Phase Change and Extreme Cooling links, guides + galleries

[baldrick]

1. Phase Change
   • What is vapour phase change?
     

     Originally Posted by wikipedia

     Vapor-compression refrigeration is one of the many refrigeration methods available for use. It has been and is the most widely used method for air-conditioning of large public buildings, private residences, hotels, hospitals, theaters, restaurants and automobiles. It is also used in domestic and commercial refrigerators, large-scale warehouses for storage of foods and meats, refrigerated trucks and railroad cars, and a host of other commercial and industrial services.
     
     Refrigeration may be defined as lowering the temperature of an enclosed space by removing heat from that space and transferring it elsewhere. In more technical terminology, refrigeration systems may be referred to as heat pumps, and a vapor-compression refrigeration system may sometimes be referred to as a phase change heat pump. However, the commonly used terminology is vapor-compression refrigeration.

     Very Good Basic Guide – Read First!!
     Basic Refrigeration Principles
     
     
   • Custom
     
     Basic direct-die, single stage build log and guide
     Epsilons Phase Change Guide
     Shaminos Guides (Tools, Basic Build)
     Excellent Guide by SoddemFX
     
     
     Useful Links:
     • Brazing Video
     • Compressor Conversion (BTU/tonns/Watts)
     • Kayl, Chilly1, DIMAS and Aitor Evaps comparison
     • List of Refrigerants and Formula and Chemical Name
     • More to come!
   
   *********Please Read this, this, this, this and this before attempting to build anything*********
   
   
   
   • Prebuilt
     
     If you dont feel upto building your own unit you can always buy a unit, the two large commercial manufacturers are Vapochill and Prometeia.
     OCZ displayed a prototype unit however due to difficulties these have disappeared. You can sometimes find Kryotech units on Ebay, Kryotech.
     
     The other option is to get a unit hand built for you, the price and workmanship vary depending on the builder but reccomended are, in the US Drewmeister or jinu117, in the UK Gray Mole, in Europe LittleDevil or Australia Kayl. They will also be able to mod existing systems with upgrades such as new evaps, different gases or new compressors.
   
   
2. Water Chiller
   
   A chiller is very similar in principle to a direct die phase change unit except that instead of the evapourater cooling the cpu directly it instead cools water which is then used to cool the cpu just like a conventional water cooling setup (insulation will be need though if low temps are wanted ). An option with a chiller that is not possible with direct die is to use a window air-con unit without as much work as a usual phase change system. Two of the best guides/links for a/c chillers are drewmeisters guide and eboy0s waterchiller build log.
   
   
3. Chillbox
   
   The basis of a chillbox is an insulated, airtight case in which the air is cooled, usually by an airconditioning unit with the evapourater in the case. As the case is sealed there is no need for insulation and is the cheapest way to achieve sub zero temps. Edfx21's build thread is full of useful information.
   
   
4. Dice/LN2
   
   Dry Ice or “dice” and LN2 are the two other options and simple, a container such as this one, insulating materials and a supply of dice or LN2. Condensation is the biggest problem with cooling at these temperatures (see insulating links). With dice you will need a liquid to help conduct heat between the solid dry ice and the pot, acetone, everclear or ethenol are the common liquids. Note that when dice sublimes it produces CO2 so there should always be plenty of ventilation to prevent potentially deadly consequences. The problem with dice/ln2 is that they cannot be used for any length of time so are just for benching.
   
   For a good idea of what benching with LN2 is like there is an excellent video here, there is also a great DICE video here. THG also did a LN2 5ghz run a few years ago and have a video here.
   
