Sub-Zero Cooling: Issues and Solutions (please comment)
Background:
I am not a gamer but rather a financial portfolio manager who performs investment quantitative analysis. I regularly write and execute code that will consume 100% of a core’s capacity for days on end. I am limited by the number of operations I can process due to the fact that adding a single additional operation can result in an exponential increase in processing time (taking days to weeks).
As such, I have recently spent a fair amount of time looking into extreme over-clocking and system cooling. Over-clocking is relatively straight forward, but excessive system cooling has a number of limitations, particularly in the realm of sub-zero cooling. Having an extensive IT back-ground I know that any system needs to be not only effective, but also
supportable and maintainable.
LN2 cooling is anything but supportable and maintainable.
Water cooling is both supportable and maintainable, but any temperature below the dew-point results in condensation. Insulating against condensation is neither easy nor fool-proof, particularly if you are cooling multiple system components (i.e.; cpu, memory, bridges, video cards, drives, etc.).
Mineral-oil submersion cooling is marginally supportable and maintainable, but its major drawback is that mineral-oil has only 23% (I believe) of the heat conductivity of water. However, mineral-oil is a water-dispersant. A motherboard submerged in mineral oil will be well protected from condensation.
A Possible Solution??
I would like to propose a water-cooled system in which the water (and the necessary additives) are cooled well below the dew-point via the use of a heat-transfer unit submerged in a chilled substance which has its temperature maintained by a refrigeration unit (construction of your own choice; there are hundreds of options. Simple Freon systems can create temperatures of -36C).
To combat condensation, the water-cooled motherboard would then be submerged in mineral oil. Any number of steps could be taken to prevent heat-exchange from the mineral-oil to the cooled water including simple insulation and/or cooling of the mineral-oil. However, knowing that mineral oil is not a good conductor of heat we do not have to worry excessively about the loss of coldness into the mineral-oil.
With the correct additives added to the water, this cooling system would allow us to pump sub-zero coolant to the system components without concern of condensation.
Yes, I could always build a Beowulf cluster and write multi-treaded code from the ground up. I do however think this would be more difficult, costly and time consuming.
So, before I set-out to build such a box, I would love to hear what you-all think would be the key obstacles to success. What am I missing, what am I forgetting, and what am I failing to understand?
Thanks so much! Sorry if this has been previously suggested
Trip