A Submerged PC!!!... Not to be mistaken for waterproofing a pc.

Discussion in 'Die-hard Overclocking & Case Modifications' started by sublime20, Jun 3, 2010.

  1. sublime20

    sublime20 Banned

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    how to make a coool submerged, NON encased PC for awesome effect and decent cooling!

    i was on instructables.com last night and ran accross this instructable:

    http://www.instructables.com/id/Mineral-Oil-Submerged-PC/


    since mineral oil doesnt conduct electricity like water, this is totally possible.....

    think of the possibilities of mineral oil cooling and circulation to keep your components "frosty" so to speak!


    im hinting at the fact that water cooled PC components (although very
    sexy) can be eliminated along with the risk of drowning your mobo and other sh*t in your PC with leaking tubes and whatnot.....
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2010
  2. MM10X

    MM10X Guest

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    Old news, still cool. :)

    Heres the original build log, scroll down to the bottom to see the final one.
    They had a QX9770 at 4.6Ghz and a GTX 280 which never got over 45c load!!
    http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php
     
  3. sublime20

    sublime20 Banned

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    that some pretty B*tchin stuff man.. thanks for sharing!

    im going to do this.....ill post back when i have it completed.... it might take a few weeks.
     
  4. MM10X

    MM10X Guest

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    Haha, sweet. I was going to but unfortunately I have no money for this project.

    They sell the fish tank, and the brackets and parts required to get a PC into one at the link I provided.

    Make sure to get a pump and radiator, should help things! :)
    Also the fans inside there help circulate the liquid, they act as rotors.
     

  5. HellsAn631

    HellsAn631 Master Guru

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    looking in the future to build my self a home media server, in a big fishtank. front facing half of tank will be tropical fish. rear half will be mineral oil pc.

    mineral oil will be pumped through a large radiator or two in a wooden stand to make sure there is current in the liquid, and that it is kept cool.
     
  6. Peter Buxu

    Peter Buxu Master Guru

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    how its that possible that it runs so great and with no heat up of the components at all??????
     
  7. invisible69

    invisible69 Master Guru

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    The oil acts as a cooling medium much better than air thus the components run cooler :)

    The only problem that I see with this is changing/upgrading components :p

    And the fans must be pretty powerful, otherwise they'll end up burning out due to the extra work they have to do to push through the oil, and I'm pretty sure that no one wants a fan burning in a tank full of oil... :p
     
  8. Passion Fruit

    Passion Fruit Guest

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    Oil is only flammable at high temperature
     
  9. invisible69

    invisible69 Master Guru

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    I'm pretty sure that when the coils burn they approach reasonably high temps, considering they can melt plastic or turn it all black.

    Though I've just found out that mineral oil seems to burn at a higher temperature than normal oil so yes, you're right :nerd: :)

    Then again I still wouldn't want to be the one handling the components that need to be changed/serviced :p
     
  10. Atlas

    Atlas Maha Guru

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    My thinking exactly :) Post a build log when you do!

    One question though, does the oil smell like a frying pan does?
     

  11. inklimited

    inklimited Ancient Guru

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    It's mineral oil, so it probably smells sweet. Like WD40. :)

    And I think if you set the fans to the lowest RPM, this would offset the extra weight the fans have to push, as they would not be operating at full capacity.
     
  12. Atlas

    Atlas Maha Guru

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    So you get hungry the minute you turn the pc on ;)
     
  13. Makalu

    Makalu Ancient Guru

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    well I've had an OCZ Powerstream PSU sealed up in unscented baby oil and running 24/7 powering an 80W peltier for about 5 years now with both fans in it bypassing the thermal fan controller and spliced into a 12V output instead and they're both still working
     
  14. nvlddmkm

    nvlddmkm Banned

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    Probably to randomly break free rusted nuts on bolts that have exhibited a huge amount of rust.
     
  15. Laykun

    Laykun Guest

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    You may want to read further into this. I believe the mineral oil eventually gets into the PCB and causes the components to degrade (rot). There was a huge discussion years ago at Toms Hardware when they did this about the appropriate liquid to use for submerging a PC. I'm unsure if a solution was ever found.
     

  16. inklimited

    inklimited Ancient Guru

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    ^Kind of like waterlogging. :/

    I don't suppose you remember the amount of time the hardware took to degrade? Less than a year?

    Although, just thinkin', you could seal the hardware with a light coat of some sort of artificial resin.
     
  17. Laykun

    Laykun Guest

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    Pretty sure it was a matter of months or even weeks.
     
  18. Makalu

    Makalu Ancient Guru

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    they used cooking oil at tomshardware:

    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/strip-fans,1203.html

    that's vegetable oil...dunno how that worked out long term but the link at pugetsystems discusses their long term results with mineral oil:

    http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php

    the oil in my psu turned dark long ago and needs to be replaced but I didn't seal it up with a mind for that and it's just another of my experiments that I've learned what I wanted to know from...still working fine under this light load though. I've not checked the voltages on it but it's one of the old Powerstream 470ADJ (adjustable) models with potentiometers on the outside and LED's to indicate if they are in tolerance and all three LED's are still green for what that's worth. If you do this you need to thoroughly clean everything and preferably fill the container without any air space and still probably need to count on changing the oil periodically. Transformer oil is probably the best thing to use but it's spendy.
     

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