   
   
5. Gallery
   
   
   • Direct Die (SS)
     • DD-X Crossflows - Drewmeister
       
     • 1hp SS-X Build – Drewmeister
       
     • 1/2hp GP-X Build – Drewmeister
       
     • CPU SS + 8800gtx SLI dual Head SS - Sneil
       
     • SS for Splave - Sneil
       
     • First DD System – Pretorian
       
     • EvoII Black ICE – clipperjay
       
     • SS for a friend – LittleDevil
       
     • Frozen SS – Kayl
       
     • Dual Head CPU/NB SS - Kayl
       
     • Compact GPU Cooler - The Weedman
       
     • Dimas SS - Dimas
       
     • LittleDevils Work log - LittleDevil
       
     • Something Different - waterboy100
     
     
     
   • Cascade
     • Frozen Cascade - Kayl
       
     • Mother of all cascades – extremecorvette
       
     • DIMAS Cascade – Nachthymnen
     
     
     
   • Waterchiller
     • A/C Chiller Thread - Kbridge
       
     • SA-450 Sub-Ambient Chiller - Drewmeister
       
     • Water Chiller Thread with lots of pics - TVOR
       
     • Custom Liquid Chiller – Shyfty
       
     • New Water Chiller Project – Shyfty
       
     • Waterchiller Project – eboy0
       
     • Kayls Waterchiller – Kayl
       
     • Chiller Build - Wowza
       
     • A/C to chiller conversion - Drewmeister
       
     • Chilled Reservoir setup - markdm
     
     
     
   • Chillbox
     • Chillbox – edfx21
       
     • Closed A/C box – (sin)morpheus
       
     • Chill box – Stealth17
     
     
   • Other Phase/Phase Parts
     • XE 2.0 Phase Change Controllers - Ssilencer
       
     • Kayl's GPU head - Kayl
     
     
   • Dice/LN2
     • GPU pot – Nachthymnen
       
     • Pots + Dice run – eboy0
       
     • Dice and ln2 action/More Pics
     
     
6. FAQ
   • Can I put my pc in a mini-fridge?
     
     This is perhaps the most common question on the forum, the answer is 99% of the time no. Cheap mini fridges use peltiers which, whilst can be used to cool a cpu or gpu, the ones found in mini fridges are no where near powerful enough to cool even a cool running chip. The more expensive mini-fridges do use a vapour change system however they are not designed to run for long periods of time and are not powerful enough to remove the quantity of heat (remember the difference between heat and temperature!) as food doesnt tend to produce much heat.
     The compressors have sometimes been used in single stage phase change systems but these have never been a success.
     
     
     
   • Can I submerge my pc in a non conductive liquid and then cool the liquid?
     
     This is another common question, while it can be done it is not really reccomended due to the mess and smell that the usual liquids (various cooking/mineral oils) have, it is very difficult to remove the oil from components and you will not be able to resell components. A much better idea is a chillbox.
     
     
     
   • Where can I get components for a phase change system?
     
     

     Originally Posted by jinu117

     General Parts Store Links

     • Under-The-ICE.COM Operated by RunMC *Site is getting revamped with many new product. Keep an eye. [US]
     • Advance PC Cooling Operated by aussie_guy00000 [AUS]
     • Extremeshop.Gr operated by Unseen [GR]
     • ukphasechange.co.uk operated by Johann [UK]
     • BFL Supply Catalog tend to be bit older and pricing might not match. Call in to confirm for your order and pricing. [US]
     • Frosty Freezes Very reputable e-bay shop verified by me and many members. However, if you have problem with the place let me know ASAP. [US]
     • Links by Marci [UK]

     Ebay is also the other good place for components. Other sources of components are more local, try looking in HVAC shops and in local dumps (for broken/unwanted fridges/ac units/water chillers – remember to always make sure you recover gas correctly and not vent cfcs when taking components).
     Another source is forum sales areas (especially on XS ).
     
     
   • Can I build a water chiller that runs just warm enough to avoid condensation/at what temperature will condensation occur?
     
     Yes you can build a chiller that stays just warm enough to avoid condensation, the temperature at which condensation occurs is known as the dew point. Below is a rough guide to at what temperature it occurs but it is a rough guide and as always with this kind of thing it can be inaccurate and you always want to leave some leway instead of dead components.
     
