Frost free freezer type gaming case concept/idea?

[techlove78]

Hi all, this is my first post so not sure if i am posting this in the right place but i would like to get some feedback on an idea i have been thinking about for a while, obviously there are a few issues which will arise and would need to find ways of resolving them. Well we all have the same issues with our rigs regarding heat and how to effectively dissipate the heat. well my idea or concept which is probably by no means the first time this has been considered but involves a full size type gaming case which is effectively also a frost free type of freezer?? it may sound crazy to some/most, The first issue I can see with this is the condensation! I would imagine that the heat generated from the components and the chill of the freeze would produce condensation? Is there a way that condensation problems could be eradicated? could it be pulled out of the air straight away with some kind of filter? and obviously you wouldn't want the hassle of emptying trays of water every hour? well i would appreciate any feedback or suggestions to see if this is worth pursuing?

[wasabi]

Welcome newbie! Topic probably belongs in the case / modding area of the site, but...

This type of thing got talked about a LONG time ago when people started using peltiers. Never really took off for precisely the condensation problem. Remember peltiers needing rubber barriers around CPU to stop condensation giving other components trouble. Do remember seeing a waterproof motherboard on here a while back . that might fix the issue....

Also there are products using the principle anyway - for example
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1007088/thermaltake-pc-fridge

[Kumagoro]

You could put a computer in a freezer and put som e of those moisture remover things in there. They use something like that silica gel you get with new shoes. Strap a big fan on the freezer s heatsink and away you go

How to get cables out for monitor and power I don't know

[deejayburnout]

Welcome newbie! Topic probably belongs in the case / modding area of the site, but...

This type of thing got talked about a LONG time ago when people started using peltiers. Never really took off for precisely the condensation problem. Remember peltiers needing rubber barriers around CPU to stop condensation giving other components trouble. Do remember seeing a waterproof motherboard on here a while back . that might fix the issue....

Also there are products using the principle anyway - for example
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1007088/thermaltake-pc-fridge

looks like a good idea, but chiller circuits are good when they work and a pain in the ass when they leak. Compressors themselves get very hot under load and can make a good bit of noise. have you ever heard your fridge?

ok the commpressor might be small, but it still a compressor. the vibration will eventually break a pipe. see it all the time on compressor lines and condensors.

that aside, would be bloody good though.

[Butcher]

The compressors for normal freezers aren't built for continual use either, you'll have a fairly rapid failure if you just shut a PC in a freezer.

Whole case cooling isn't done much because it's usually much better to spot cool the hot bits like CPU and GPU than try to cool all the air inside the PC as well as those hot parts.

[Pob255]

Things will depend on what exactly you are trying to do.

Things like that thermaltake are not actually "coolers" as we know them it's an active chiller.

What we call coolers, generally a heatsink & fan, don't actually cool, they dissipate heat, you are spreading the heat created by the chip into a larger mass which increase the heat absorption capacity (ie the larger the mass the more heat energy is required to increase the temperature by 1 degree) you're also increasing the surface area to increase the rate at with heat is dissipated into the air.
A fan is added to increase the air volume that contacts the surface area to again increase dissipation.

An Active chiller works by actively reducing the temperature quite literally sucking the heat out.

A key difference is a "cooler" will never get equal to the ambient temperature, where as a chiller will go below the ambient temperature.

[Spreadie]

Didn't someone try this on the XS forums a number of years ago? Our company firewall is being a PITA, so I'm having trouble checking.

[Pob255]

I remember someone using the unit out of a mini-fridge to chill a big tub of water (bucket sized) which was then pumped around a loop, basically no radiator and the water going into the loop was around 4 to 6 degrees c

I remember playing around with the idea of an Air con'd pc, basically a sealed case one intake vent one, exhaust vent, hook up a peltier cooler to a big heatsink in the intake vent to chill the air as it enters the case.
That way any condensation forms on the intake heatsink not inside the case.
It fell apart when I realise that normal heatpipes don't work for cold, so you'd have to custom make a large solid metal heatsink, as a concept it would work but it would be very inefficient and expensive to do, only real benefit it has is that you'd not have to change or mess around with the hardware as any off the shelf stuff would work.

I still think one of the best one's I've seen was a very simple external radiator, where someone just got a load of normal copper water pipes running up and down in the garage to form what was basically a giant passive external radiator

EDIT: here's some fun non-standard cooling ideas
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/1...h-toilet-water

Ground cooling loops
eg http://www.overclockers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=330169
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=706697