How cool is too cool?

Thorsen said:

-190 here i think

5 GHz Project: CPU Cooling With Liquid Nitrogen : Record Attempt: The 5 GHz Project

Yeah that's the one :) A Guy

I have a friend who has phase change cooling setup, and his CPU runs at 0C at load, and below that on a regular basis. There really isn't a bottom end of heat limit (I.E., it can really be run as cold as you want), as long as its above 0K and there isn't so much condensation building up that it freezes or causes shorts.

~Lordbob

Here ya go: (6.3Ghz @ -230C)

not sure what the temp was or how it was controlled, but here is another record:

New CPU Overclocking Record Set, 8.20GHz - Softpedia

HEXUS.net - News :: Overclocker hits 8.19GHz with Intel Celeron CPU, sets new world record : Page - 1/1

as the doc says it wasnt benchmarked that thoroughly so high mark at 8.20 Ghz but

Celeron D at 8.2GHz... nice. Utterly pointless, but still nice.

Its the only way you can beat Minesweeper in less than 4 seconds....

Or couple it with this for epic solitaire runs:

Reid said:

Yes condensation is a concern, but I have found that if you double tube (ie using a refrigerant pipe with freon surrounded by a regular plastic tube), you can keep the PIPE condensation contained and drained away from your system. I havent actually hooked this up to a computer yet but have been running this system on a trial basis to see what kind of issues emerge. This is what actually brought my initial question to light because it gets extremely cold concentrated on the "heatsink" which would be butted up against my cpu.
On another note, what is keeping someone from just housing their reservoir and radiator in a fridge or freezer at around 0 degrees C?

Hi mate..
Firstly. You will get condensation whether you dual tube the pipe or not..it will occur between the CPU and Socket and you will get condensation all over pretty much around the Socket if you are going to Sub Zero cool.
I'm assuming by your post you are looking at phase change cooling.
You will need to insulate the entire area around the socket front and back of the board and use grease between the socket/CPU.

As to chilling water for a W/C system. You will have the same issues with socket/CPU condensation. I have considered a similar option with this but haven't built/run this setup. I do W/C tho as I O/C the backside off whatever CPU I have installed at the time.
Only concern I have with chilled water (other than CPU/socket condensation) would be condensation occuring around the socket on the mobo..
I think it would be most likely minimal and case fans (hi cfm) would evaporate that as fast as it occured. Condensation on the back of the board may need to looked at also. However chilled water will, obviously, not be at xtremely low levels like Phase change/LN2/DICE cooling so other than possible condensation in the socket than condensation on the Mobo may not occur at all. Probably be something on the net tho.
Or you could check forums on sites like OCAU or similar..most sites dedicated to O/C will have threads on extreme cooling as they are chasing speed and that comes with Heat and so those guys are using Sub zero cooling methods.

cheers

This may be far-fetched but it is science backed and would work. One way to eliminate the condensation problem is to eliminate the source of condensation and that is moisture. If you could seal the cabinet and run it in a vacuum, moisture would be near non-existent. Water and/or water vapor (even ice) will boil-off at a lower temperature as the vacuum increases. It's impossible to get an absolute vacuum on Earth but it is possible to get around 29.919"Hg. Moisture in that vacuum will boil at about -60F and be carried out through the vacuum pump.

Can't be any more radical than running in mineral oil. :)

An after thought: You wouldn't even have to go that low in vacuum. Just about any discount A/C vacuum pump will draw down to 1,000 Microns. That's about 29.88"Hg. Water will boil at about 0 degrees. That's plenty if you vacuum the cabinet before starting the cooling system. That would remove the moisture.

There is "normal operating range" of temperatures. I can only assume that performance decreases or the system will stop/stall at a certain low point as well as high.