Mineral Oil Aquarium PC Now Allows EATX Mobos
According to Puget, Aquarium PC V3 is a big improvement over the previous kit, now allowing for full EATX motherboards. The larger system also provides enough space for the builder to mount the power supply on the motherboard tray itself, making it easier to maintain the PC. Puget said that it even has twice the cooling power than seen with V2.
But how does this setup work? "The cooling module pumps the mineral oil through an external radiator, which provides excellent and quiet cooling," Puget said. "We have verified adequate cooling with the most extreme hardware on the market at the time we built our test system."
The test system included dual Intel Xeon X5677 CPUs, 12GB of DDR3-1600 RAM, and dual ATI 5870 video cards.
Puget also provides a warning on the kit's product page, claiming that--in addition to voiding the warranty--mineral oil is very difficult (if not impossible) to clean from the components once they're submerged. System builders wanting to take the chance will need $671.46 to get started. For more information, head here.
Gotta love what Enthusiasts will do.
However I think they are going about cooling totally backwards. I would take a freon unit from an old drinking fountain and submerge the evaporating coil in the aquarium. Then circulate the oil around in the tank. Use two drinking fountain units if necessary, and try to keep the aquarium oil below room temp. Then overclock the p!ss out of it.
condensation?
The reason oil works is cause it doesn't transmit electricity. Add some water to the mix... things may change.
Guess you've never heard of condensation before, eh? Your idea will fail miserably. Engineering is definitely not your subject, lol.
LOL man this is not for practical use, this is for enthusiasts. This looks cool and is fully functional and enthusiast does not know what the word convenient is. If you expect this thing ti be practical or mobile then im not sure what to tell you.
it is my subject.
And no, condensation occurs only on surfaces EXPOSED TO AIR. Submerging in oil solves that problem. I can't believe I even wasted time responding your post.
No, it thickens gradually. If it clumped up as you suggest, your car engine would be in trouble in the winter. Big Big trouble.
I would learn some basic chemistry before I start bashing someone about their engineering potential there wotan.
And as long as you kept the temp above freezing point of mineral oil.. Something like -30 degrees F then it should be fine.
I used destilled water and it worked fine with the electrics. However things began to rust and degrade after a while.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condensation
Read that. Now, condensation occurs when an object is cold enough for water in the air to condense on it. How can water in the air condense on parts that are submerged in oil? Water would condense on the outside of the tank since the oil would be cold, but that wouldn't hurt anything. Like loomis and abel2 said, you're the one who needs to learn about engineering.
Anyway, if you would be able to get a cooling coil in the oil with the rest of the system, and assuming you have oil that wouldn't coagulate, I'd think you should be able to overclock that think like there's no tomorrow. Not only is your CPU cool, so is the rest of your motherboard... all of it... along with your graphics card, RAM, everything is cold, with no worry of condensation. I'd really think this would be perfect for large amounts of safe overclocking.
I suppose water could condense on the surface of the oil, but you could easily seal the system to prevent that.
Seriously, ten gallons of mineral oil in a PC sounds like a big fire hazard in my opinion. And what about the fumes from the oil?
Water will still sink to the bottom of the oil because of the simple fact that waters intermolecular forces make it more dense than oil. Cool the oil to below the condensation point of the surrounding atmosphere and water can and will condensate on top of the oil and sink.
You could of course make it air tight and try and get a vacuum seal though.
what is the air tight nonsense? Let's say the upper surface of the oil was exposed to air and water condensed on it. The water is heavier and would sink. It would hit the bottom of the tank and STAY THERE. how the hell do you explain any water droplets migrating through super cold oil and attaching to a hot CPU on a main board that is several inches above the bottom of the tank?
Ok, now lets look at reality. A real tank would have a lid on it and would be sealed up. maybe not air tight but unless you pulled a vacuum on it you wouldn't need air tight. The moisture in the air pocket above the oil would lose all it's water content to the surface of the oil and then condensation WOULD CEASE. The condensation on the surface of the oil would then sink to the bottom of the aquarium AND STAY THERE...until someone tapped a drain valve on the belly side of the aquarium and drained it out, of course. (oh sh!tballs, did I say a drain valve? oh my golly, i must be a fraken genius...or not)
Now, let's say there is NO DRAIN VALVE. The water would accumulate down at the bottom. Let it stay there. Who the frak cares? If the water level gets high enough to touch the bottom edge of your motherboard, then you can worry. Then you have options. you can stick various chemical substances down there that are hydrophilic to draw down the water level. The simplest one would be a cotton ball on a stick. Jam the stick down to the bottom and let it sit there for a few hours. the oil would leave and the water would soak up. Then grab the stick and pull it up.
tada, no more water sitting on the bottom of the aquarium.
I'd just like to pile on and tell wotan31 that he really looks like a jackass bashing someone's engineering skills when he himself is wrong.
Wotan: condensation of water occurs on cold objects submerged in air that contains water. Mineral oil isn't full of water, and cold coils can't magically make water appear there. Your rude comment would make you look like a jackass even if you were right, but man, it really looks bad considering you're dead wrong.
Such anger, such anger.
Notice the tense I used?
The word COULD is used in the sense of what POSSIBLY can happen, in reply to those who were saying it couldn't.
You are a self-proclaimed engineer so you SHOULD recognize every angle possible. Including the one I mentioned. No need to get angry.
You said you would circulate the oil, as you should, the water that SHOULD stay on the bottom COULD become circulated as well.
Besides in your anger you SHOULD have recognized I was replying to people who were scoffing at the idea that moisture could get into an oil rich system. I was not pooping all over your grand master scheme that you so vehemently spent years designing and are now defending to the death.
Good luck with your anger management.