Slashdot Mirror
Watercooling Drifting Mainstream
pacc writes "With Prescott said to dissipate 103 W and the dual Apple G5 playing in the same league, air cooling seems less than sensible.
Nikkei Electronics has an article about watercoolers getting standardized by Hitachi. A technology pioneered by a NEC desktop last May."
Watercools his system using a radiator from a '55 Lincoln. You gotta love it.
Not a bad looking box, either (though I usually end up looking at my monitor more than I do my computer case.)
It seems to me that with all the concern over cyber-pollution these days (discarded monitors and other computer components) maybe it's time to take a greener approach and harvest whatever relics we can from the last great love affair with speed and power: the automobile.
The trend is towards customized boxes we build ourselves anyways, right? So go to the local junkyard and shop American for a change.
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
this could be great if people knew how to service them properly, in my own mind, watercooling is more effective than aircooling in many applications (cars, computers etc) but CARE must be exercised. What was once a hardware hacker's toy is now becoming mainstream, this is a VERY good thing.. .
Get a portable Freezer or refrigerator put the computer parts in it. Find a way to keep the humidity out. Put a couple of ports for for USB and monitor and your all set.
I feel that heat is becoming a major problem with making faster processors. You guys in college should quit your Computer Science and Engineering and go into thermal physics. That is where the future is in.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The Ultimate Waterblock
Ultimate Pump
Ultimate Radiator
Two of these to cool the radiator at only 30db
Round it out with a Cool Reservoir and some tubing. Maybe toss in a GPU cooler. Plenty of pump to support it.
For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
Yeah, remember back when Gene Amdahl introduced the innovation of an air cooled computer back in the '70s? Up until then, they had always been water cooled... this ain't new technology, folks!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
The early Cray supercomputers (as well as the CDC6600) had Freon cooling systems. I recall pictures of an early prototype of (IIRC) the Cray II. It was one module of the new system immersed in an aquarium filled with Freon.
The high frequency EMF of the system caused some interesting color effects in the Freon, combined with the thermal gradients to make an interesting 'light show'.
Of course, we can't use Freon these days but what about other insulating oils (such as are used in transformers) & refrigerants? I haven't kept up - can modern chips handle being immersed in oil or in (for example) carbon tetrachloride? (yes, also a controlled, environmentally hazardous material)
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
Manufacturers, please, please, start putting the processors on the back-sides of the motherboards!
The back side can be one huge heat sink, with large cooling fins, just like nice audio amp gear. If need be, the entire backplane can be one extruded piece of alloy. You can even include water cooling "safely" as no piping needs to enter the case at all. The back-side is the outside of the case!
What is so hard about this idea?
+2
Personally, I like the Navy's method of liquid cooling. The circuit boards are coated with a thin layer of rubber. They're then plugged into their sockets that are located inside of a water filled trough. Not the most elegant of solutions, but it works.
-- Remember, we're not happy until you're not happy. -- Local FAA Inspector --
Zalman TNN 500A fanless computer
Now, is this something most people would need or use? In terms of noise most definitely.