Thinking about my next desktop rig...

[Vyrus]

so I've been thinking about how to go sub-ambient on my next desktop and obviously the issue is "dealing with condensation without all the Vaseline and neoprene sheets" and the idea I've come up with is to run a traditional water loop but to cool it with a small vapor-phase fluid chiller (https://www.rigidhvac.com/mini-water-chiller) and use stainless steel tubing with brass fittings so that i can run a high percentage anti-freeze solution. The trick I'm thinking of to avoid condensation tho is to wrap all that in a custom "cheap" metal case with a decent size tempered glass window capable of full immersion and using a non conductive coolant, not so much as an actual coolant, but as a condensation barrier (i.e. https://www.engineeredfluids.com/electrocool).

... thoughts?

[MalwareTech]

Those non-conductive immersive coolants leave behind a residue are a nightmare to clean off the components if you ever want to reuse or resell them

[Vyrus]

1 hour ago, MalwareTech said:

Those non-conductive immersive coolants leave behind a residue are a nightmare to clean off the components if you ever want to reuse or resell them

werd, i actually don't have much experience in the resell game, i usually just hold on to the hardware and monetize in other ways but that's really good to know as a potential side effect. Something to keep in mind when considering the solution for sure.

[Name_Too_Long]

Condensation prep isn't that bad (but will also kill any potential resale value), definitely less hassle than going full immersion (I've done both separately).

That said, depending on what your goals are, sub-ambient isn't necessarily worth even that hassle.  I mean, if you're doing it "because it's awesome", that's totally valid.  If you're hoping for performance gains though, you're well beyond the point of diminishing returns and any sort of overclock which requires sub-dew-point cooling is likely to have other, non-temperature related, stability issues lurking.

For a daily-use system, "an excess of radiator" on a regular water loop gets you ~90% of the performance without any additional hassles.  Adding a chiller that drops liquid temps below ambient, but still above dew point, to that loop gets you a couple more percent with power and noise being the biggest downsides.  Beyond that, and the hassle:performance ratio starts making them more show pieces than stuff you actually want to use.

[Vyrus]

ive run liquid on my power desktop for the better part of 10 years at this point and i typically run a tuned rating of around +15% OC on everything. Compared to my Air setups ive always gotten better performance with liquid.

I did sub-ambiant for about a year a few years back and to be-honest that last 10% really mellowed out my perf drops due to weather (living south west coast US = when its not 75 and sunny its hot as balls and climate change is always gonna make that worse YoY)

the goal is to add enough overhead that my impact temps are "pure" in the sense that they are whether resistant but not adding SO much maintenance overhead that its what it was for my previous 2phase setup. Its good to know about the residue issues with full immersion but since I'm not worried about re-sell so much, running a hybrid setup seems like a good bet to me.

not that I've decided already, wouldn't have posted if i had made up my mind already, the feedback is welcome.

Edited November 7, 2022 by Vyrus

[Name_Too_Long]

So, it sounds like the goal isn't so much crazy-low temperatures as it is consistent temperatures whether the room is 65F or 105F.

If that's the case, a water loop with a flow-through chiller is a perfect solution.  While I'd still do some condensation prep and add a dash of antifreeze just to be safe, those shouldn't even be issues if all you're trying to do is maintain "comfortable room-temp" liquid.  Nothing like direct phase change, that's an entirely different category of beast.