Mini-Fridge Mod!

[SurfGuruJeff]

I set out to come up with a way to better cool my boss's computer (X2 4800+) which runs hot. We had a few ghetto ideas, and were going to just place a mini-freezer under his desk and fill it with liquid which would then get pumped to the CPU water block. I didn't feel like looking online and waiting for shipping, so I thought I would try it out on a mini-fridge from Wal-Mart

Mini-Fridge $75USD after tax

When I got it out, the compressor looked just like the ones that all the phase change guys have, so I decided to rip it out along with the Evap (the metal cooling part of the system) which was basically the ice tray.

After I tore it out, I put the reservoir from a Thermaltake Big Water on top to see how cold it got... nothing, practically, even though frost was all over the "ice-tray". I decided to turn the ice tray into the reservoir, that way the liquid would touch the cooling coils/evap directly. I cut out a couple of plastic sections that would serve as front and back edges to make the reservoir, since there were already side edges of the ice tray/evap.

it should be noted that I could have cut off the standard ice tray and added on a custom Evap and more piping to create a phase change cooler, but I don't want to recharge the system! This is the quick and easy way!

I insulated all around the outside of the Newly Converted ice tray-to-reservoir. I used insulation tape from home depot.

I had to put a support under the tray/reservoir to hold it up, since the copper pipe will bend once liquid is in there -- I used a piece of PVC pipe that looked like it would work when I was at Home Depot. I glued the base using gorilla glue

I also left the thermastat on and bolted it to the wood piece that I bolted the rest of the unit to, in case the user would like to turn it off and run the already cold water for a while before having to cool it down again.

I used fittings and clamps (and new 3/8" tubing) that I bought from Home Depot, to supply the liquid to the pump (the same pump that comes with the Thermaltake Big Water). I filled the reservoir with windshield washer fluid and turned on the unit. I waited till the liquid was about freezing (20 minutes or so), then pumped it to a duron 1800+ on an Abit NF7-S 2.0 and the CPU temp was 8C ~ 10C when I overclocked it past 2.4ghz.

Next thing is insulating the motherboard, tubing, and waterblock.

I'll keep y'all updated.

[heydo6]

maybe a custom water cooling kit would have worked alot better than that big water kit you got . its probly just as good as the best air . but past that looks cool i been wanting to rig some kind of water chiler for a long time for ocing . just wonder if cooling the cpu that low will lessin the life of it ?

[MU71L4710N]

mini fridges arent the best for trying to make water chillers...your probably wasting money right now. mini fridges were not ment to run 24/7 or even however long during the day.

but yeah the reason u got crappy temps on water is cuz it was a bigwater kit

[SurfGuruJeff]

Originally Posted by MU71L4710N

mini fridges arent the best for trying to make water chillers...your probably wasting money right now. mini fridges were not ment to run 24/7 or even however long during the day.

but yeah the reason u got crappy temps on water is cuz it was a bigwater kit

I've seen you post about this before and I'm pretty sure you have no idea what you're talking about. Have you tested your theory? Because I'm testing it, and it is working.

I only let the liquid chill for 20 minutes, and 8C to the CPU is a bad temp after 20 minutes?! I even had a sheet of ice form at the top.

Your just going to be proven wrong on this one.

[DriveEuro]

Originally Posted by MU71L4710N

but yeah the reason u got crappy temps on water is cuz it was a bigwater kit

He's spot on with this one.

[MU71L4710N]

Originally Posted by SurfGuruJeff

I've seen you post about this before and I'm pretty sure you have no idea what you're talking about. Have you tested your theory? Because I'm testing it, and it is working.

I only let the liquid chill for 20 minutes, and 8C to the CPU is a bad temp after 20 minutes?! I even had a sheet of ice form at the top.

Your just going to be proven wrong on this one.

im not gonna argue about the fridge anymore im probably wrong since all ur doing is pulling the evap out (which i didnt pay attention to) my apolagies. and its not just me saying its a bad idea...why dont u hit the search button and type in fridge (but they are trying to do different things than you)

[SurfGuruJeff]

No no... I'm not arguing, either. I just wonder if you do have some expertise in this area. I just insulated all the tubing and the block, I'll let the liquid sit for a while, it the mean time, here is what it looks like so far.

I do agree that the Thermaltake Big Water is Lame-O, but we got it when we were first trying to overclock his computer. THEN I read up on how kits are no good. He doesn't want it crazy cold, is the thing, so this should be just fine for him.

