Slashdot Mirror
Transparent Water Cooling Case
thefalconer writes "Over at the Via Hardware website one of the users there recently posted a very unique case mod that combines all of my favorites into a very cool design. Not only is the case totally transparent, but so are the covers on the hard drives, and it sports a water cooled Dual Athlon XP 2100+ processors. The case and all of the internal mods are entirerly hand made and it looks awesome."
It can always be sold as a piece of modern art when the machine is retired. :-)
Craig Steffen
http://www.craigsteffen.net
The guy broke the seal on his hard drive? I'm venturing that he didn't have a clean room (and I may be wrong on this).
Why would you even THINK of doing this to a hard drive that you actually want to store data on? Don't you have any idea just how big a pollen of dust is to a hard drive?
(Note: I work in a building without AC...it was 97 degrees in here yesterday when I came up with this brainstorm. :P )
Looks like we're coming full-circle here.
Another piece of office lore, incidently, said that if the florinert used to cool the machines ever boiled (so, if there was an electrical fault that flash-boiled the coolant), it would have the same effect on you as mustard gas. Not sure how true that is, but it made working in a computer room sound a lot more sexy.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Idea borrowed, no doubt, from the Cray waterfalls, available on several machines and cooling towers, including the Cray 2.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Well.. remember that Faraday guy they talked to you about in high school?
:-)
A nice addition to the transparent cases mods would be a thin, grounded chicken wire layer. It wouldn't be very visible and it would certainly reduce EMI to nearly zero if done right. Just like they do with microwave oven's doors.
I think it would add to the mod's looks, too!
Except a friend and I did repair work on a hard drive in a dorm room. We did some stuff we figured would help filter the air, cleaned all of the tools we were going to use, and fixed a frozen bearing in a hard drive.
Ran fine after that, no bad sectors.
Of course, this doesn't mean that one will be this lucky every time you break the seal on a hard drive!
Alcohol's specific heat is much lower than water's. Water is one of the best fluids for transporting heat because of this property.
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
There are plastic vendors that have aluminized acrylic for sale. It's acrylic with a very thin layer of aluminum on it. It's still mostly transparent, but forms an effective EMI shield. A similar process is used for military airplane canopies, but the material is not acrylic.
I know I've said this before, but the real danger I see from this kind of thing is legislation that will purportedly "protect the public" from RF interference.
I'll try to be brief:
Q. How would the legislation work?
A. It would ban the sale of PC componentry to people not licensed by the FCC to produce personal computers.
Q. Who would want this?
A. Microsoft and the big computer makers.
Q. Why would those companies be in favor of such legislation?
A. Microsoft would want it because almost every brand-name PC sold comes with a new Windows license for which Microsoft is paid. If a consumer can upgrade his PC with a new motherboard, CPU, hard drive, etc., Microsoft does not sell another license. The Dells and Compaqs of the world would want it because it would put screwdriver shops out of business as well as forcing consumers to buy new PCs rather than upgrading older ones.
Q. What makes you think Congress would pass such a law?
A. Because Microsoft, Dell, Compaq, etc. have tremendous lobbying power. They would spend whatever it took to get such a law passed if they thought they could succeed.
Q. Why would the American public tolerate it?
A. Because case modders and all people who build their own computers would be referred to as "computer hackers" on the floors of Congress and in the press. The lobbyists would convince (through television and newspaper coverage) the American public that passing the legislation would result in crystal-clear TV reception, interference-free cell phone calls, and reduced incidence of brain cancer. George Bush would probably get on TV and claim that profits from the sale of generic PC clones were being used to fund Al-Qaeda and that cutting off the flow of parts to build these systems was striking a blow against terrorism.
And thus would be passed the "Digital Pollution Reduction Act of 2003."
If this guy wanted to be really cool he'd a a dye to the water cooler that changed color in response to temperature. Should be a good gradient to work with: 22 degrees C room temp and what, 90-100 degrees C right next to the chip?