KingpinCooling.com Dominance memory cooler...insulation 101
a couple weeks (maybe more, maybe less) a bunch of us headed to Vince's shop also known as the the KingpinCooling.com lab. among other reasons, my main purpose was to bench with the new Dominance cooling pot and to put together an over the top insulation guide. there is a lot to cover so let's get to it.
my goal was to NOT use vaseline, anyone who has benched with me knows i hate that crap. so the first step was proper board preparation with kneaded rubber eraser (anyone who benches with me knows i love that stuff).
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as you can see, i simply extended my CPU socket kneaded eraser coverage right to the end of the motherboard with enough at the top and bottom of the memory DIMM slots to keep moisture off the board. i also wanted to keep the black slots functional so instead of stuffing eraser in there, i simply stuffed them with paper towel. notice though, in-between the slots is fully stuffed with eraser. the last photo above simply outlines how i prepped the modules with a single layer of paper towel as a last line of defense against moisture in the slots.
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it is then a matter of getting the actual insulation down. remember, eraser doesn't insulate, simply prevents moisture from getting to the PCB. after mounting the modules with the paper towel, i cut out 3/4 inch neoprene to fit outside the modules, then two strips to go in-between the modules. the last photo shows the mounting donut i use with my F1 and how there is a perfect seal with the two base layers.
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it is now a matter of stacking insulation. clearly three layers is about perfect to the top of the modules. we figured this would seal nicely with the bottom of the pot and create a fool proof insulation barrier without any vaseline. time to prep the pot.
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for the pot i just wanted a couple layers of Armaflex tape but we also realized a temp probe would be handy to keep track of pot temps. so after a little bit of brainstorming we came up with the idea of using one of the available mount holes. so i plugged it about 1/2 inch from the bottom then filled the hole with thermal paste and stuffed a probe in. the last photo above is of the setup ready to rock.
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this last set of photos is of the post inaugural run party. no one timed but we were pretty sure we ran for at least 4 hours. keeping the pot temp around -25C ~ -30C seemed to be the best for this kit of memory, and as the photos show, we had not a single hiccup the whole bench session. there was a decent bit of frost at the corner of the modules near the IOH, but the slots were bone dry.
the one major problem part was the right side of the board past the DIMM slots which had tons of ice as seen in the last photo above. clearly not having the PWM here made this portion of the board really cold. it is an easy fix for next time though as the kneaded eraser will simply be extended right to the edge of the board.
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what, you didn't think i wasn't going to show a frosty pic...did you? p
the first pic is just another photo of the setup right before running, and the last photo is a few hours in. based on the snow build up on the Dominance pot, i would have to say close to the end.
overall the pot is a breeze to use, and with a little bit of insulation prep, can be used for extended periods of time. i will add to this post when my next session occurs which will be using dry ice. for this session we just poured LN2 but dry ice might be the sweet spot with most memory.
questions? comments? concerns? ...who am i kidding, i don't give a shyt. i'll answer if the question isn't stupid...how does that sound?
Originally Posted by Jor3lBR
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It was a worst-case scenario with the weather and the long bench session and it still worked perfectly 
I like how u used the foam all the way up to the top of the dimms.
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