A couple questions

[Utnorris]

I just picked up a Chilly1 phase from a guy on the forums. Unit works, nice and frosty, however it is not tuned for an I7, so my question is:

1 - If, for example, it held a load of 200 watts at -30c, putting an I7 on it would just mean it could hold the load at higher temp, say -10c, does this sound reasonable or more importantly will the unit just overheat and fail with too large of a load? I do know it has a thermal protection of some sort built in, but I am just trying to get an idea of what I should look out for.

2 - Does anyone know of a simple and cheap temp probe that can work independently of the PC or Phase unit and do negative temps? The ones I have currently do not go below 0c.

3 - Anyone every use Plastic Dip (http://www.plastidip.com/) to cover the board around the socket or is everyone pretty much using Artisit eraser?

I will probably just try it out, maybe tonight, but I thought I would get my expectations in check.

Thanks

[teyber]

sorry not much help but plastidip looks sick on cars :D

1) it will not just hold higher loads at not great temps, if its not tuned for an i7 load the temps will exponentially increase until its dangerous / shuts off / you dive for the off switch / blows a fuse.

2) I think i saw 1 for sale :)

3) eraser is generally looked upon as "the" insulation method as its really easy and effective. i know that plastidip is really hard to get off and not sure how it works as a insulator. hell it might work great, you got an old mobo? :p:
http://www.j3network.com/soze/images/gti/2009/06/20090606/20090606_gti_005.jpg plastidip ftmfw (all the black there is plastidip)
for those of you who don't know what it is :)

[Utnorris]

Yeah, I tried the Plastic dip on an old MB, the only part that was hard to get off was around the caps just because of the way it seals around them, but a razor blade takes care of that. The thing I noticed about it when I built my chiller was it gets really hard under cold temps, so, not sure if it is really ideal. It was more of a thought since it is easy to put on and is black and looks nice. I am currently using the Artist eraser, but I also have the dip laying around too.

So are you saying that if the phase isn't tuned for the load then it will overheat and shutoff, possibly dammaging something?

Thanks

[Postal Dude]

yeah thats right mate. It falls over, i think the term is. you let it get to say -40 before turning system on. Then as you exceed its tuned capacity the temps will rise and rise till theyre in the +'s then it will just climb until it does one of the aforementioned results

[Utnorris]

Ok, so I decided to give it a try. I used a Fluke to monitor the temp on the evaporator by taping it too it's side. Before turning on the computer I let it settle at around -33c. I then turned on the computer and went into the bios to make sure I had a decent mount and look at the temps. They were at -23c and the evaporator dropped to -27c. After a few minutes I went ahead into Windows. My cpu temps were at -8c since that is the lowest it could register the cores. The evap temps were still stable around -27c. Went ahead and started Everest load and the 4 cores never went over 20c and the evap temp settled around -22c. Ran it for 10 minutes and then stopped at which point the cpu temps dropped back below 0, south of -8c. The evap temp dropped to -23c. So, not bad, not great and it was only for 10 minutes. The good news is that the line leading to the compressor from the condenser and the compressor itself was still touchable. So I am thinking it just need to be tuned for the I7 load. The compressor looks to be a Tecumseh AZA0395YXA 950 BTU R134A 115V 60Hz 1/5hp Compressor. Any idea if this is good enough for this type of load if properly tuned?
Thanks.

[sdumper]

Are you talking about a chilly1 original with the Indian 1/5 hp compressor?

That was a very quiet unit and was perfect for single and dual core cpus.


Ok heres the scoop:
Chris and I did some testing trying to determine approximately what sort of wattage an i7 was pushing and an i7 with 8 cores enabled hits around 225 watts at 1.5 vCore and loaded under wprime.

If you are tuned to hold a load at 225 watts your fine but if you are tuned to hold no more than 200 watts then you will observe the following:

At first when you kick off your stress test you will see a slight dip in temps and then it will rise rapidily as your unit crashes.

As you have done just load it up and try it out but dont be shocked if it crashes on you because if you are using an original chilly1 then it was never designed for more than a dual core.

[Utnorris]

I was kinda figuring it hadn't been tuned past 200 watts, but can it be tuned to 225 watts? Will a larger condenser help? And yes, it is very quiet and compact which was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the help everyone.

[sdumper]

Honestly I dont think I could tune a 1/5 hp compressor to hold 225/250 watts at a decent temperature because I would have to charge fairly heavy to hold that load and a 1/5 hp compressor would struggle.

That said others may be able to so lets see what some other guys have to say. You might want to send this pm as a link to Goemler, Runmc, NoL and Teyber they are the only guys besides me who are currently building in the US that I know of...

[Utnorris]

Cool, appreciate it. I will do that, already sent a PM to Runmc since he is local for me. I do have another compressor that appears to be a little larger, believe it is a Danfoss 5.5 NFLX, which I think is a 1/4 HP unit. I got that one out of a Vapo LS box. Anyway, thanks for the help.

[[XC] gomeler]

The NF5.5CLX will work fine for an i7 setup. Your current compressor would work fine, it is more than capable of moving the load from an i7, the problem is I'm sure the rated temperatures at that capacity are around 0C as you noticed in your testing. With an adjusted capillary tube it could do that all day long, but I imagine it is currently a little too restrictive and the condenser may also be a limiting factor as they always seem to be with these small builds.