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Mineral Oil Submerged PC Case


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Okay having been involved with a few of these type of systems builds I can tell you first hand that while they might not keep a system as cool as a more traditional system, they seem less effected by ambient room temp, which is kind of neat. While Puget has claimed in their FAQ that the fans do not die that is not what I have seen. The fans were not made to deal with the pressure the oil puts on them while spinning, they do tend to die quickly. The fin system while designed for air works exactly the same in the oil. Now we did not put a radiator on any of the systems I got to play with, that sounds neat, we did find that a pump to circulate the oil does result in better cooling.

 

Building this kind of system is not about getting great cooling, it is about creating a conversation piece.They are also NOT mobile :cheers.gif

And what's the point of any aftermarket cooling system or overclocking if not being a conversation piece? Stock is fine, but not as fun.

 

More seriously though, I would never try to move one of those without emptying it first.

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Viable?

Yes. If the rig is a big heat producer then you may want to use a radiator with it. At that point you might as well just use watercooling or do both (I've seen that once or twice haha).

 

Performance?

No idea, campus wifi isn't loading up Puget Systems (they sell kits, but expensive last I checked).

 

Practical?

Probably not. Not easily transportable, oil can get dirty/discolored, mineral oil is very messy, adding/removing submerged hardware is a little work (and oil drips everywhere), and probably some other things.

 

Benefits?

It looks cool and its quiet if you use no fans.

Edited by AZNguyen

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You could probably use low noise fans, because with a radiator as big as they show, why use the super loud stuff? Oh wait, this whole thing is somewhat unnecessary, so go for a jet engine :lol:

I guess my larger point is I would expect the noise can be controlled without too much difficulty.

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Guys, really I would use powerful fans because they will be heavily muffled by the oil and the aquarium and if you use quiet fans they wont move enough oil to cool anything.

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this reminds me of a mod i wanted to do...

combine a mini freezer with a pc...

gotta go check it out on google and youtube to see if it has already been done...but my only problem was ice build up on the mobo might short it...might cover it in oil...oil can't freeze...I think

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Guys, really I would use powerful fans because they will be heavily muffled by the oil and the aquarium and if you use quiet fans they wont move enough oil to cool anything.

If we're talking about in the oil, yes, but for a radiator, you will want quieter fans. Also, as ComputerEd pointed out, the viscous oil can cause the fans to die quickly. I'm sure there are pumps that could be used though that would work fine.

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this reminds me of a mod i wanted to do...

combine a mini freezer with a pc...

gotta go check it out on google and youtube to see if it has already been done...but my only problem was ice build up on the mobo might short it...might cover it in oil...oil can't freeze...I think

 

I doubt you would even have to worry about "ice build up" I actually modded a mini fridge/freezer and put a XSPC RX360 radiator in the freezer with 3 fans in pull, cooling my i7. As soon as I turned my PC on and the rad started to dissipate the heat from my CPU, temps in the freezer started rising pretty quickly. I had a 10lbs roll of hamburger that was frozen solid, within just a couple of hours it had already started to thaw, while still in the freezer! That was just with a radiator in the freezer. I imagine if you put all of the heat generating PC components in there, it would happen much quicker. Your concern at that point would probably be the condensation as a result of the ice melting :lol:

 

As far as the mineral oil PCs, I agree that they are more of a conversation piece than anything. Zotac had a submerged PC this year at CES. They used a radiator on the top as you can see from the pic. It was pretty cool, but definitely not something I would want to mess with :biggrin: Can you imagine trying to clean everything up when you decided it was time to move on from the oil :whistling:

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They were never really "viable". They are still a great option if you take the time to do it right and don't mind voiding every warranty on your parts the instant you fill the tank.

 

You will definitely need a somewhat powerful pump to circulate the mineral oil through a LARGE radiator if you want to have any hope of a cool-running system. Pure radiation from the mineral oil itself won't be enough to keep any decent system cool over time (the temperatures will steadily rise till they hit equilibrium...and that point will probably be much higher than you're comfortable with).

 

Those big 9x120 mm radiators would do the job well when paired with 12 or 24 low speed fans.

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