What is Digg?95 Comments
- nullx42, on 11/28/2007, -0/+42Upgrading must be a bitch.
- breakspirit, on 11/28/2007, -0/+27if only fish could survive in mineral oil and not get ground up in the fans...that would then be super bad ass
- buckrogers1965, on 11/28/2007, -0/+16I would have gotten rid of the fans in the system. They will probably burn out fast anyway trying to spin in mineral oil because the viscosity of oil is so much greater than air. Then get a bubble stone that goes across the entire motherboard and bubbles up through the CPU heat sink. Put another bubble stone so it bubble through the power supply. The rising air bubbles will carry a column of mineral oil with it and over the mother board components. As it cools it will then sink back down to the bottom again.
For looks there should be a layer of pretty stones in the bottom, a diver, a treasure chest that opens and closes, a little castle, some fake plants, and swimming mechanical fish. - theWrkncacnter, on 11/28/2007, -9/+24Dugg the original story back when it was new like half a year ago:
http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php
http://digg.com/mods/How_To_Build_A_Mineral_Oil_Su ... - Tenetri, on 11/28/2007, -1/+14it sure was, I dugg it then, and I'll digg it again...
Heh, I'm a poet, and I wasn't aware of this fact - nullx42, on 11/28/2007, -0/+11Beta fish! ***** Yeah!
- zmjone2992, on 11/28/2007, -0/+11thats pretty compelling
- Kronos6948, on 11/28/2007, -0/+9baby oil IS mineral oil, FYI.
- zmjone2992, on 11/28/2007, -0/+9the hardware in the video isn't "a couple of years old." asshat.
- vwvan, on 11/28/2007, -0/+8are other solvents possible, perchlorethylene, dry cleaning fluid, halogenated hydrocarbons?
does the mineral oil oxidize over time with the bubbles?
do the boards delaminate as the oil solvent reacts with the epoxies. - barkeep8, on 11/28/2007, -0/+8I can't believe it took longer for ubuntu to boot than to fill that thing with 4 gallons of oil.
- Quickstrike, on 11/28/2007, -0/+8"baby oil IS mineral oil, FYI."
In that case, watch out! This ***** can get hot. I know from experience. - zmjone2992, on 11/28/2007, -0/+7weapon of choice? surely you jest
- inactive, on 11/28/2007, -3/+10Mineral Oil is for wimps. Use gasoline. :)
- Gir53457, on 11/28/2007, -0/+7The music video has Christopher Walken dancing around in an empty mall on the up escalator going down.
- mlwarrior, on 11/28/2007, -0/+7DO NOT use baby oil. The aromatic compounds might be slightly polar, which would allow the conduction of electricity, or possibly the solubilization of more ions. I would probably also skip the bubbler in the video, because unknown organics in low concentration would build up in the oil over time.
- Pzycho, on 11/28/2007, -1/+7Does anyone know if I could gain any cooling performance from using lava?
- 9storeyfiretrap, on 11/28/2007, -0/+6You should be careful putting cooking oil and fat down the drain, it can solidify and really mess up the sewers.
- RickyBennett, on 11/28/2007, -0/+6is any one else not able to see the comments on that digg link ??
- inactive, on 11/28/2007, -0/+5Yea, but on the bright side of things you'll never have to worry about not having any lube around.
- kravex, on 11/28/2007, -1/+6Yes it is, try it tonight with some water...
- mlwarrior, on 11/28/2007, -0/+5It can't be sealed if there is an air bubbler inside, the pressure would just build up. Also those pumps have no filters, so say hello to plenty of strange organics floating around in your oil, and goodbye to your circuity in about a month.
- Gir53457, on 11/28/2007, -0/+4Mineral oil doesn't have perfume though.
- tamuengineer, on 11/28/2007, -0/+3This would only be true if you could submerge the pc in water, which you cant. so it cannot be compared to water cooling in such a way. Using ethylene glycol would be extremely STUPID since it is very toxic (if your cat/dog licks it they are dead). You could however use propylene glycol, very commonly used and even approved by the FDA for consumption. Propylene glycol is sometimes marketed as "non-toxic antifreeze" but is also much more expensive. The only issue i could see arising from this mod is the increased load placed on the fan motors causing them to draw a higher current. Fans could be removed and an aquarium pump installed to help circulate the fluid.
