Condensation Questions

[Maxprime]

Is there an easy way to test your setup for condensation before you ruin it?

[Techmasta]

Test it with the computer powered off. If there is condensation just dry the motherboard/cpu and hope that it works.

[Maxprime]

As long as it reaches -C's for a few minutes - that's a good enough test, right?

[afireinside]

Nope. I had -13C water in my blocks for a few hours and I ran fine like that. Temps still went down and I got condensation in my CPU(I think) block and shut down at -17C.

[Maxprime]

But I mean if I kept it at -40 (w/ no load b/c machine's off) for like 10 mins. I would see condensation if the seal was bad and therefore I'd be pretty safe if it passed that test, right?

[afireinside]

If theres no condensation at -40C for 20 minuts you should be good to go but you never know if any sliped by...

[Keeper]

The condensation that will kill will not be what you see; it will be what you can’t see. The way I tested my setup is to leave the chiller running with the power off overnight and a fan drying the inside of your case (because condensation will occur on components near your CPU that won’t occur while it is under power), after a night of serious –C temps running through your system, let it warm up to room temperature………..and then check for signs of water.

Your best bet would be to remove the block and check for moisture.

By the way, I fried perfectly good NF7-S cutting corners.

[Maxprime]

Well if that's not scary - I don't know what is.

[Keeper]

If you are getting temps like -40C with no load, it is likely you will maintain -0C+ under full load. My setup will only chill to -30 without a load and it still maintains -4C overclocked 1336MHz under load.

You want to be confident, after I fried my first MB, I was going through batteries left and right looking for a drop of water with a flashlight for a month.

I found it best to take things nice and slow.