Safer then watercooling

S

(S)lave

n00b
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
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I have never been a big fan of Watercooling, Don't get me wrong.
I love the Idea of have a pipe pop off a waterblock and pissing all over my 9800XT which cost me an arm and a leg! Or waking up to a FREE Antec fishtank side panel.

So then I got thinking, Whats safer then Water?......GAS!
What about a DRY ICE cooling Kit?

No liquid, Just ice to gas. :cool:
 
Originally posted by (S)lave
I have never been a big fan of Watercooling, Don't get me wrong.
I love the Idea of have a pipe pop off a waterblock and pissing all over my 9800XT which cost me an arm and a leg! Or waking up to a FREE Antec fishtank side panel.

So then I got thinking, Whats safer then Water?......GAS!
What about a DRY ICE cooling Kit?

No liquid, Just ice to gas. :cool:
Click to expand...

How are you going to implement this as a long term solution?
 
do you have some method of converting CO2 into dry ice? Or do you just plan on having BOC deliver a ton of the stuff to you every week?

I can see it now...

he's sitting there using his PC, being kept cold by frozen CO2, as it turns from "ice" to gas the CO2 levels in the room slowly rise...

"Hrm, dont seem to be able to breathe so good..."

*flops to ground due to oxygen deprevation*
 
The trick is to also keep the Dryice cold, With in it's casing it should stay at about -5c thus staying soild and yet still giving off cool air.

I still have yet to do testing as the project is still in the design stage But I'm sure I can keep the costs down.

As for the H20:CO2 Levels an inlet for fresh room air to also be pushed into a second stage pipeline in the duct. So you are more likely to die from your Aircon then a block of co2 letting off about 50mLs an hour.
 
please, don't think about this idea any longer.

Dry ice stays solid at -5 c??? WTF??? How about -78.5°c?

Hold a block of it in your hand for one minute and try to remove it. You can do this with water ice. Go on, try it.

That block of Co2 giving off five ml of gas per hour would be awfully small, you know? Actually, if you put it on a Processor with a 50w thermal load it should have about triple the size of a quarter.. You simpla cannot do anything thatn cool a shot of vodka with that.

The probem with Co2 buildup is not how moch is in your PC, but what you breathe. More thatn 16% is lethal within five minutes at rest, faster if working in any way. Now you propose adding outside air to the cooling system. This of course raises the overal gas temerature, meaning you need more Co2, meaning you need more air... you get it.
 
Originally posted by Little Grabbi
please, don't think about this idea any longer.

Dry ice stays solid at -5 c??? WTF??? How about -78.5°c?

Hold a block of it in your hand for one minute and try to remove it. You can do this with water ice. Go on, try it.

That block of Co2 giving off five ml of gas per hour would be awfully small, you know? Actoally, if you put it on a Processor with a 502 thermal load it should have about triple the size of a quarter.. You simpla cannot do anything thatn cool a shot of vodka with that.

The probem with Co2 buildup is not how moch is in your PC, but what you breathe. More thatn 16% is lethal within five minutes at rest, faster if working in any way. Now you propose adding outside air to the cooling system. This of course raises the overal gas temerature, meaning you need more Co2, meaning you need more air... you get it.
Click to expand...

I was just about to post something along those lines...but you beat me to it...

Ah to hell with it...let him try...
 
Originally posted by Syphon Filter
I was just about to post something along those lines...but you beat me to it...

Ah to hell with it...let him try...
Click to expand...

Nah, letting him try is bad.

My heart bleeds for the EMTs that have to up the mess if he dies *lol*
 
Originally posted by (S)lave
The trick is to also keep the Dryice cold, With in it's casing it should stay at about -5c thus staying soild and yet still giving off cool air.

I still have yet to do testing as the project is still in the design stage But I'm sure I can keep the costs down.

As for the H20:CO2 Levels an inlet for fresh room air to also be pushed into a second stage pipeline in the duct. So you are more likely to die from your Aircon then a block of co2 letting off about 50mLs an hour.
Click to expand...

And how are you going to accomplish that "trick"? In order to sublime the CO2 and cool your processor, you HAVE to heat the dry ice. And like someone mentioned, that 50mL is dependent on the sublimation rate which is dependent on heat transfer, temp difference, and the size of your block, etc.
 
Just bite the bullet and go phase change. You can pick up a used Prommy Mach I for around $250. No real dangers with liquid athough there is some refrigerant in the system.
 
Just bite the bullet and go phase change. You can pick up a used Prommy Mach I for around $250. No real dangers with liquid athough there is some refrigerant in the system.
Click to expand...

Or you can build your own. I did mine for under 200 bucks. It takes some research and work, but it's fun.
 
I don't see what the big deal and paranoia is..

If you use properly installed metal hose clamps and sufficiently thick Tygon, your water system isn't going to just spontaneously burst and spray water directly into your powersupply, radeon, and face...

(though it would be hillarious ;) )

Fans can die and zap your equipment as well, and from much more present dangers like dust and hair, than something as obscure as a well-constructed and sealed waterblock suddenly developing a crack or exploding PVC tubes...
 
^^^, thats what I thought until my watercooling system leaked randomly one day after running perfectly for six months. I had many safeguards including metal hose clamps, silicon, etc....
 
1. Extremeoverclocking.com built and successfully operated a dry ice-alcohol rig here: http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/articles/overclocking/Overclocking_2.4C_4.html. It's the same sort of design you'd use for a LN2 setup: a pipe with an open top, into which you pour dry ice and a liquid to aid in the thermal transfer. Suitable liquids are those that remain liquid at -79 degrees. Ethylene glycol antifreeze is out. Good liquids include ethanol (100% grain alcohol, available through lab supply and in liquor stores as Everclear (95%)), isopropanol (available from drugstores at 95% purity), and acetone (hardware stores). Pure acetone is very nasty stuff, so you must build your OC rig outside or use very good ventilation to keep from dying.
It's best to use the 95% isopropanol. Don't use rubbing alcohol, because rubbing alcohol is sold in 50% (with additives) and 70% (without additives) solutions that will freeze solid or become very thick and jelly-like at the temperature of dry ice. Been there, done that, it's quite fun :D
(I built a working cloud chamber with a big fun block of dry ice, some ethanol, and a radioactive gold ore sample.)

2. According to Jeff and Dan at UIUC (and I've checked the math), the cost issue is the rate of dry ice consumption. According to my own math:
Northwood P4 thermal guideline: 82.0 watts (J/s) max
Dry ice latent heat of vaporization: 571300 J/kg [1]

Consumption rate of dry ice at 82.0 watts power: (571300 J/kg) / (82.0 J/s) = 6970 s/kg

(physics nerds unite)

That is, 1 kg of dry ice will last 6970 seconds, or 1 pound (2.2 kg = 1 lb) will last 3170 seconds which is about 53 minutes. Keep in mind it's being heated by not only your CPU, but the warm air in the room as well, so it will go even faster than this.

Also keep in mind the fact that the dry ice-filled CPU cooler will condense massive amounts of water from the air, which will run down all over your nice motherboard ;)

Figure a rate of about $1 per pound of dry ice, multiply that by the number of hours you want to go around fragging people with your sublimation-cooled bitch slapping box, work in the fact that dry ice disappears at the rate of about 5 pounds per day (3 pounds per day if you keep it in an insulated box in a freezer!), add in the costs of making the dry ice CPU cooler, and you have yourself an expensive cooling system.

If you build it, let us know!
 
not to mention the condensation that would have droplets of water forming all over your block and driping onto your cards.

Watercooling is safer.
 
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