Traditional chiller / Submersion hybrid.

[nuclear]

Realizing it's nearly impossible to condensation proof my hardware in the humid environment I'm working in, I began looking at submersive cooling.

Glanced over the few articles I could find that ranged from using LN2 to mineral oil; and regardless of liquid used there were some common problems such as circulating the liquid to prevent hotspots and not freezing the chips and caps to the point of failure.

I was wondering if it would be a viable option to set up a chilled rig in the traditional way, and then submerse the hardware in mineral oil to combat condensation. I know, most people would just recomment better insulation...and I'm more than open to some suggestions that would actually work; "generous use of insulation" just wasn't enough...the room is probably near %100 humidity.

While keeping the blocks and hardware insulated in the normal way, this would allow some cold transfer to the oil...but hopefully not enough to freeze the components to the point of failure and eliminate the formation of condensation. This would leave only the problem of liquid getting into the caps. (I haven't seen this problem actually verified but have read where this can happen.) That problem should be solved by using sealstring or silicone to prevent this. I suppose another issue could be any non-cooled components submerged in oil could be a problem as they would no longer be aircooled.

[i_jester]

How about some sort of airtight enclosure instead?

Airtight Motherboard (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=41154)

[DarkManX_BG]

Wouldn't it be easier to get a dehumidifier?

[i_jester]

Well;

1. Dehumidy the whole room? You would never get it down to 0%

2. Dehumidify the case? You would still have to seal the case up to exclude outside air.

3. One of the probs with the whole submersion process seems to be that the cost of 100% inert liquids is fairly expensive.

[OCme]

u could use a cold trap to remove moisture... i think good down to -85C or so...

[DarkManX_BG]

Originally posted by i_jester
1. Dehumidy the whole room? You would never get it down to 0%
Of course not, but you'll get it down to a normal level where normal insulation will suffice :)

[i_jester]

That is true, but for me, the whole point would be to avoid the double steps at all. Not having to insulate all that crap around my MB is very attractive.

A cold trap could work. If you ditched all the fans, and sealed up your case, you could in essence supercool your entire case and everything inside of it to -50 or below depending on what you wanted to spend.

We are currently building a new house, and I have discussed a ducted A/C system with my HVAC/Refrigeration subcontractor just for my 4 computers that will be fairly simple. I will still do the seperate chilling for my high end comp(s) but the A/C will have two ducts running in the wall with attachments for 3" hoses both for incoming cool air@ approx 10 degrees C and for removal of the hot air to outside coming from the cases.