My PC runs very hot (~62C while running rF2 or any 3D intensive apps), that even my ambient room temp is affected by it (with PC running rF2, my ambient room temp will slowly rise from 30C up to 36C). Living in tropical country with high humidity make this condition even worse. So, I'm thinking of cooling my PC using liquid cooling solution. Hopefully this can reduce the "local warming" situation I have here I'm thinking of buying Corsair H100 due to its compact size and easy installation. Based from reviews here, the cooling performance is good as well. However, I also have this another idea running in my head, submerged it into mineral oil. Already bought a transparent box actually. But still couldn't find mineral oil supplier in my area. Didn't know before that mineral oil is such a hard item to find here. Well, will this solution can reduce my ambient room temp? Any ideas? Thoughts?
A friend of mine put his PC in motor oil like that, works fine and the OC ability is good, but I can't stand the smell
Liquid cooling keeps your PC temperatures down by removing the heat at a faster rate. The amount of heat expelled by your computer will most likely remain the same or increase (liquid cooling pumps require energy to run). Therefore, your room will be just as hot or hotter with liquid cooling, the change is in how quickly the heat is removed from your PC and placed into the ambient air.
Remember all these benches you see are done at 20-23C max. I would love to see them run reviews with their air coolers @40C I have had 40c summer days so 45c+ in room before you boot was possible. It is not just CPU/GPU everything runs hot. Sata drives you could cook eggs on. lol If I could afford air con it would be @16C 24/7 Above 30C turn your front fans (or inlet) off or low speed.
Thanks for the responds guys, Although I have one installed, using Air Conditioner is a no for me electricity bills will be very high! I'm now using a fan. And yeah, it's true that all H100 or submerged videos were all tested under good room temp condition. I haven't seen one test with room temp as high as mine. This is what I'm thinking after reading your posts. If the amount of heat transferred from PC to the room is still the same (maybe even at faster rate now, maybe) using "conventional" liquid loop cooling, then immerse/dip the system into mineral oil could reduce the amount of heat transferred to the room, since mineral oil literally took hours to get really hot. And in my plan, this mineral oil will be running through a radiator using pump, so theoretically the mineral oil temp should be a lot more harder to get very hot.
100% of the energy pulled from the wall outlet for your PC and cooling system gets turned into room heat. If you submerge the PC, it will remove the heat from the PC quickly, but it still has to remove 100% of the power draw of the PC from the wall outlet. If your pc draws 500W under load, all 500W will make their way into the ambient air, there is no way around it. If your pc draws 500W and your cooling system draws 50W, you are now injecting 550W of heat into your room. You can not defeat thermodynamics. Submerging the PC will store lots of that heat in the fluid, but eventually that fluid will transfer all of that heat to your room. The only advantage of the fluid would be that it would reduce the rate at which the heat is introduced to your room at the beginning of a gaming session; however, all of that heat will make it to your ambient air eventually and once the liquid raises to a certain temperature, it will no longer absorb heat and will instead only transmit heat directly from your PC to the ambient air. The only way to lower the amount of heat going into your ambient air is to lower the power draw of your PC (lower voltage, lower clock, fewer accessories, etc.).
@Dan_Black thank you so much for your explanation. So the key here is not the amount, but the time needed to transfer the heat. Hmm... well, I suppose I could direct the air from PC to the nearby window, to reduce the heat from my PC going into my room.
You could hang the radiator of a liquid system out of your window, but unless you sealed around the radiator lines, you would have a lot of heat blowing in through the window - hopefully less than 550W though.
To tell the truth I think you be surprised how good a Corsair Hydro runs @30-40C ambient and I only have a H60 see Specs Supplied. Really for me 30C+ it is just too hot to be bothered with a PC.
Great! Thanks for the information DD! You make me changing mind again... now I'm confused and torn between mineral oil or H100
Well just to ease your mind @30C I can run sims all day/night @50C-60C+ CPU temperature with H60 Now that sounds hot as you said 62C read below. 2 things, you do not get excess heat like you do from a air cooler starting to struggle even @30C a Hydro blows no hot air. Second a AMD like yours will only run to 70C Maximum so 62C is barely 10% off the maximum temp. A SandyBridge will run to 90C Maximum so at 60C it is 33%off maximum and below the threshold of a decent air cooler even.
