Oil Immersion Cooling Goes Mainstream with Hardcore PC's Reactor

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/fea...corepc_reactor

www.hardcorecomputers.com

http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/ha...pc_01_full.jpg

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Stop. You had us at oil submersed motherboard, CPU and GPUs. You didn’t even have to dunk the SSDs, PSU or create a custom motherboard and bullet resistant tank too to convince us that you’re really hard core, umm, Hardcore.

Of course, if you stare too hard at the tank, you’ll miss all the heavenly glory that the Hardcore PC truly is. From its beautiful aluminum case, to its top port routing and the easy to access hard drives, every centimeter of the machine oozes custom computing. And we can honestly say that after tinkering with the most exotic PCs available on Earth for a decade now. What Hardcore is trying to do is so over the top that no one has ever tried it before on a production machine.

But before Hardcore can ascend to take its place among the top performance PC makers, there are an awful lot of questions to answer. Like can they really make and sell these babies for how much the company claims it can? Does it really work? To find the answer to that read on.

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Now this is just plain cool. Impractical to work with, but really cool. A custom designed 790i motherboard by Tyan with x-fi built in. Even has dedicated cooling blocks on the GPU's CPU and NB to cool. And looks like one giant radiator on the back.

I must say the system is nothing I would ever buy, but mighty inspirational:p:

Oh, and here's the spec sheets for possibilities
http://www.hardcorecomputers.com/Pro...oryDetail.aspx

Now lets see some overclocks!

What motherboard is that?

I can't see the layout clearly, nor any pci-e ports. The cards in there must be sitting on riser cards or something spiffy.

I'll pass for $5560 and just oil cooling, but their idea of using external coolers ( talk about pelts but.. ) and if they go phase, then I would be more enthousiastic since it will mean no condensation issues ever. Though I understand that the mobo needs to be prepped for submersion, I don't like the idea of being tied to one board though, if they extend the range to include some intel chipset based board they will certainly increase their potential market share, same goes with the nvidia gpu's.

I think the basic idea is great, but for it to appeal to a large enough customer base to be economical viable they have to expend the lineup. Don't think this company will survive with just this one product, can't think of any company btw which survives on one product :confused:

Edit: Safire it's a NVIDIA 790i ULTRA SLI based custom Tygan board.

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Originally Posted by SafeFire

What motherboard is that?

I can't see the layout clearly, nor any pci-e ports. The cards in there must be sitting on riser cards or something spiffy.

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It's a custom one made by Tyan (they ususally make server and workstation boards), as for the graphicscards, yep, they put them on risers to keep total size down.

I agree with the major downside Maximum pc mentioned, upgrading is going to be a pain as you will be at the complete mercy of the manufacturer due to all the custom stuff.

oil? like sunflower oil ?

All that trouble for ambient oil temps? Seems like a big waste if you're not taking the oil sub zero and clocking the crap out of that thing.

omg

now that is seriously expensive

i guess the casing and guarantee is costly... but the hardware prices are ridiculous:rolleyes:

edit: now aint that nice, only 1 year limited warranty, which is void if you overclock :down:

http://www.hardcorecomputer.com/Reso...orWarranty.pdf

Dr Freeze used mineral oil but he also submerged the cooling part of an air conditioner in the oil as well, was about 10 years ago.

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Originally Posted by clonez

omg

now that is seriously expensive

i guess the casing and guarantee is costly... but the hardware prices are ridiculous:rolleyes:

edit: now aint that nice, only 1 year limited warranty, which is void if you overclock :down:

http://www.hardcorecomputer.com/Reso...orWarranty.pdf

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This is an old idea that fails miserably and as you mentioned - one year warranty which is voided if you overclock?

So what the hell is the point of this thing? A fancy reservoir for my salad??:down:

point is its absolutely silent if implemented correctly

I can see the challenge for meself here to build something better... I think making it this neat would be difficult, but it should be possible to build something cooler with phase change or something.

cash makes everything possible

there are quite a few who can build a casing and heatsinks of your favor, just costs $$$$

I dunno what to think.

First off I am astounded that they got Tyan to design a custom mobo for them. How the hell did they get that to happen? They must assume a lot of sales of this unit to pull that one off. Any thoughts on that?

Second it's a lovely enclosure: they got that perfect. Looks great.

Third...is anyone planmning to keep their PC forever? Because there is no way I can see that being upgraded...

I think this must be a litmus test to prove that PC enthusiasts have way more money than sense...which I thought was already common knowledge :D (looks at $5700 Skulltrail rig on desk)

Expensive? yes.
Hard to upgrade? yes.
Sexy as hell? YES!

That is probably one of the coolest things I've seen in such a long time. I was pretty amazed too that a custom mobo was designed for this project too. Pure insanity.

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Originally Posted by CyberDruid

I dunno what to think.

First off I am astounded that they got Tyan to design a custom mobo for them. How the hell did they get that to happen? They must assume a lot of sales of this unit to pull that one off. Any thoughts on that?

