oil cooled pc (pic intensive)

cryption

New Member
I've been browsing the forums for a while but didn't want to really register until I had something worth adding. Here is my project. On my other car club forums someone was building up a badass watercooled PC. That got me and my roommate thinking. Vegetable oil is completely non conductive, and dissipates the heat a computer puts out relatively efficiently. Especially when it's in the fridge. The pictures kinda speak for themselves. We have an Athlon XP 1ghz running at 1.4ghz ... and the temps give us lots more room to go. It isn't a fast machine by any means, but well .... we got bored.

Here is what we tested it with first.

P3190018.jpg


P3190019.jpg


and then the actual computer (shuttle XPC)

P3180059.jpg


P3180001.jpg


P3180062.jpg


P3180058.jpg


P3180061.jpg


P3180063.jpg


P3180065.jpg


P3180064.jpg


P3180002.jpg


P3180003.jpg


P3180005.jpg


P3180004.jpg


P3180006.jpg


P3180011.jpg


P3180009.jpg


P3190015.jpg


Yes, we're nerds.
 

The_Other_One

VIP Member
Did you seal the CPU any? I've heard of some people saying you needed to put some sort of seal to keep the grease away from the pins. I can't see why it would matter but I've not tried it myself :p

And why do you have a fan on the CPU? For a pump? ;)
 

nffc10

Active Member
Why put it in a fridge? Wouldn't that keep it cool anyway without doing all that other stuff?;)
 

Shane

Super Moderator
Staff member
hehe thats cool,

ive seen some clips on yourtube about oil cooling,But on theirs they submerged the Cpu fan too and the fan was spinning realy slowly.
Should the guys of posted this submerged their fan?
 

cryption

New Member
well the fan is on it to just push the oil through the heatsink.

it's in the fridge to stay extra cold and it's overclocked about 40%

at load overclocked 40% it gets to about 40, and I'm unhappy with that so I'm thinking about taking a fishtank pump and pumping the oil out of the computer thing, over the coils for the fridge and then back into the computer to get the oil even colder. Also maybe a few fans to circulate the oil a bit better just so it cools easier.

Also I didn't seal the CPU or anything, i tore it out of my shuttle XPC and put it right in the oil.
 

cryption

New Member
as soon as i can get it cooled off a bit more I plan on overclocking it much more. For the time being it's staying in the safe zone, but not cool enough for my tastes. I was just thinking I found a heater core for an old buick for cheap ... so perhaps run the oil through the heater core (looks like a radiator) .. put that in the fridge with fans on it to really cool the oil itself down.
 

cryption

New Member
Looks awesome, but don't you think the fan will burn up... it's gotta be hard on it running in oil.

i might, but they're cheap

I had a fan running in oil in my fridge before I started this project for a month. Then I added water. It's funny because the fan mixed the oil and water so efficiently that it caused the oil and water to hydrogenate and create margarine in the bottom of the container it was in. I assure you that fan was running when removed from the fridge to start the full project.
 

Burgerbob

Active Member
That is great! i always wondered what it would be like. You should try it with a Core 2 and a really good underwater fan that you could hook up.
 

cryption

New Member
yeah I want to get a good fan of some nature. My budget limited me to using a computer I could sacrifice if it didn't work, I just bought myself a new rig but I don't think I'm willing to risk it ya know.

After all, I'm a poor college student with a Volkswagen that always needs fixing.
 

joeswm8

New Member
now that is awesome!! very innovative and cool! great job

how do you get the oil off when you are done though?
 
Last edited:

cryption

New Member
i just kinda work around the oil when I need to change something.

update (I'll get pics when it's done)

I'm taking the heater core off an old buick i foudn for cheap at auto zone and a fish tank pump to run the oil through the radiator that will be set on the frozen part of the "freezer" that mini fridges have, and then pump that chilled oil directly onto the CPU. Also, I'm tossing more case fans into the oil to simply circulate it more. It still gets too damn hot for my tastes.
 
Top