[KusH]

I've been looking into this whole mineral oil submerged pc concept and it seems very interesting. What I'd like to know is would be make any difference if u had a water cooling loop for the cpu only and had the pc submerged in the oil, would it make any difference? Or would the cooler water from outside the oil tank be warmed back up by the time it gets back to the cpu?

 

[EntropyTTU]

It depends on the flow rate of the water, the temperature of the water, and the permeability of the tubing as to whether or not the oil will end up just warming up the water....

Most likely, yes, the mineral oil will warm up the water, and you spend more effort cooling the mineral oil than the processor if you do this.

 

[KusH]

Ok so then what would be an efficient way to cool the mineral oil then?

 

[Blameless]

Two radiators, one in the oil, and (a bigger) one in open air?

 

[jarble]

you can run the oil thrugh a rad with a good pump

 

[xxicrimsonixx]

definitely pump the oil through a rad to help cool it down abit. Also, I suggest that you change the oil probably every 6 months (may start to get a little murky after while).

 

[KusH]

Could i get some examples of a good pump, never went the WC route so I'm not sure what really to look for as far as quality parts.

 

[EntropyTTU]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kush Ok so then what would be an efficient way to cool the mineral oil then?

Very good question.

I would *like to think sticking the evaporator coils from an AC unit (phase change unit) would be the ideal way to do it.

However, the idea of cooling the oil that low will turn it to jello, the viscosity will increase dramatically.

To what degree do you want to cool the mineral oil?

Conventionally, you could, as stated use radiator, but I don't think this would be better than water alone.

 

[KusH]

Well that's a good question I'm not to sure. From what I've read/seen that you have to use epoxy on the cpu in order for it to work, is there any other components that would need this done as well and if that is the case then it wouldn't matter if it was sub ambient then cause it wouldnt have any condensation on the components correct?

 

[jarble]

pump I am geting to run my oil rig

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewIt...Supplies&tab=1

 

[KusH]

Any 360 res that any1 recommends as well?

 

[KusH]

Does anyone know what can and cannot be submerged? I see that the cd drives obviously dont and the hard drives (unless SSD) but is there anything else that cant go in and does all usb ports/dvi connectors work the same w/ no problems while being submerged?

 

[KusH]

Just thought about this... will my modular psu work with this solution? What about my GPU psu also?

 

[GSingh]

Fans can go in, psu can go in, the only thing that won't like oil are the HDD and DVD burner.

 

[Ando]

Just put in the oil with a LN2 or Dice pot sticking out the top - lol.......would just need a heap of LN2/dice - wouldnt need to worry about condensation

 

[KusH]

Thanks GSingh. +rep, now I'm off insearch of a pump and radiator, any1 think ill need a reservoir with this kinda setup or is the tank itself good enuff?

Also, will i need to epoxy the cpu and if so anything else. sorry for so many questions just wanna make sure i do this stuff right.

 

[EntropyTTU]

Quote:

any1 think ill need a reservoir with this kinda setup or is the tank itself good enuff?

You won't need a reservoir.

How would epoxy be used?

 

[Slink]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xxicrimsonixx definitely pump the oil through a rad to help cool it down abit. Also, I suggest that you change the oil probably every 6 months (may start to get a little murky after while).

Mineral oil (or more expensively, silicone oil) should not require changing. Murkiness indicates contamination. For the most part, any oil containment should be rather sealed from the open air, save for the mobo I/O panel, etc. Also, any water condensation that should occur will sink to the bottom of the oil and accumulate there, so it's best to keep your oil either above dew point temperature or sealed from open air if below dew point temp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KusH I've been looking into this whole mineral oil submerged pc concept and it seems very interesting. What I'd like to know is would be make any difference if u had a water cooling loop for the cpu only and had the pc submerged in the oil, would it make any difference? Or would the cooler water from outside the oil tank be warmed back up by the time it gets back to the cpu?

That's a good question, and to answer you helpfully, you can use a waterblock with water-based coolant pumped onto the CPU, especially if your to-CPU line is well-insulated. You must not expose any hose material to the oil if the material is oil-soluble. (This means the oil would slowly eat away at the tubing, possibly causing eventual rupture.) So you could just use silicone-based tubing if using mineral oil as your immersion liquid, etc. etc. What you think?

 

[DuckieHo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSingh Fans can go in, psu can go in, the only thing that won't like oil are the HDD and DVD burner.

Fans should NOT go into the oil. The greatly increased viscosity will burn them out.

Just so you know, oil cooling a PC is only for looks. There is little to no benefit in terms of cooling. Oil based cooling is generally for systems that deal with extremely high temperatures or high heat loads.

 

[Slink]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieHo Fans should NOT go into the oil. The greatly increased viscosity will burn them out. Just so you know, oil cooling a PC is only for looks. There is little to no benefit in terms of cooling. Oil based cooling is generally for systems that deal with extremely high temperatures or high heat loads.

Fans will have a higher resistance in the oil. (Physical resistance translates to electrical resistance.) As long as you don't force them to torque like crazy (by high fan voltage adjustment) they should be fine afaik. However, if you do try to use high fan settings, you can probably burn the fans out eventually. Avoid using automatic fan control, obviously. The fans help to circulate the oil thru the heat sinks.

As far as benefits go, it gets pretty expensive to cool with oil, but you can have a performance computer whose heat exchanger is in another room, and the system runs SILENTLY. Just dunking it in oil is pretty pointless without some sort of external heat exchanger. I would actually like to implement a geothermal temperature regulator.

Just bury a length of pipe in the ground, circulate oil thru it, to and from your computers.

Cooling lines!

Oil-cooled systems obviously get pretty heavy, and should generally be considered as hazardous (unless you don't mind the idea of gallons of oil pouring onto your floor). They are not very portable, and should be temporarily mounted in place (IMO) to prevent spillage. Setup and accidents can be/are extremely messy.