submerging pc in liquid

**willaby** · October 12th, 2003, 08:36 PM

I have heard stories of people who submerge their PCs in some kind of non-conducting liquid (maybe mineral oil? not sure, maybe not) and then supercool the liquid down. I don't know much about it, but it seems like a good concept, and so I wanted to know what people here thought of it or if anybody has heard more about it than me.

**MrPurple** · October 12th, 2003, 08:48 PM

This concept has been around, and the biggest problem is finding a liqued that is 100% no-conductiong.
THese liquids exist but are extremely expenisve and there are problems with the enclosure.
So we are far from having supper cool PCs

**ArcticFox** · October 12th, 2003, 08:55 PM

Basically, a phase-change system will be much less expensive, even though they are very pricey as it is.

**thePh@r@oh** · October 12th, 2003, 08:56 PM

i would think that some form of oil would work cause its non polar so it should basically be nonconductive

**speedyvision** · October 12th, 2003, 09:00 PM

it would work but it would stick to ur mobo and everything and be hard to get off

**VHockey86** · October 12th, 2003, 09:15 PM

While in theory a non-conductive liquid would work.. I think it would be a huge risk. The liquid, I would think could still pick up ioned particles from the air that could potentially cause damage.

Might want to check out a Prometia Vaporphase system.

**John Prophet** · October 12th, 2003, 09:38 PM

(dial up users, dont even bother with this site, lol)

kind of a lot of pics to wade thru

http://www.octools.com/index.cgi?cal...bmersion2.html
project deep freeze http://www.viperlair.com/articles/ho...m/ecm2_1.shtml

http://www.muropaketti.com/artikkeli...hwood2200/ln2/
4th pic down is cool here....looks like miniature Nuclear reactor

JP

JP

**jmichna** · October 13th, 2003, 10:03 AM

Originally posted by VHockey86
While in theory a non-conductive liquid would work.. I think it would be a huge risk. The liquid, I would think could still pick up ioned particles from the air ....

Nope... doesn't happen. You may want to refresh your knowledge of high school/freshman inorganic chemistry.

**Gait_Keeper** · October 16th, 2003, 06:36 AM

I saw that on the screensavers ( techtv ) some months ago

they used a AMD chip, and submerged, the motherboard

here

**Vagabond** · October 16th, 2003, 12:26 PM

now thats cold what a great overclock LOL

**sup3rcarrx7** · October 25th, 2003, 03:25 AM

Whoa that's pretty cool stuff there!

**ArcticFox** · October 26th, 2003, 02:37 AM

Yum.. I'd love some of that stuff.

**StealthyV** · October 29th, 2003, 12:43 AM

sounds awesome.

ya know...I read that link hours ago..after reading that article, I started looking around their website, then ended up around Xoxide.com and almost bought some fan controllers and cold cathode lights...the only thing stopping me was realizing I have not gotten my paycheck yet. lol

funny how an interesting thread will distract me for hours...(no homework tonight)
I closed a bunch of windows and this thread was all that was left...free time...if only I could get paid for leisurely surfing...

~Branson

**John Prophet** · October 29th, 2003, 12:46 AM

Congrats to our new ultimate member! (AF..lol)

JP

**cysus** · October 29th, 2003, 10:39 PM

3M makes the cooling liquid (Fluorinert) that cray super computers use. you can order it from them directly but you have to go through some hoops. After long hours on 3M's website i found this.

**cysus** · October 29th, 2003, 10:40 PM

sorry the hyperlink didnt work sojust type this baby in...
http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/e...er/output_html

**cysus** · October 29th, 2003, 10:47 PM

or press on the link

**RobRich** · October 29th, 2003, 11:00 PM

Fluorinert is the cooling liquid of choice, as I suggested in my overclocking article in Maximum PC a few months ago. However, your better bring your wallet, as this coolant is far from cheap.

I also recommended mineral oil as a low-cost solution. It must be 100% oil with no water added. Water is often found in the cheapest oil brands. Any additional additives could also pose problems, such as scents or preservatives. You will need 100%, pure, clear mineral oil for this application, and even then it may need periodic flushing due to its shifting electrical properties as the refined oil decomposes.

BTW, you should always use a simple ohms meter to measure capacitance loading of the desired liquid before trying any submersion cooling configuration.

Robert Richmond

**cysus** · October 29th, 2003, 11:26 PM

Fluorinert comes at about $120 a liter not bad for the serious overclocker

**RobRich** · October 30th, 2003, 12:14 AM

To calculate the heat exchange rate, you will need alteast 1-2 gallons, if not more to achieve an efficient system if you are not actively cooling the liquid with some type of thermal exchange system. The only real problem I have with Fluorinert is that 3M only ships in bulk quantities, atleast that was true as of the last time I tried to acquire the material.

Another neat trick was the 3M Liquid Heat Sink. It was simple plastic bag technology that used Fluorinert as the thermal interchange medium. There were also a few Fluorinert heatpipe technology heatsinks manufactured back in the day, but today's heatpipe models have moved on to liquids with greater thermal transfer properties.

Anyway one analyzes the costs, most consumers are better served with a vapor-phase cooling solution such as the various models offered by Prometia. For example, I only dedicated an extremely small section to submersion cooling in my "Book of Overclocking" as the process is simply not practical for everyday use in consumer-grade desktops. Capacitor failure due to seepage is the number one problem, not to mention corrosion and electrical discharge if any foreign particles enter the liquid suspension.

Robert Richmond