Liquid Nitrogen Cooling at Home?

newell98 asks: "Given the rise in popularity of water cooling systems for home computers, I was wondering how many slashdotters have played with the idea of cooling their system with liquid nitrogen? Lots of super-comps use them (or used to at least), and I'm curious about who's played with the idea of taking home computing to the same level?" The thing to remember about Liquid Nitrogen is that this stuff is generally not safe for home use. It must be stored and used with care or serious injury can result. I think this is why not-too-many people use such in overclocking. Water is by far more easier to obtain and is harmless to boot. Now, after saying all that, have any of you tried using liquid nitrogen in cooling a home or garage-built computer rig? What kind of safety precautions did you take, and how well did your cooling system work?

Too cold?

[CoolD2k]

I've seen this discussed on places like [H]ardForum before, and the general consensus seems to be that its TOO cold. Ceramic on the chips can become extreamly brittle and you have to worry about condensation, which will easily kill your system unless you use some type of non-conductive grease.

Re:First nitro-cooled post!

[spt]

There is also a risk of suffocation.
You don't need much liquid N2 to evaporate to make enough gaseous nitrogen to lower O2 levels in your basement

Kryotech systems

[voisine]

Here's a company that's been doing it for
several years now. They had the first 1Ghz
pc back in '99

http://www.kryotech.com/thermal_acceleration2.ht ml

Bah

[SuiteSisterMary]

Get an electrically inert liquid (they're expensive,) a cooling coil, and a pump system. Suspend your mobo over a large resivoir, fill place the cooling coil in the resivior, fill with the liquid, and use the pump to draw it up, and let it flow over your mobo. It's like a waterfall!

Argh

[flikx]

Just use R-134a, an evaporator, a condenser, a throttling valve, and a compressor. Create a sealed system with the components in the right order, and you're set.

It's called a refridgerator, and it's much easier to use to keep your components cool enough. Keeping liquid nitrogen liquid, plus the hardware to pump it is way too expensive. Seriously, what a silly idea. Liquid Nitrogen, pfft!

Read this article

[TheTomcat]

This guy uses Fluorinert and Liquid N2.

http://www.octools.com/index.cgi?caller=articles/s ubmersion/submersion.html [octools.com]

S

Re:mini-fridge case?

[flikx]

Most/all mini-fridges lack sufficient heat removal capacity to keep up with the heat production of a fairly hot computer. Think of their intended design: how often does your food heat itself to 30 C while sitting in the fridge?

You could tinker with the pressure ratio, and perhaps even install a stronger/more efficient compressor, but you might as well go with a custom built unit, and only cool the hot spots with a small heat exchanger/[evaporator].

My 2..

Its the condensation!!

[josquint]

As anyone that's worked with extreme cooling knows, its the condensation that kills. Ever look inside a chest freezer? There's ICE on the walls.

I've seen (and tried) lots of peltier combinations, cases in mini-fridges, etc. But as soon as you get far enough below ambient, you risk condensation on the components. I've cooled systems to about 30F(ambient about 70F) and fried an AMD 'cuz its pins were soaked in water.

With N2, its LOTS colder than ambient, so condensation turns to ice VERY fast. So you have to insulate the shiat out of your proc.mobo. But from what i've seen, the o/cing advantage isnt a whole lot more because you're limited by sheer quality of the silicon, and the design of the transistors. They're just physcally too big to switch that fast, etc.
my $.02(.01CAN)

Re:Just in case you didn't know.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, if only you were right. Unfortunately, you're not.

I'd love my G4 tower that much more if it were silent.

Hell, even my powerbook has a fan, though that one rarely turns on. Wish it did, so it'd stop burning my lap.

a few liquid nitrogen safety points

[chongo]

1. Use some reasonable ventilation

   While you may not need a ventilation hood, you should not store liquid nitrogen on a closed room.

   Pay attention to where the chilled nitrogen gas (that has just boiled) is going. Don't store or operate it near the top of stairs that lead down into a sealed room or basement as the chilled gas will flow downstairs and displace some of the air in the lower room.

   You should not have a problem if your rooms have reasonable ventilation / air flow.

2. Be careful of chilled metal

   You can pour some amount of liquid nitrogen on your hand without a problem because the heat from you hand will form a boiling vapor layer and protect your hand for a while. On the other hand if you dunk something into the liquid nitrogen and chill it and then touch it, you can get a serious burn.

   A wire or aluminum plate that has been chilled to or near liquid nitrogen temperature will burn you almost instantly if you come in contact with it while it is still cold.

3. Watch for icing and water hazards

   Ice and water can form around equipment where liquid nitrogen is boiling. The water runoff can ruin your hardware. The water can present a shock hazard as well.

   Be sure that your equipment is well grounded. Do not touch your system unless the power cord has been removed. Many motherboards and power supplies have electricity flowing in them even when the system is off. Always unplug before opening the system to reduce the risk of water condensation shock.

4. Be careful around young kids

   The liquid nitrogen is a attractive hazard for kids. Be on alert of kids live or regularly visit where liquid nitrogen is in use. While you may take reasonable care, young kids may not. Young kids who see adults

   working with liquid nitrogen may get hurt if they try to play with it on their own.

   A young child can be seriously hurt if they try to touch or drink what they think is funny looking water.