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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."

1 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. 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.