Oil-Cooled Machines

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With all of this summer heat approaching, I’ve been slightly worried about my computer setup. I’m currently overclocking my Raedon 9800 Pro and a number of other motherboard components; so naturally, heat buildup is going to be a problem. To help with the situation I installed a Zalman VF900 VGA cooler fan, so temperatures have been staying inside normal ranges. However, it is my desire in the future to set-up a rig (not my current one) to a form of water- or oil- cooling.

Now, there are a number of advantages and disadvantages to choosing a liquid cooling option. Some of the advantages are a much greater cooling ability, increased moddability (some people just think aquariums are cool), and better efficiency in doing so. The primary disadvantages of this method is cost, risk of containment failure, and space limitations. Also, if you’re going to use vegetable oil to cool your PC, beware that it spoils after a few days of usage.

The link above about the aquarium involves a person who decided to water-cool their PC, but did not want to use water (for its electrically conductive properties) or vegetable oil (for its spoilage). Thus, he opted to use mineral oil, which will not spoil and is not as conductive, but is more rare and expensive, but I digress.

Apparently, if you want to watercool your desktop, you’ll need a number of specified parts, including:

• A water reservoir
• A radiator or compresser of some kind
• A water pump
• Component coolers
• Tubing and connectors
• Flow indicators (optional)
• Quick couplings (optional)

Yowch. These components will allow for heat dissipation and the flow of water between your computer components and the radiator and water pump, and optionally there’s a cooling bracket that attaches to your northbridge to allow for additional component cooling. Unfortunately, that is a lot of equipment to buy, and I know for a fact that watercooling is not cheap. So, it looks like watercooling is still on my “To Do” list for computer bliss, at least until I get enough space around my desk to fit a water pump and reservoir and radiator combo job…

Pictures courtesy of: Puget Systems

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