     
     
     
     
     
   • Whats the best way to insulate components?
     
     
     • Insulating a chiller 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7,
     • Ssilencer's insulation guide
     • Kiwi's insulation guide
     
     
     
     
   • What is the difference between a single stage, autocascade and cascade?
     
     Diagrams and information in here (Excuse the polish )
     
     
     
     
   • What are the mounting hole dimensions for socket LGA/A/478/939/AM2?
     
     

[gunbo13]

Not a bad overview. I like it. It could draw people into an interest in phase change. The only thing is they have to be prepared to learn 1000x more information then this. This isn't like water/air cooling.

[Drewmeister]

Without a doubt this must be stickied. Thanks for taking the time to prepare this...excellent job baldrick!

[DeepFriedCPU]

baldrick...the king of internet resources
ALL FOLKS TOO LAZY TO SEARCH FOR NEWS AND RESOURCES BOW DOWN

[Lurid]

Sticky material for sure, read through everything and i'm very impressed with the work you put into making sure everything was there

[Shyfty]

Nice work! I'll give my vote for sticky.

Baldrick... My old water cooler conversion thread may be useful to those who are looking for a sub ambient chiller option... see my sig.

Edit: Would it be useful to put a few contact names on there for individuals looking to purchase a unit or have an existing one modded?

[baldrick]

Originally Posted by Shyfty

Nice work! I'll give my vote for sticky.

Baldrick... My old water cooler conversion thread may be useful to those who are looking for a sub ambient chiller option... see my sig.

Added

Edit: Would it be useful to put a few contact names on there for individuals looking to purchase a unit or have an existing one modded?

I already put this:

The other option is to get a unit hand built for you, the price and workmanship vary depending on the builder but reccomended are, in the US Drewmeister or jinu117, in the UK Gray Mole, in Europe LittleDevil or Australia Kayl.

Do you think this is ok or should it be refined more?



Thanks to everyone for their comments but more links/pics/guides/anything else are always wanted, if you have any give me a shout

Additional Comment:
Thanks to Jason for stickying this

[Citat3962]

Overwhelmingly nice thread man!

Overwhelming because I now have TON of reading to do.

[baldrick]

Go away for a week and lots of new threads come along

If any have been missed shout up.

[magg]

Just an FYI...add an "s" to the end of your List of Refrigerants link...it doesn't work unless you put the S there

[baldrick]

Fixed that and just added SoddemFXs Guide, if you havent seen it before definately worth a look

[clipperjay]

Defo worth stickie Baldrick welldone you cared enough to stick my old DD unit?


But on a big note phase cooling is hard work, doing it safetly if you in doubt about pressures and chemicals PLEASE CONSULT A EXPERIENCED MEMEBER on EOCF before you start to braze away its in your interest to keep safe!

[BluD]

Nice thread, makes a interesting read, ive had this mach for 4 or 5 years and ive never known how it works, i just knew it had a hot and a cold end, and the cold end goes on my cpu.

good work.

[baldrick]

Just stumbled on this section, my comp interests have changed and I have noticed a number of new posts. Does anyone who is a senior member and regular poster in this section wish to take control of this sticky?

[joostie12345]

hey,

I'm quite new here but I want to build my own phase-change cooling system. But the part where you say read this, this this, and this before you build anything doesn't work anymore. you get a vbulletin message which says "upgrades". but anyway this is a great startingpoint for me:)

[Drewmeister]

Those are links to threads at xtremesystems forum which has been down for a few days now. Hopefully it will be back up within the next few days.

Welcome to EOCF!

[joostie12345]

okay thanks

[beebsincown]

Sorry, submit in the PM form - I’ve clarified this in the post.

[Boorchmen]

Your are Great. And so is your site! Awesome content. Good job guys! Interesting article, adding it to my favourites!

[IceDragon]

Thanks for the useful guide. ukphasechange.co.uk is down and Extremeshop.Gr is reported by google as being an attack site.