Submersion Cooling

[RedWulf]

So, does anyone have experience with immersion or submersion cooling? I know it's typically just for servers/parallel systems but I see potential in home pcs and honestly I think my next build might be in a tank just for a unique rig. 

I don't mean mineral oil, I mean stuff like novec 

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/NA-DataCenters/DataCenters/Solutions/EfficiencySustainability/ImmersionCooling/

[Curufinwe_wins]

4 minutes ago, RedWulf said:

So, does anyone have experience with immersion or submersion cooling? I know it's typically just for servers/parallel systems but I see potential in home pcs and honestly I think my next build might be in a tank just for a unique rig. 

I don't mean mineral oil, I mean stuff like novec 

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/NA-DataCenters/DataCenters/Solutions/EfficiencySustainability/ImmersionCooling/

Looks like the exact same idea as oil rigs but with an intermediate heat exchanger.

 

Not going to be cost efficient at all (fluid costs and costs of your heat sink design).

[Enderman]

this isnt even possible with regular PC components

the PC will shut down before it even reaches boiling point

[RedWulf]

Just now, Curufinwe_wins said:

Looks like the exact same idea as oil rigs but with an intermediate heat exchanger.

 

Not going to be cost efficient at all (fluid costs and costs of your heat sink design).

it is but a much lower vescosity, lower boiling point, and no residue. Fluid costs and electricity will be high but the radiator/pump/heatsinks/and tank can be used over and over since parts are just placed in the liquid and parts aren't needed to be special fit so in that regard it's cheaper.

[RedWulf]

Just now, Enderman said:

this isnt even possible with regular PC components

the PC will shut down before it even reaches boiling point

Some other 3m coolants have lower boiling points but regardless you use pumps like with oil

[Enderman]

3 minutes ago, RedWulf said:

Some other 3m coolants have lower boiling points but regardless you use pumps like with oil

the way the fluid is cooled is by evaporating and being cooled at the top of the chamber

no evaporation = no cooling

 

you would need to use a radiator with fans, just like regular oil cooling

so the only difference would be that instead of oil you use some other non-conductive fluid

[RedWulf]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

the way the fluid is cooled is by evaporating and being cooled at the top of the chamber

no evaporation = no cooling

 

you would need to use a radiator with fans, just like regular oil cooling

so the only difference would be that instead of oil you use some other non-conductive fluid

again some products have lower boiling points.

 

and yes I know, but theres also the up side of less residue, cleaner look, and as you said low conductivity. I'm not looking to debate its operation, I just want some users to give an unbias review

[Curufinwe_wins]

16 minutes ago, RedWulf said:

again some products have lower boiling points.

 

and yes I know, but theres also the up side of less residue, cleaner look, and as you said low conductivity. I'm not looking to debate its operation, I just want some users to give an unbias review

EDIT: Apparently like 5 people have done this... And it still is a bad/novelty idea.

[brandishwar]

14 minutes ago, RedWulf said:

So, does anyone have experience with immersion or submersion cooling? I know it's typically just for servers/parallel systems but I see potential in home pcs and honestly I think my next build might be in a tank just for a unique rig. 

I don't mean mineral oil, I mean stuff like novec 

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/NA-DataCenters/DataCenters/Solutions/EfficiencySustainability/ImmersionCooling/

 

For what 3M is advertising it's definitely not cost effective unless you're using a lot of computers. For example, the high performance computing of massive supercomputers. On the small scale, it doesn't look much different from how mineral oil is typically used, in that the system is immersed into the oil to allow the volume of the oil to absorb the heat. The only difference here is that the liquid is allowed to boil away, which is similar to how your body does things. And it would need to be a coolant with a boiling point lower than water. That coolant probably boils at around 80C to 85C.

 

On that, though, as you've already said, there would need to be a pump to keep the liquid flowing near the hottest components. In the server setup show in that video, there is likely a pipe under each bank with an opening to allow fluid to be pushed straight up into each blade to make sure new coolant replaces what evaporates and push the vapor away from the components to the surface. Otherwise, the rest of the mechanism operates similar to desalinization plants with the exception that the condensed coolant is gathered and flowed back into a reservoir or the pool instead of taken away.

 

I'd be curious if something like that could happen on the small scale. I don't see doing it myself, but it'd certainly be quite intriguing. The only downside is that has to be loud.

[RedWulf]

2 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

No one is going to have done this... ANYWHERE.

 

That fluid was a "breakthrough development" last year, it probably isn't even available for sale to consumers.

 

3 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

No one is going to have done this... ANYWHERE.

 

That fluid was a "breakthrough development" last year, it probably isn't even available for sale to consumers.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1209583/3m-novec-7000-group

[Enderman]

7 minutes ago, RedWulf said:

again some products have lower boiling points.

 

and yes I know, but theres also the up side of less residue, cleaner look, and as you said low conductivity. I'm not looking to debate its operation, I just want some users to give an unbias review

the problem with most artificially made non conductive fluids is that they pick up ions over time and can become conductive if not replaced often

 

i have never seen anyone put any PC parts in some other fluid thats not oil

if you want to be the first one then be my guest

[Curufinwe_wins]

5 minutes ago, RedWulf said:

 

http://www.overclock.net/t/1209583/3m-novec-7000-group

Ok, so exactly four people have done this over the last 3 years (I found like two others searching the interwebs)...

 

Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know about the project?

 

Last update was 340 dollars per gallon, and I still don't know how you go about buying the stuff from reading the thread.

 

 

[RedWulf]

2 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

Ok, so exactly two people did this 3 years ago...

 

Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know about the project?

 

Last update was 340 dollars per gallon, and I still don't know how you go about buying the stuff from reading the thread.

I just asked if anyone else ad experience, I didn't try to replace your bible with the novec manual

[Curufinwe_wins]

Just now, RedWulf said:

I just asked if anyone else ad experience, I didn't try to replace your bible with the novec manual

I mean take into context the exact words of my first comment:

 

28 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

Looks like the exact same idea as oil rigs but with an intermediate heat exchanger.

 

Not going to be cost efficient at all (fluid costs and costs of your heat sink design).

 

Nothing has changed looking at everything I/you could find on the fluid.

[W-L]

1 hour ago, RedWulf said:

So, does anyone have experience with immersion or submersion cooling? I know it's typically just for servers/parallel systems but I see potential in home pcs and honestly I think my next build might be in a tank just for a unique rig. 

I don't mean mineral oil, I mean stuff like novec 

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/NA-DataCenters/DataCenters/Solutions/EfficiencySustainability/ImmersionCooling/

As said it works based on evporation so you will need a fully sealed case and a condenser at the top to cool and transfer and heat out and doesn't work the same as mineral oil. This shows it done here using regular radiators in what looks to be a glass case:

 

 

[Stefan1024]

This method is interesting, but it requires a fully sealed case what is inconvenient. I do not have experience with submersion oil cooling jest. But I will:

 

 

 

 

[RedWulf]

14 minutes ago, ninninon said:

 

It boils at 34c and is perfectly possible with normal components, you'd just need a sealed case and a condenser, which can be cooled by tap water, which you could set up as a passively cooled separate loop.

All thanks to Enrico Fermi  

[LukaH]

go for it it looks cool would like to see a build log if you do it