submerge your pc in veggie oil - cool and quiet

[mouser]

.. not only did we find that our AMD Athlon FX-55 and GeForce 6800 Ultra equipped system didn't short out when we filled the sealed shut PC case with cooking oil--but the non-conductive properties of the liquid coupled created a totally cool and quiet high-end PC, devoid of the noise pollution of fans.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/01/09/strip_out_the_fans/

page 2 has a nice full video.  from tom's hardware (thanks db for the pointer).

[Hirudin]

I kinda want to do this with my HTPC, because it's so durn loud. The biggest thing that's stopping me is that I'm afraid the oil will go rancid. Supposidly the computer creates a warm environment that makes stuff start growing in the oil. Aparrently the way to go is to use a petrolium based (non-organic) oil. I seem to remember someone saying that the best oil would be completely clear (which would look a LOT better too).

[mouser]

yes someone was just pointing out to me the problem that its going to go rancid..

also, what if you need to replace something? yuck.
also you'd have to keep the cdrom and hard drive out of the oil wouldnt you? so hard drive noice would not be cure (maybe the hard drive is sealed but id be cautious about that).

[Carol Haynes]

Nice - I think some one around here built his new PC just a bit too soon ...

Bit mucky though if you want to swap a PCI card, and you need a second box for your drives ...

Also if you have a basket compartment in the top you can make French Fries ...


How can you have non-organic petroleum based oil ??? Petroleum is a biological biproduct ...

[f0dder]

Too bad the oil only goes ~40C - that's not hot enough for fries

edit: oh wait, you could use a dualcore P4, then it'd heat up  

[nudone]

i've not read the article yet but it's something i'd consider - even if it meant cleaing it out once a year and putting fresh oil in (maybe it would require doing more often?).

i'm planning in going for the water cooled stage soon so if more information is available in a few months regarding oil cooled then i'd be very tempted to try it.

as for cleaning the oil off the cards when need to swap them out - surely there must be some kind of cleaming fluid suitable for this(?).

[brotherS]

It's a funny idea, but that's it - since you can't submerge ALL parts in oil I still think a bolstered metal case with a bit of silent tuning is the best way to do it.

I don't even want to think about what happens if you aren't around when that plastic case starts to leak 30 litres of veggie oil... talk about a slick idea!

[Hirudin]

How can you have non-organic petroleum based oil ??? Petroleum is a biological biproduct ...

Oh yeah... forgot about that...



Another crazy liquid that supposidly could be used: distilled water, except it's corosive.

[Carol Haynes]

If you read the article there is a section on de-ionized water and unfortunately it tended to get ionized in use and cause electrical shorts.

[kimmchii]

it was /. last year.
Aquarium Full of Oil For PC Cooling

[Edvard]

Actually not a bad idea if implemented properly. Hams (Amateur shortwave radio operators) have done this kind of thing for years with antenna 'dummy' loads. What they do is sink the load coil in a large can of oil with an inner sleeve. As the coil heats up, oil rises up the inner sleeve and pours to the perimeter where it is radiatively cooled (good idea to have fins on that bucket...) and the oil sinks to the bottom where it is drawn back up the inner sleeve. If you could do that to the CPU...
Actually someone who commented on the Slashdot article I think is correct; The noise comes mostly from the interference of the airflow coming off the fan blade at an angle and smacking the heat sink fins. This is the same sort of thing that makes flutes go. Back the fan off the heat sink a little with a length of PVC or something ought to make it a little quieter if that's the case.

[nudone]

well, i'm still game - just waiting for someone braver than me to work out a really good way of doing it.