Who's brave enough to try this method of cooling

PogMoThoin · 20-12-2007 11:51pm #1

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

RoyalMarine · 21-12-2007 1:01am

would be great for performance, but long term use would phail.

dazftw · 21-12-2007 9:46am

Theres tons of videos of pcs like that on youtube pretty eyeopening stuff.. Its probably really good method but messy >.<

daveharnett · 21-12-2007 10:00am

Doesn't work long term. The system has no way of removing the heat, the oil just stores it. If that was machine was left on for 24 hours straight, the oil would heat up to the temp of the processor, and cook the other components.

Khannie · 21-12-2007 10:37am

daveharnett wrote: »

Doesn't work long term. The system has no way of removing the heat, the oil just stores it. If that was machine was left on for 24 hours straight, the oil would heat up to the temp of the processor, and cook the other components.

Nah, the heat would dissipate through the side of the case. Some of it at least. Whether or not enough of it would is another question, but designing a case that acted as a heatsink wouldn't be overly difficult. edit: Or just attaching a radiator to the case (I'm thinking metal in oil conducting heat to radiator out of case).

The biggest problem I can see is that you can't replace components without it being horribly messy.

10-10-20 · 21-12-2007 11:02am

What daveharnett is saying is that oil has a higher specific heat capacity, than lets say - water. That's true, oil can absorb and retain more heat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_capacity), but it will still release the heat, only slightly slower.

Oil is used to cool resistors in transmission systems, you simply immerse a large resistor in a bucket of oil and fit fins to the exterior. Works well!

It could be true to say that the oil would retain the heat not dissipating it to the environment, but it's unlikely to reach the temperature of the CPU as a lot of heat will be lost through the case.

What would be really cool would be to have a thermal-flow setup so that the warmed oil from the motherboard/CPU traveled upwards to where it was cooled by fins and then falls downwards into a chamber which feeds the bottom of the motherboard again.
You should then actually see a change in viscosity through the cycle, with the oil thickening when cool, and freer flowing when warm.

SickBoy · 21-12-2007 11:29am

10-10-20 wrote: »

What would be really cool would be to have a thermal-flow setup so that the warmed oil from the motherboard/CPU traveled upwards to where it was cooled by fins and then falls downwards into a chamber which feeds the bottom of the motherboard again.
You should then actually see a change in viscosity through the cycle, with the oil thickening when cool, and freer flowing when warm.

Hummm.. Lava lamp PC

KamiKazi · 21-12-2007 12:28pm

10-10-20 wrote: »

What would be really cool would be to have a thermal-flow setup so that the warmed oil from the motherboard/CPU traveled upwards to where it was cooled by fins and then falls downwards into a chamber which feeds the bottom of the motherboard again.
You should then actually see a change in viscosity through the cycle, with the oil thickening when cool, and freer flowing when warm.

that would be immense

fl4pj4ck · 21-12-2007 4:02pm

one more thing: with time there will be more and more moist/water in the oil. give it a year an it'll all just burn itself down

bushy... · 21-12-2007 4:07pm

Flourinert is what ya need.

kleefarr · 21-12-2007 4:08pm

Imagine the mess if it started leaking! :eek:

L31mr0d · 21-12-2007 4:25pm

this article is a year old... I was scratching my head wondering why they where talking about an FX50 and a 6800GT as high end.

Still, for the time and mess this isn't worth it. It would be good if it provided better overclocking but it doesn't. Plus it looks fugly as hell making your computer look like a glorified chipper.

10-10-20 · 21-12-2007 4:27pm

fl4pj4ck wrote: »

one more thing: with time there will be more and more moist/water in the oil. give it a year an it'll all just burn itself down

You are implying here that cooking oil is hygroscopic.
It's not to my knowledge.

Granted, cooking chips in oil forms an emulsion which destroys the properties of the oil, but we aren't cooking edible chips and it isn't running at 200 degrees C either!

Anti · 21-12-2007 5:04pm

people over ta bit tech have had these systems up and running for 6 months. And no hassle at all. The oil dispates the heat amazingly well too. Although i would imagine the smeel to be a bit weird after a while though, as all protien will break down over time.