I deep fried my computer...

Sc4freak

Guest
Oct 22, 2004
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This is one of my stories I wanted to share with you guys :p

I had recently read a few articles on submersion cooling, where you take your computer and dump it into a tub of non-electrically-conductive oil. It seemed to work really well, and was cheap. So I saw it as a type of poor man's water-cooling.

I bought a large aluminium oven tray and 9 litres of canola oil.

http://picsorban.com/upload/dsc03255.jpg

Since I didn't really want to screw up my good computer, I tested it out on an old Pentium II 266 with Nvidia Riva TNT2 Ultra. I placed the motherboard in the tray, and began pouring canola oil all over it, until it was partially submerged.

http://picsorban.com/upload/dsc03261.jpg
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And it worked. The computer booted into Windows 98 fine, and I even started up good old Quake 3 and started playing.

http://picsorban.com/upload/dsc03271.jpg

But I soon became hungry for a fried snack - and since I had used all the oil in the house I couldn't fry myself anything. Then I had a brilliant idea. Why not use the oil that the computer's in?

I placed an electric stove under the aluminum tray, and turned it to full blast. Soon, the oil reached frying temperature and I dumped a few chips into there. Meanwhile, the computer was still happily chugging along running Quake 3.

http://picsorban.com/upload/dsc03287.jpg
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Eventually, though, the strain of 120 degrees C ambient temperature and the load of Quake 3 caused the computer to overheat and crash. I rebooted it, and it loaded back into windows. Although Quake 3 still crashed when trying to play. At that point, the chips were ready. I turned off the heat and enjoyed my snack while I waited for the oil to cool so I could use the computer again.

http://picsorban.com/upload/dsc03297.jpg

Mmmm... toxicated fries...
 

Savij

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,233
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71
There is a lot of stuff on circuit boards that isn't very safe to injest...
 

So

Lifer
Jul 2, 2001
25,923
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Okay, I'm going to have to declare this one of the best AT threads of all time. Did you really take those pics or just find them on imageshack?
 

sswingle

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2000
7,183
45
91
That was the most insane thing I have ever read.

Was the video cards fan working? It looks like it would have started spraying oil everywhere being partially submerged like that.
 

Safeway

Lifer
Jun 22, 2004
12,075
11
81
That is gross and hilarious.

If you had done it with a Prescott, you wouldn't have needed the additional BTUs.
 

J0hnny

Platinum Member
Jul 2, 2002
2,366
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Are you freagin serious? Dude, that oil now goes to waste!

Although I can shens, Quake 3 does not run on a Pentium II 266!
 

brikis98

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2005
7,253
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wow, that's awesome. i remember tom's hardware did the article with the oil-filled computer... if oil wasn't corrosive/dirty/PITA, that would be an excellent cooling solution :)

however... i don't think i'd eat anything cooked on a mobo...
 

Sc4freak

Guest
Oct 22, 2004
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Originally posted by: So
Okay, I'm going to have to declare this one of the best AT threads of all time. Did you really take those pics or just find them on imageshack?
I actually did this just a few hours ago and took pics, not just found them on the internets. :D

And, yeah, the computer worked. I played Quake 3 (and yes, it did work, and it played fine) for a while before the 120C oil caused it to overheat and crash. Although I think I may have melted the keyboard cable, sometimes it says "No keyboard detected" at bootup now.

Heh, was fun anyway.
 

sswingle

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2000
7,183
45
91
Originally posted by: Sc4freak
Originally posted by: So
Okay, I'm going to have to declare this one of the best AT threads of all time. Did you really take those pics or just find them on imageshack?
I actually did this just a few hours ago and took pics, not just found them on the internets. :D

And, yeah, the computer worked. I played Quake 3 (and yes, it did work, and it played fine) for a while before the 120C oil caused it to overheat and crash. Although I think I may have melted the keyboard cable, sometimes it says "No keyboard detected" at bootup now.

Heh, was fun anyway.

Now go try with your prescott (but dont cook anything with it) and report back!
 

dugweb

Diamond Member
Oct 17, 2002
3,935
1
81
please tell me you didn't eat those fries

plus, pics when you submberge your good computer :)