Jan 16 2008Mineral Oil Computer Cooling: Sure, Why Not
Take one computer, drop it into an aquarium, fill with mineral oil and presto! -- a mineral oil cooled computer case. I decided to make one of my own and I've got to say it's pretty cool except for the fact that all my fish keep dying. What do they not like mineral oil or something? The man responsible for the mod had this to say: "after about 2 hours, the temperature settled at a new maximum of 84C on the CPU under load." That's pretty impressive, seeing how the temperature of my CPU settled at broken under heavy load. And by 'under heavy load' I mean I sat on it.
A video tutorial to make your own after the jump.
Mineral Oil Absorbs Heat, Cools Computer System [techeblog]
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Reader Comments
1. anon - January 16, 2008 2:10 PM
FIRST
2. Woody - January 16, 2008 2:22 PM
COMPTUER ATEZ MY FIZH!
3. p0nk - January 16, 2008 2:42 PM
What a couple of fucking losers!
4. melissa - January 16, 2008 2:50 PM
i want one
i'll throw in some action figures
it will be so sweet
5. Uncle Eccoli - January 16, 2008 3:29 PM
It's recently been brought to my attention that I'm a moron, so forgive me, but... huh? The computer is submerged in mineral oil? That doesn't seem right, but I suppose if it's non-conductive... Somebody help me out here.
6. Old News - January 16, 2008 3:38 PM
Cray did this back in the day. It's non-corrosive/non-conductive, so it should work. Nothing special.
7. Mr.Anderson - January 16, 2008 4:51 PM
NO FUXING WAII!!! Wow O_O.... this just opened my eyes to a slew of possibilities... why didn't I know of this before?!
Amazing.
8. tmhs - January 16, 2008 5:26 PM
You'd get sick of the smell after awhile. Smells kind of like crayons but worse.
9. Simon - January 16, 2008 5:37 PM
84C is supposed to be good? Erm... you're killing your pc at that temperature.
I think I'll continue using the far cleaner and more efficient AIR thanks.
10. Stolencheese - January 16, 2008 6:41 PM
Pretty cool and would make a good display for their computer store. :)
11. Anthony - January 16, 2008 7:34 PM
#9-- Heh, I'm definitely sticking with air as well, but I wouldn't say it's cleaner or more efficient... any computer person dreads the sight of a case interior that hasn't been cleaned in 5 years...
12. Nathan Sprinkle - January 16, 2008 10:10 PM
I always kinda liked the smell of crayons... Dunno if I still do or not though
13. Knifewrench - January 17, 2008 3:14 AM
I saw something similar to this at QuakeCon
14. Samuel - January 17, 2008 4:08 AM
This is a really good idea. All the system needs is a radiator to take the heat out of the oil.
15. morbit - January 17, 2008 8:43 AM
#6 +1
There was also on the net a distilled water tank pc project but I don't remember outcome... Should work, as long as ions don't get in the way.
16. guate6 - January 17, 2008 9:43 PM
I have to admit that this is really neat. Though I wouldn't do that. I would rather stick to air. What if you need to upgrade parts, or if you're a IT support or something, where you're troubleshooting with your pc...wouldn't be worth it. If I ran an aquarium with an old pc that I didn't care about and would be cheap to replace, then I'd go for it (making sure I could get rid of the smell).
17. hK - January 25, 2008 5:05 AM
Btw, the computer reaches 80+ degrees after 12 hours of load! So it's hardly a problem. I don't think my undervolted Athlon 5000+ would ever reach that, though.. :P
18. ctfdacow - January 27, 2008 4:12 AM
84C??? tats fucking hot as hell! Mines running at 84F...
19. Gav - January 27, 2008 7:12 AM
hey... i been hearing alot more recently about this whole oil cooling your system etc... a lot of places are telling me that it is advised not to submerge your pcu and others telling me that it is perfectly fine.... im confused here does someone have any information pref from someone that has already done this.