[DriveEuro]

Make sure you put some antifreeze in the water just incase. I dunno how cold that water could get... But you don't want it freezing up.

[SurfGuruJeff]

Originally Posted by DriveEuro

Make sure you put some antifreeze in the water just incase. I dunno how cold that water could get... But you don't want it freezing up.

Yep, that blue/green colored liquid is windshield washer fluid with anti-freeze/coolant

[baldrick]

Originally Posted by MU71L4710N

mini fridges arent the best for trying to make water chillers...your probably wasting money right now. mini fridges were not ment to run 24/7 or even however long during the day.

but yeah the reason u got crappy temps on water is cuz it was a bigwater kit

Does the fridge have any specs on it? You'd be better going for an air conditinoning unit, after all how much heat does food sitting in a fridge generate?

Take a look at these for inspiration:

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.co...d.php?t=101902

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.co...=eboy0+chiller

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.co...=eboy0+chiller

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.co...d.php?t=106518

[SurfGuruJeff]

Okay, so I waited a while and the temp only got down to about 6C (ice was forming along the evap, so I think it's holding it back).

I overclocked the Duron 1800+ to 2.633ghz @ 2v and it got up to 37C, even though the coolant temp was still 7C.... hmmmm, maybe too much for that poor old processor? I have a huge feeling that it's mainly the Water Block (Thermaltake Big Water: Maze).

[DriveEuro]

Yes, defintely the waterblock. If the temp of the water is 7C and the temp of CPU is 37C then you're defintely not pulling enough heat out of the CPU.

Hows this doing on the X2 you initially were using it for?

[baldrick]

The durons tdp is 57W the X2 4800's is 110W - do the maths.

[SurfGuruJeff]

I'm just testing it on my Socket A's mostly for leaks and liquid consistency (too icy right now). I know the 4800+ X2 is gonna run pretty hot, but Fry's has the Koolance Water Blocks with tons of barbs for $54 if the Thermaltake Block is wussing out too much. I was also thinking of coiling a wire and setting it in the maze of the water block to create more turbulence. Will not be a big gain, I know.

My boss wouldn't go for the whole A/C to Chiller idea... he doesn't want it that cold and he doesn't want all that heat coming off the condensor/radiator. Which brings up a question;

How noticeable is the heat coming off the back of an A/C unit? It will be under his (big) desk.

That was his concern with that... I will probably do the A/C thing to my computer if I decide to fork out $300. (full-time Business Student)

[krypt0]

I'd recommend not buying watercooling parts at Fry's. They are not what you could call high quality.

[rockdude14]

not sure on the koolance block

but you definelty want a solid metal one
if theres plastic with cold temps you have a good chance at breaking them

heat coming off an ac will be noticiable

youll also want tubing rated for the cold temps
tygon makes some but i cant rember the number

i also think this is a bad idea but if/when its proved we can post links to the million times its asked about

[SurfGuruJeff]

It is the plastic top kind... hmmm.

I just went ahead and hooked the system up to my normal rig (X2 3800+).

So far I've noticed the only drawback to this is that it only gets down to about 6C in the reservoir, and the CPU is at 15C right now... overclocked from 2ghz to 2.6ghz @ 1.45v.

It still seems like a good cooling solution. It certainly is allowing me a better overclock.

Just imagine if I had some 1/2" tubing, a good pump, and a good waterblock.

Additional Comment:
Update:

I've been running this thing pretty constantly and no problems yet (except for a little condensation around the pump that I didn't insulate.

Running at 2.7ghz @ 1.575v 15C Idle --- 30C with both cores loaded

Water Temp is 4C

[VitalicPWNZ]

A mini-fridge won't handle that load long.
I may be good for about 5 hours a day, but if you have it on say 8 hours a day, the fridge will deliver in the last hour worse temps than a normal watercooling kit.
This is because fridges can handle next to none headdump. Thats not what they're made for. It may give good temps at first, but with a constant heatdump of more than 110watt (your pump dumps heat too), the fridge eventually won't hold the heatdump any longer.

[Andrew12106]

"You cannot use a minifridge (in any WAY, SHAPE, or FORM) to cool your computer! Believe it or not, they don't have the capacity to deal with these quantities of heat. For chilled liquid cooling, things like gutted AC units and Peltier Devices (also known as TEC's, or ThermoElectric Converters) are used"

[DriveEuro]

Geez guys. He's showing really good temps. Leave him be. I was a skeptic before too but his temps aren't that bad.