- knowitman, on 11/28/2007, -0/+3Capillary action where?
- wrzhydr, on 11/28/2007, -0/+3The video isn't old, just the cooling technique.
- Pureeviljester, on 11/28/2007, -1/+42 questions:
-can anyone confirm this?
-what is a opiophile? - mlwarrior, on 11/28/2007, -0/+3I just want to clarify that utahnkid's comment is 100% correct. Not sure why the one bashing you is getting diggs.
- EuphopiaB, on 11/28/2007, -0/+3I did it to one of my old computers. Now it functions as a silent and cool home server. Because it stays so cool it should last longer and make _no_ noise. Also allowed me to overclock the CPU pretty far.
- zmjone2992, on 11/28/2007, -2/+5it is sealed ***** unless acrylic emits dust I think it will be ok
- Yibbon, on 11/28/2007, -1/+4So THATS how liquid cooling works!
- dn11, on 11/28/2007, -1/+4why. why would you realistically want to do this besides the geeky "ZOMG a fish tank puter" factor?
- Scruffydan, on 11/28/2007, -0/+3suposedly it works quite well. In fact most people that do this get rid of the fans.
Toms hardware did a video of this a while back - strictnein, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2greatest music video ever?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMZwZiU0kKs - EuphopiaB, on 11/28/2007, -0/+23. The fans aren't necessary, and some types of fan can take stress and not take damage from it.
4. Not really. It just sits there. If you want to upgrade you have to reach into the tank, but that's only while upgrading. The other 364 days of the year it sits just fine.
5. The tank has a massive surface area to dissipate heat. Warm oil rises, too, so convection starts going. A bubble machine looks cool and help with that.
6. That is less a problem with mineral oil than with other liquids. That MAY happen over a long, long time, and there are chemicals that can be put in to slow the process down. It won't be a problem in the next 20 years. - MrMacMan, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2I can confirm that you are gullible.
- dn11, on 11/28/2007, -3/+5therefore everyone on the internet has already seen it. you are right
- jguy584, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2Thanks for the replies guys
After a bit of research I came up with this:
Mineral oil's thermal conductivity is about 6 times better then air's, but only a 1/5 as good as water. So it seems that getting water cooling for your CPU, GPU, and mobo bridges is still the way to go performance wise.
Ethylene glycol (antifreeze) on the other hand has half the conductivity of water and would work much better then mineral oil plus have that cool antifreeze green color. To bad its like $250 for 6 gallons.
Also opiophile, I doubt you would get 12 more fps in oil, maybe 5 at most. - mlwarrior, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2Sorry for the comment abuse.
I would probably also skip the bubbler in the video, because unknown organics in the air, even if in low concentration, would build up in the oil over time. - FTLJohnson, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2I'm wondering what effect this has on cooling the system... It's either gotta be SUPER efficient, or totally crappy... I wonder how well mineral oil does at dissipating heat from the CPU, RAM, HD's.. etc...
- mbrolutti, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2Excuse me?
- zmjone2992, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2pretty much I think. It was compounded by the fact that I didn't know Walken could dance.
- ZenMojo, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2Plastic fish?
- Stopikingonme, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2Warning: MILD LAXATIVE
- brickbat, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2a combination of factors actually - its cheap, silent, cool (trendy) and cool (the opposite of warm). Its actually a pretty cheap way of building a silent computer.
- ItsGus, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2no more than a standard air-cooled case.
but i do agree - grantmoore3d, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2The whole point is that it won't conduct electricity... thus you can submerge electric components into it without them shorting out.
- ItsGus, on 12/16/2007, -0/+1And i was referring to filth of any kind. whatever you want to call it. Dust builds up in air-cooled boxes. it would also make its way into this oil filled contraption, causing the oil to get dirty looking.
- Gir53457, on 11/28/2007, -1/+2Remember that water cooling is essentially water cooling a block of metal and then your CPU(s).
- jguy584, on 11/28/2007, -0/+1A copper block has a thermal conductance 750 times greater than water, it certainly is no bottle neck.
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