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Do-it-yourself CPU Cooling

Posted by Hemos on from the for-when-twenty- dept.

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."

6 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Cool by GC · · Score: 3

    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...

  2. Re:Do-it-yourself? by Louziffer · · Score: 3
    Read the review a bit more carefully:

    - They attributed the CPU "death" to the fact that they had already put the CPU through hell before using this cooling method, and they added peletier coolers which could have shocked the CPU.

    - The Kryotech cooler made 50dbA of noise, not the vapochill (it stood at 35dbA).

    They also don't mention condensation anywhere when it comes to the vapochill.

    Overall, I thought the review was particularly glowing. Comments like "In my opinion VapoChill and a Celeron is the perfect combination.", "Athlon 800 for half the prize off a KryotechCool Athlon800!" lead me to believe that the reviewer actually likes this product better than many others.

    --

    LouZiffer

  3. All well and Good... by Ekuman · · Score: 3

    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

  4. Half-assed "do it yourself ideas" by Ater · · Score: 3

    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.

  5. A really cheapass cooling by Richks · · Score: 3

    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/

  6. Liquid Nitrogen--WARNING by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5

    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.