Frost on graphics cards?

[IsaacDaGrazin]

ive been seeing this a lot on graphics cards

what is it?

actual ice/frost?

wouldn’t it damage the card if it melted?

is it meant to happen?

i thought hardware was supposed to heat up? not freeze?

thanks!

[thekeemo]

its solidified air

from LN2 or CO2 cooling

[Amazingasian]

ive been seeing this a lot on graphics cards

what is it?

actual ice/frost?

wouldn’t it damage the card if it melted?

is it meant to happen?

i thought hardware was supposed to heat up? not freeze?

thanks!

It's either Liquid Nitrogen or Dry Ice cooling.  You use those to get a higher overclock on the GPU.  @Lays just did one.  Let me find the thread.

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/533260-gtx-580-dry-ice-run/#entry7077176

[IsaacDaGrazin]

ooh thanks

[TymmVonD]

Overclocking for sport is not concerned with card life. They're just trying to post the highest clocks and pass a benchmark or two. Would have to hire someone part time to maintain the cooling while you game in a personal rig scenario.

[Lays]

It's either Liquid Nitrogen or Dry Ice cooling.  You use those to get a higher overclock on the GPU.  @Lays just did one.  Let me find the thread.

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/533260-gtx-580-dry-ice-run/#entry7077176

 

 

ive been seeing this a lot on graphics cards

what is it?

actual ice/frost?

wouldn’t it damage the card if it melted?

is it meant to happen?

i thought hardware was supposed to heat up? not freeze?

thanks!

 

 

It could damage the card if it wasn't insulated.

 

You can see in the picture on the left, that they've insulated the card with Vaseline, this creates a barrier between the PCB and the moisture.  You can also use Liquid Electrical Tape, as seen in my guide here:

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/527091-how-to-prep-a-gpu-for-subzero/page-1

 

 

 

Overclocking for sport is not concerned with card life. They're just trying to post the highest clocks and pass a benchmark or two. Would have to hire someone part time to maintain the cooling while you game in a personal rig scenario.

 

 

Not at all!!! If it's a cheap card yes maybe.  But these 2000+ mhz 980 TI don't grow on trees, if you spend $700-1000 on a card, you don't just want to blow it up.  They spend time insulating them and know which voltages are safe @ which temperatures, to not hurt the card.

 

~1.75-1.85v is a standard thing on Ln2 with these cards that have proper VRM design, most of them are designed like absolute tanks, so they don't just randomly kick the bucket.

[TymmVonD]

It could damage the card if it wasn't insulated.

 

You can see in the picture on the left, that they've insulated the card with Vaseline, this creates a barrier between the PCB and the moisture.  You can also use Liquid Electrical Tape, as seen in my guide here:

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/527091-how-to-prep-a-gpu-for-subzero/page-1

 

 

 

 

 

Not at all!!! If it's a cheap card yes maybe.  But these 2000+ mhz 980 TI don't grow on trees, if you spend $700-1000 on a card, you don't just want to blow it up.  They spend time insulating them and know which voltages are safe @ which temperatures, to not hurt the card.

 

~1.75-1.85v is a standard thing on Ln2 with these cards that have proper VRM design, most of them are designed like absolute tanks, so they don't just randomly kick the bucket.

I see what you're saying, but I cant imagine from competition to the next competition, they are using the same card over and over. Also, maybe for hobbyists, but pro overclockers get their hardware from sponsors. Sponsors(manufacturers) see that if their card/mobo/pcb wins a competition, it's money well spent on advertising. 

[Lays]

I see what you're saying, but I cant imagine from competition to the next competition, they are using the same card over and over. Also, maybe for hobbyists, but pro overclockers get their hardware from sponsors. Sponsors(manufacturers) see that if their card/mobo/pcb wins a competition, it's money well spent on advertising.

Competitions are actually quite few and far between. Hwbot.org is where a lot of the action happens, and a lot of the top guys are reusing the same cards and cpu over and over. Hell, K|ngp|n has been using the same 5960x for months now at 1.7v 5.7 Ghz or so.

[TymmVonD]

@Lays

Well, I guess I'm completely wrong. Pros reuse their parts from competition to competition. Meaning, lifespan of components is critical. The more you know...

 

Sounds boring. Here I go..overclocking the same thing I did last time...*crowd goes wild*

[Lays]

@Lays

Well, I guess I'm completely wrong. Pros reuse their parts from competition to competition. Meaning, lifespan of components is critical. The more you know...

Sounds boring. Here I go..overclocking the same thing I did last time...*crowd goes wild*

The big big competitions usually have everything sponsored though. Like MSI MOA usually has gpu, motherboard, psu and lots of other stuff.

But lots of smaller competitions usually happen online, or don't have much sponsored equipment.