For the first time since I got my autocascade back from Cryo-tek, I let the unit drop down to full capacity before turning my system on - meaning I let it "warm up" for ~1 hour before flipping the switch to the solenoid valve which allows the evap to start cooling. Before tonight, I had basically waited for ~30 minutes max before firing the system up since I ended up getting impatient Seems as if that extra 30 minutes makes quite a LARGE difference in the way the autocascade performs. The temps were only a few degrees colder than usual, but I have a feeling that the gases in the last stage help capacity more than they help temps. Getting back to my adventure: I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I wasn't able to run ANY benches @ all - even at speeds which this setup is able to do on AIR. After doing a quick bit of detective work around the socket area, it quickly became apparent what had happened. First thing I found was condensation on the OUTSIDE of the insulation donut around the evap. Then I discovered one of the most INSANE things I've EVER seen in all my years using phase change.......after feeling around the socket area for cold spots this is what I saw.....







Just in case you haven't figured it out, that's ICE on the OUTSIDE of my mounting board for my mobo. Apparently the autocascade had frozen through a 1/4" cold plate + cpu + the mobo + 3/8+" of closed cell foam + 1/4" of plexi. The whole area underneath to mobo seems to have turned into an ice cube. It's not as if I left the setup runng for an hour without any kind of load from the cpu. I had the voltages maxed out and immediately loaded the cpu as soon as I got into windows. The probe which I have mounted on a cold plate sandwiched between the evap and the cpu was reading ~-108C - ~-110C and those temps didn't even budge when I applied a load to the cpu. In fact, the temps actually were slowly STILL creeping lower Needless to say, I have a feeling that I froze all the caps in the socket area causing every attempt at running a bench to fail It's time I rethink my insulation or get a heater for the mobo. This is nutz yet at the same time it's cool.....literally.