Slashdot Mirror
Do-it-yourself CPU Cooling
Ice_Hole writes "Well, looks like the serious overclockers are going to have a few more options (that is, other than Kryotech) in terms of extreme CPU cooling. Better yet - it is a build it at home project."
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
It's always strange for me to hear about Kryotech, ever since I found out what happened to one of the cofounders. Apparently, he partied a bit too hard at some company function, had some form of heart attack, and died.
He was 33.
Actually, if I remember right, they were celebrating cooling an Athlon(then K7) up to a Gigahertz...
For some reason, this has always stuck in my mind as a weird reminder that even us crazy young techs are all sooner or later going to have no more toys to play with...
Yours Truly,
Dan Kaminsky
DoxPara Research
http://www.doxpara.com
Here's an idea that may solve even the worst condensation problems: triple expanding foam. The stuff in the can from the hardware store. Encase the areas of the CPU and motherboard that will get cool. Now you can run that liquid nitrogen line to your CPU.
A temperature sensor embedded on the CPU would be necessary, for a failure in the cooling system with this kind of insulation would surely cause a fire.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
But CO2 is invisible. The visible vapor that is observed above a batch of dry ice is indeed water vapor that has formed a cloud above the ice. The air above the dry ice is pretty cold, so water vapor in the air condenses into a cloud.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
There's a review and pictures here. Doesn't seem so fantastic, but I guess it's better than putting the CPU in the kitchen freezer.
Basically, it has condensation, you have to vaccuum it for dust, the CPU died after two hours of overclocking, and the 5.25 bay is gone.
Oh, it also makes 50 dbA of noise. Man, that must be annoying. :)
"There is no surer way to ruin a good discussion than to contaminate it with the facts."
Lord knows this world can use it.
There are now 6 billion of us lurking about
We'll place it on males to cool their libido.
Stop the population explosion!!
The above post is an editorial, the poster cannot and will not be held responsible for all or in part for it's contents
Overclockers.dk has already done a review of this bit of niftyness. It can be found here.
I know I certainly want one when I upgrade to Athlon from my current PIII 450 @ 560 (courtesy of Step Thermodynamics. ) Their product has performed flawlessly for me, and is definitely recommended if you want to run @ 25%+ over factory spec.
Rafe
V^^^^V
Rafe
Opinions expressed by the author may not actually exist in the wild.
What happens if a developer (no names, but the temptation was high to name one) starts developing software on an over-clocked chip? And we all suddenly need that much performance to just get by?
/. post ever!
A DVD needed to distribute the OS.
*shudder*
Hey! My shortest
(and most meaningless, probably)
Nick.
In the UK the pricing is as follows:
£445 for Case
$50 for the processor Kit
£20 for delivery in the UK
add VAT @ 17.5% for these prices...
not cheap...
This is great for overclockers, but can it really compete with Kryotech. I guess the question I am asking is does it void your warranty Kryotech systems come with a 1 year warranty and I think the CPU retains its three year warranty from AMD. Whereas if you overclock with other things zip bang no more manufacturers warranty.
I wish I had a quote for the day -- me, myself and I
1. You could always immerse the tower in a large cooler full of dry ice, keeping the machine cool, and emmiting a steady stream of CO2 vapors for your entertainment.
:)
2. Spray some liquid nitrogen on the cpu. Sure you might shatter the cpu, but if it survives, you can overclock that baby like hell... not to mention having extra liquid N2 readily available in case you get a nasty wart on your typing fingers.
3. Set up office in one of those giant wind tunnels with the case open, and anchor everything to the floor. Now hows that for a good fan?
4. Failing that you could always rent a giant meat locker or other refridgerated area and run your computer from there.
5. Move to Antarctica. If you by chance can get a high speed internet connection there, gimme a shell
6. Chain a small sibling or a friend to your desk, and have them continuously blow on the cpu to cool it, keeping a whip handy should they whine about being bored, tired, or hungry.
Now that the cooling issue is settled, let's see how ridiculously fast we can overclock. Maybe we can push that Celeron 550 up to 1 gHz without it melting on us.
We looked into REALLY cheap cooling recently, and posted the results at: http://totl.net/Eunuch/ Condensation was a pretty big problem, but things worked OK. Rich, TotL Labs, http://totl.net/
If you ever think about using liquid nitrogen to cool your computer (or even parts of it), you should seriously reconsider. Liquid nitrogen boils at 77.4 K (at atmospheric pressure). That's nice and cool, and yes, if your CPU/motherboard/whatever else you cool survives, it will probably run much faster. And yes, it's evidently cheaper than milk when in bulk. (But then, milk's not all that cheap.)
HOWEVER, one should note that liquid oxygen boils at 90.2 K. Standing liquid nitrogen exposed to air WILL condense liquid oxygen over time. And liquid oxygen is extremely explosive. (I have no facts to back me on this, but being a diradical, in high concentrations, liquid oxygen might really mess with the electrical signals in your computer. Anyone know if this is true?)
Liquid nitrogen is a safe liquid to play with as long as you don't freeze yourself AND as long as you don't leave it out to air. Indeed, in my organic chemistry laboratory, we are advised not to leave liquid nitrogen around for more than 24 hours (only possible with LARGE amounts or by constantly replacing it). Large dewers of liquid nitrogen are stored in tanks specially designed for this purpose. (I'm not sure how. Maybe the vents have oxygen-absorbing filters of some sort? Anyone?) But leave your liquid nitrogen around and open to air long enough, and a pale blue color will slowly form, and when that happens, the slightest shock and everything around goes kaboom. I don't know of any computers blowing up, but then, I don't konw of anyone who's tried keeping a computer cooled to those temperatures for prolonged periods of time.
I've read one too many posts about using liquid nitrogen to cool a computer. If you're going to do so, please seriously consider how you're going to deal with the liquid oxygen problem.
-----
I've never posted here. I just lurk. And I probably won't post again in the next 2 years, just as I haven't in the past 2 years. But I feel a need to post here. No references available offhand (I have to go to class soon), but chemistry/physics people, feel free to check the facts. And to make me somewhat less anonymous, my name's Jason Chen, and my e-mail is jschen@fas.harvard.edu.