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According to maximumpc the company behind it has some excessive funding avalaible, they mention numbers in the millions, so it might be that Tyan does custom mainboards if the price is right, only other option I see is that they have a ex tyan employee who knows the right people.
Or third but unlikely option, Tyan does it out of its own interests, I mean cooling servers is a major challenge especially with the energy costs of today.

nice

Very nice find. Thanks for posting. This thing is wicked! :yepp:

I'm sure it 's cool to have it but, $5560 and mainstream just doesn't look right in the same sentence. I rather have the DIY version for the fraction of that money (plus it's your creation). The whole oil submersion system cost $145 in that project.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php

I wanna know how much it cost to get a custom made mobo :hrhr:

ask foxconn:D

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Originally Posted by clonez

ask foxconn:D

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:confused: why? do they offer such a service? :D :D :D

Man thats pretty sweet. Rediculous -yes. But sweet.

Oil doesnt cool as good as water does. If people are worried about conductivity, it would be cheaper to get reclaimed HFE.

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Originally Posted by SamHughe

I'm sure it 's cool to have it but, $5560 and mainstream just doesn't look right in the same sentence. I rather have the DIY version for the fraction of that money (plus it's your creation). The whole oil submersion system cost $145 in that project.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php

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QTF

I think Puget got an QX9770 overclocked to 4.6GHz at 50C under full load. Not too bad. Probably be a touch more than $145 but I think for $300 you could assemble a top notch setup that could easily compete with the best air cooling or water cooling.

The age old question though is "how do the capacitors respond to oil submersion?" I don't think it was ever tested how they respond but I believe someone else was doing an oil submersion system and after a year the board started to fail. Perhaps SMT capacitors on everything?

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Originally Posted by [XC] gomeler

The age old question though is "how do the capacitors respond to oil submersion?" I don't think it was ever tested how they respond but I believe someone else was doing an oil submersion system and after a year the board started to fail. Perhaps SMT capacitors on everything?

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Heheheh your whole 'case' is a capacitor... cool! :D

It's expensive, but not TOO bad compared to other "custom gaming computers". Look at a high-end Dell/Alienware, or even a Murderbox (Charles is great and so is his work, but I'm just comparing the price) and you'll see that for what is actually being offered, this isn't TOO outrageous. It looks like it's all done really well.

Should be near silent, which I think is the main point. Looks AMAZING though.

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Originally Posted by mcoffey

Kind of a cool concept, but not pratical for a guy like me. As much as pull parts and swap for testing, way to messy. And, I'd have to see some proof that I'd get way better clocks all aorund than I would with high end LC. More of a novelty than anything else and way to much maintenance I woud expect. In other words, the concepts more trouble than it's worth IMO.

andyc

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Solid caps = good ;)

i have to say this looks freaking sweet!! and with the best of everything they offer i was still under 11grand. while i would never by one because of course building your own is better as far as high end pre-built PC's this one sits at the top of my list for sure. that thing is just sexy.

On a completely serious note, if I had the dosh I'd get it for a rendering workstation here. tyan board FTW, plus I'll never hear the stupid thing.

May have to make this my next target. I DO have a supplier for flourinert...

the thing definitely something worth checking out (not buying but just to look at, like a super car you would never buy)

the thing is practically 100% custom made to work in that scenario. they even tried to compact the whole thing into a smaller shell. its rare to see that many computer parts even fit in a case that size.

if you look at it without any computer parts, its about 4k$ for the case and mobo. then whatever you add on from there seems like a fair cost upgrade.

the real question is how many do they have to sell before they make a profit.

this is so unpractical i cant get excited at all about it

i fail to see them selling many of these

this is like those car motorshow prototypes. They almost never make it to production heheheh

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Originally Posted by SamHughe

I'm sure it 's cool to have it but, $5560 and mainstream just doesn't look right in the same sentence. I rather have the DIY version for the fraction of that money (plus it's your creation). The whole oil submersion system cost $145 in that project.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php

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hahahahahahahahahahaha x10

i want to do that SOOOO bad...ahhhhh thats simply amazing though

i will do that...oh yes one day i will do that

I love how in the stock photo, he's holding one of the handles with a paper tissue.

Edit: oh, and there are much easier ways to make a totally silent PC.

It looks sweet, the idea sounds sweet.... The cost is sour... very sour.

The other thing is, hard to mod for modders, hard to replace hardware, and poor
warrenty for what you pay, and it voids if you overclock. Question is,
would they know if you did if you cleared CMOS before sending it back.

But whats the whole point of all the trouble, expence and all the setbacks
if you cant get some amazing overclock out of it?.

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Originally Posted by iddqd

I love how in the stock photo, he's holding one of the handles with a paper tissue.

Edit: oh, and there are much easier ways to make a totally silent PC.

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yup, like he woudnt trust it lol.

C2D, thermalright ultra 120 extreme, low speed fan, passive cooled midrange card, corsair psu, decent quality case = silent pc, for like 10% of the price.

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Originally Posted by naokaji

yup, like he woudnt trust it lol.

C2D, thermalright ultra 120 extreme, low speed fan, passive cooled midrange card, corsair psu, decent quality case = silent pc, for like 10% of the price.