After reading this very helpful post from a chemist whose also a hard core gamer, I think I'll pass the submersion PC idea. Too many negative points in the long run. Well, water block it is.
The temperature of the air the comes off of the radiator is not significant - the rate of heat transfer into the room is what raises the ambient air temp. Your liquid cooled system does not have a lower rate of heat transfer into the room, it simply has lower temperatures across a greater area. Two separate 500w heaters in a room will make the room just as hot as one 1,000W heater. The temps on the two 500w heaters will be lower, but the total heat transfer is the same and therefore the resulting ambient air temp is the same. ALL of the power pulled from the wall gets converted into heat. Liquid cooling will lower the temps of the small areas that are the processing units. The benefit is that those processors can then be over clocked higher. Also, the rapid rate of heat removal allows for less required air for convection heat removal and therefore lowers fan noise. In summary, liquid cooling pros: better overclocking capability and lower fan noise. Liquid cooling non-pro: makes your room just as hot as air cooling.
LOL That is all I said ( IE: The temperature of the air the comes off of the radiator is not significant ) ? Corsair blows cooler air you can dress it anyway you like. Maybe he had this idea they run hot like car radiator lol how do I know ? You miss a big point. Liquid ( Corsair ) allows you to have a BIG ARSED space in your tower which makes air flow unimpeded.
So, in PC running with water/liquid cooling loop, the radiator will not get hot? Or warm? Because I see the fans on it, and thought it might get hot, since the water flow into the rad is a warm/hot water. I'm totally n00b on water cooling
No mate cool to touch. If your room is 30C + then obviously everything is going to be warmer again. Corsair Hydro would be the coolest part in your PC besides a SSD. Even a DVD burner gets hotter in use. I not sure if you taking about water cooling or Corsair Hydro now........... Corsair uses a solution " basically" like a car coolant ( ie: higher boiling point ) , it is a sealed unit. * not that it gets anywhere near boiling more like lukewarm-tepid ....oh my I put my foot in it. lol Antifreeze +265 °F (129 °C) Water ( 100 °C)
This is my take after 20+ years AIR COOLING ========== Pro - Cheap , effective Con - They can be difficult for a novice to install depending on the mount type. ie: sprung screws which can lead to smearing the thermal material and higher temperatures. To clean them properly means removing them, cleaning, drying, cleaning off paste, linish, re-paste. ( anyone sticks a pressurized can in PC to do it, I really have no time for you ) They are big and impede airflow through case. WATER COOLING ============ Pro - Custom waterblocks and sytems are the best cooling imho. Free up space and helps case airflow Con - Decent knowledge required Can be expensive Require upkeep CORSAIR HYDRO ============ Pro - Easy to install you can line the block up like a expert in one go as you can see what you are doing , tighten thumbscrews, all done. Excellent thermal material, anyone has got better results with paste ( not pads) on a Hydro I would like to hear about it. Easy to clean you only need remove the radiator, hang it outside and cover your tower with a sheet. NOW ! you can use that pressurized can ! lol Free up space and helps case airflow Low upkeep Con - More expensive then a air cooler that can do the same job in given circumstances. Will not fit in some cases.
Nice review, thanks DD! I think I'm going to take H100 route for now. Much easier for me, since I'm a first timer anyway. Definitely I'll go into custom water cooling in the future, to cool my GPU and chipsets. Then maybe I'll give PC submersion another shot. By the way, how long the liquid inside H100 will last before they need to be replaced?
It cannot be replaced they are sealed unit. I mean you could in theory, sounds like a drama to me. LIFE ? Well that is debatable ( heard 5 years all sorts of things ) and can depend on factors, like ambient temp, amount of use, load temperature could all factor in. I know people had them 2 years and they are cooling like day one. They are not H100 which holds more fluid again, I am guessing mind you I would say it would last longer then a H60. ? Mine is only 12 months old, so I can not give you any data. But think about it .......... H100 has a 5 YEAR warranty. I am telling you if it lost cooling in 4 years they would be giving me a new one ............trust me. I look at it like a build mate, IE: Corsair H60 cost me $99 so over 2 years $1 a week, is not a great deal
