stuff they sell in markets is often mislabeled as distilled when it's really just filtered. Granted, SOME filter processes can remove enough of the crap in today's water supply to make it non-toxic, it's still not distilled water.

If you feel confident that the distilled water really is non-conductive, why not submerge your computer in a tub of it and turn it on. Or better yet, pour it in while the system is running. IF it really won't harm it, you have nothing to lose. Of course, it could be an expensive way to find out of your right or not... :shocked: :laugh:

 

[canadageek]

hmm...what about a watercooling setup that pumps slush over all the components? with a nozzle on the front and a variety of flavours?

 

[Mrvile]

Akira I'm no electrical engineer but wouldn't no lightbulb = 0 conductivity? My teacher did it a few times and rather lacksidasically, he would just rinse the thing out and do it again and again like it were magic. Then he'd add a little salt and wham!

The lesson was that since water breaks up the sodium chloride molecules into ions, which are charged, the water becomes conductive. The reason why daily water is always conductive (therefore dangerous) is because there's so much crap in it, you really can't find pure water these days (or ever, really).

Distilled water isn't that hard to come by though.

 

[gabemcg]

if you guys think I'm gonna pour distilled WATER into a $2000 computer, your **NUTS**

 

[MisterChief]

YOU CAN SUBMERGE YOUR COMPUTER IN LIQUID SAFLEY!? WTF!!??

 

[CaptainTrips]

Originally posted by: MisterChief
YOU CAN SUBMERGE YOUR COMPUTER IN LIQUID SAFLEY!? WTF!!??

actually you can, if you use Fluorinert

Fluorinert has a better heat transfer than water, it's chemically non-conductive, frezing temp is -50C and boiling temp is 130C. I work in the semiconductor field (Engineer at AMD ) and we use it in our heatexchangers on our tools. The down fall is it costs mucho $$$, 300-500 bucks for a 1/2 gallon, and we go thu it like water! I've been wanting to smuggle some home and use it in my water cooling system that would be my fantasy mod. Maybe take the radiator out of the case and mount in the frezzer compartment of a small fridge. The liquid would never freeze, and you could super cool your chip, vid card, and mobo, while having cold drinks an arms reach away