Maybe its crazy.... but would it work?

[jawxx]

How about using, in conjunction with your nice heatsink, a mini fridge as a case? It's cold. Its frost free. You're taking heat off with your heatsinks as well. You could even vent warm air out the top. PSU could also sit outside to keep more heat out. I don't think it's a half bad idea. Anyone have a reason, OTHER THAN LOOKS, why I shouldn't try it?

Hell, even looks might be good. Your computer plays that game. Yeah, well mine plays that game AND keeps my six pack cold. ha!

 

[cnumartyr]

It'd work until you introduced ambient air by opening the case. If the heatsinks were below the dew point of the entering ambient air the parts would form condensate.

 

[jawxx]

Maybe I should test it with an older system. I think there's got to be a way to avoid that issue. It would suck but you could just power down the system and let it slowly reach room temp before working on it. Your odds of condensate would decrease, though not be eliminated.

I guess I just think system cooling is lacking intuitive thinking. Crazy heat sinks, super expensive liquid systems. There's got to a better way. We need some lateral thinking people. Anyone out there have a custom cooling system? Or an idea at least?

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

I asked this question and got condensation as an answer a few weeks ago on forums.

 

[Groveling_Wyrm]

The cooling unit in the mini-fridge wouldn't be able to maintain the constant running, and would fail prematurely. Thus, you'd then have a case that is sealed tightly and quickly heating up, as it wouldn't be able to vent the heat out properly. Not a pretty outcome if you ask me.

 

[toasty2]

Why not use a mini fridge with a dehumidifier in it?

 

[jawxx]

I did have that thought as well. But a dehumidifier creates heat as well..... sort of counter intuitive unless you cut a hole on the side of the fridge so the hot part of the dehumidifier sticks out the side. Now we're getting gaudy, but hey, it's just a prototype.

 

[toasty2]

A powerful refrigerator that can stay at <50 degrees F should be able to handle a little heat.

 

[CARvett2004]

I always wanted to try running the hoses and radiators for a water cooling setup into a mini-fridge.

 

[Mad4Power]

Your fridge would have to have enough wattage to handle the heat from your computer, whether the whole computer or just the radiator was inside.

My thinking is to toss a packet of painter's dessecant in the fridge with the PC; that stuff will suck the moisture right out of the air, and since the fridge is a sealed environment, no need to worry about new moisture getting in. You'd need to seal around the holes where your keyboard and mouse and so forth left the fridge.

-M4F

 

[spazticdeath]

Actualy a dude just did that with a slightly modified wine cooler in Maximum PC mag....issue December 2007.....

He seperated the entire contents of the system with a clear piece of plexi-glass.....he is still using a fan to cool things down. Maximum PC offers pdf version of their mags after 3 months of them being out. They have a whole library of stuff to dl...

 

[amk21]

I was just about to comment about the wine cooler mod in the latest issue of maximum pc.... He ran into some issues because of not having ebough room so make sure you go bigger, he had to extend the back, and take the cooling system from inside the case and place it outside the case. But i would go with a wine cooler because a clear door (glass?, Plastic?) seems to be rather standard.