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And all with a licence to OC

So, could I fry some fish and chips with my computer? :D

i guess it's just the cool factor that makes people with excessive money buy it. if i had $5560, i'll rather get a rig with Cascade cooling. it's cooler (pun intended) if you ask me.

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Originally Posted by ryan92084

point is its absolutely silent if implemented correctly

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I can do that with my q9450 (at stock volts, and clocks), and scythe orochi.
This is XTREMELY impractical, and with no oc warranty support, there is no point in getting it. (at least with ln2, or pelts/dry ice, or phase, or cascade, you are proving something by hitting some high numbers. They expect to sell these by pure shock apeal.
function>form EVERY TIME IMO

Wow their parts are really expensive they should try and find a better supplier :rolleyes:.

I just read the whole article. fairly interesting stuff. Very expensive, but not much more so than the Apple systems which are not nearly as extreme.

haha, Puget systems is now offering their take on oil as a DIY kit
http://gizmodo.com/5069892/mineral-o...e-for-purchase
http://www.pugetsystems.com/aquarium_kit.php

Much cheaper and you could probably boost it's efficiency a lot by running regular watercooling to the CPU/Vid.

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Each kit includes:

•Aquarium tank and cover
•Motherboard tray and IO panel
•Power/HDD LEDs
•Power switch (mounted to top panel)
•SSD hard drive mounting bracket, and all necessary screws
•Power cord and extension cord to bottom of the tank
•Kit does not include light kits, however, lights are available separately.

You could probably put this same setup together for less that the $312 Puget Systems is charging for the kit—but it may be worth it if you want to save a little time. Also available in a $375 version with an external radiator for high-powered rigs.

Puget Systems Brings Aquarium PC Kits to the Consumer Tech, Enthusiast PC Market; “As Seen on YouTube”

Puget Systems’ Do-It-Yourself’ Aquarium PC Kit Enables Users to Replicate Mineral Oil-Cooled PC as Seen on YouTube; Puget’s Online Video Captures Over 1 Million Views

SEATTLE, WA (October 28, 2008) – Puget Systems (www.pugetsystems.com), a boutique integrator of custom PC systems for enthusiasts, gamers, consumers and SMB markets, today announced the launch of the Puget Systems ‘Do it Yourself’ Aquarium PC kit, enabling personal computer enthusiasts to replicate their own version of an aquarium-style PC, a technique made widely visible by Puget Systems on YouTube. With over 1 million views online, the Puget Systems Aquarium PC YouTube video demonstrates, with some innovative thinking, how easy it is to create a unique and fun new look to a personal computer.

As part of the development, testing and quality assurance process for the new Aquarium PC kit, Puget Systems has been running their own Aquarium PC — a plexiglass enclosed, mineral-oil submerged PC — for well over a year and with no ill-effect on the hardware. Puget Systems’ team of engineers have devised a unique new way of combining the non-corrosive, cooling benefits of mineral-oil submersion with a fun new look of an aquarium on the desktop.

“The widespread notoriety of our aquarium PC video on YouTube confirmed one thing for us at Puget Systems; there are a lot of people out there very interested in this idea,” said Jon Bach, president of Puget Systems. “We saw this as an opportunity, for everyone from PC enthusiasts to interior designers looking to add a fun new twist to an office or home decor, to put together a powerful desktop system that will surely be a visually stunning and highly functional conversation piece.”

The Puget Systems Aquarium PC ‘Do It Yourself’ kit ships with all the components you need to build your very own mineral-oil submerged system. The kit includes:
Aquarium tank and cover;
Motherboard tray and IO panel;
Power/HDD LEDs;
Power switch (mounted to top panel);
SSD hard drive mounting bracket, and all necessary screws;
Power cord and extension cord to bottom of the tank;
Kit does not include light kits, however, lights are available separately.

Puget Systems also provides online tips and advice, as well as helpful suggestions of things you may need for easy, successful assembly of the Aquarium PC.

Important disclosure: Submerging your hardware in mineral oil will void your warranty. Do this project only at your own risk. Puget Systems is not liable for any hardware problems, or damage to your personal property. Mineral oil is very difficult, if not impossible to clean from your components once they are submerged.

Pricing and Availability
The Puget Systems Aquarium PC ‘Do It Yourself’ kit is available immediately and is priced at $315.

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Didn't know you could use mineral oil! This is awesome! Seems like it'd be a neat thing to try with a barely-working computer. Just have to make sure to get the stuff CLEAN first as to not have dust floating around in there...

Ahh good ol Puget.

Interview here: http://www.custompc.co.uk/features/6...esktop-pc.html

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Originally Posted by CustomPC

CPC: What kind of temperatures are you getting under load at that speed?

Chad: At 4.2GHz, with a 25°C ambient, I can say pretty confidently, we’re in the 42°C to 45°C range. That’s with the current configuration. We actually have some other things in the works where we’ll be running significantly cooler than that. I can’t really talk too much about that yet.

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That means a lot...

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Originally Posted by initialised

Interview here: http://www.custompc.co.uk/features/6...esktop-pc.html

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I guess full oil submersion is one way to insulate the board for phase change.... LOL