TriFire water cooling (was: Squeezing 2-slot cards into a single slot)

[bulanula]

Mineral oil cooling for bitcoin. Anyone try it ?

[1714964105]

1714964105

[cicada]

Mineral oil cooling for bitcoin. Anyone try it ?

I'm not sure anyone's actually taken the leap, but it's been talked about a few times.

The general consensus is that it's not worth destroying your cards for the ePeen factor.  Once you dunk them in mineral oil you're certainly not going to be able to resell them, your warranties are null and void, and they become rather difficult to clean up and use outside the mineral oil bath.

There's no reason it wouldn't work, but the downsides tend to steer people away.

[bulanula]

Mineral oil cooling for bitcoin. Anyone try it ?

I'm not sure anyone's actually taken the leap, but it's been talked about a few times.

The general consensus is that it's not worth destroying your cards for the ePeen factor.  Once you dunk them in mineral oil you're certainly not going to be able to resell them, your warranties are null and void, and they become rather difficult to clean up and use outside the mineral oil bath.

There's no reason it wouldn't work, but the downsides tend to steer people away.

Well would they corrode or something if wash them with water and let them dry ?

[cicada]

Well would they corrode or something if wash them with water and let them dry ?

Probably not if you used distilled water, but mineral oil is hydrophobic.  You'd need some kind of detergent to bind the oil, like dish soap. 

You wouldn't be able to just dunk it either as the water would seep between the PCB layers and make quite a mess.  Come to think of it, the mineral oil probably will too. 

Any way you look at it, submerging your card in some kind of liquid isn't something you can just do on a whim and expect to turn back.

[bulanula]

Well would they corrode or something if wash them with water and let them dry ?

Probably not if you used distilled water, but mineral oil is hydrophobic.  You'd need some kind of detergent to bind the oil, like dish soap. 

You wouldn't be able to just dunk it either as the water would seep between the PCB layers and make quite a mess.  Come to think of it, the mineral oil probably will too. 

Any way you look at it, submerging your card in some kind of liquid isn't something you can just do on a whim and expect to turn back.

That is a valid point. Did anyone so far do this and test out of the PCB remains solid etc. ?

[imsaguy]

I wish I had the link.  There is an outfit that is selling computer aquariums that they have soaked in mineral oil.  They were on their second or third iteration, which each being something like 2-3 years and going strong.  I remember them saying even the fans were ok.  The only thing they didn't submerge were the power supplies and the hard drives. They mentioned trying a bubbler to help with the diffusion, but I can't remember if they said it helped or hindered. 

[cicada]

I wish I had the link.  There is an outfit that is selling computer aquariums that they have soaked in mineral oil.  

http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php

These guys?

[edit] Guess that link is a bit old, but still relevant - they're up to 'V4' now: http://www.pugetsystems.com/aquarium-computer.php

[imsaguy]

I wish I had the link.  There is an outfit that is selling computer aquariums that they have soaked in mineral oil.  

http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php

These guys?

[edit] Guess that link is a bit old, but still relevant - they're up to 'V4' now: http://www.pugetsystems.com/aquarium-computer.php

Yes!

[imsaguy]

and I was wrong.  They did submerge the power supply as well.  Obviously this keeps things running cooler but the power use is gonna be much higher.  I don't know how you would make that work for larger scale mining operations without killing your bottom line.

[cicada]

Back to the OT if I may - it turns out those Swiftech universal GPU blocks end up taking up 2 slots as well.

I think I'm going to end up going with the full-coverage blocks just to keep things more open in the future.

DeathandTaxes, what fitting are you using to connect your 5970s blocks?  I'm having trouble finding what I need..

[bulanula]

and I was wrong.  They did submerge the power supply as well.  Obviously this keeps things running cooler but the power use is gonna be much higher.  I don't know how you would make that work for larger scale mining operations without killing your bottom line.

Someone needs to try this with mining ! EPIC !

[DeathAndTaxes]

Back to the OT if I may - it turns out those Swiftech universal GPU blocks end up taking up 2 slots as well.

I think I'm going to end up going with the full-coverage blocks just to keep things more open in the future.

DeathandTaxes, what fitting are you using to connect your 5970s blocks?  I'm having trouble finding what I need..

Um I can double check when I get home but I believe they are these.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10742/ex-tub-667/Bitspower_SLI_Crossfire_Multi-Link_Adapter_Pair_-_Black_Sparkle_BP-BSWP-C47.html?tl=g30c101s873

and these:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10744/ex-tub-669/Bitspower_SLI_Crossfire_Crystal_Link_Tube_Set_-_2_Slot_Spacing_BP-CLTAC-S2.html?tl=g30c101s873

They work great but bad news is they don't make a 1 slot connector (i.e. no space between blocks).  


It looks like something like this would work for cards in adjacent slots.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8566/ex-tub-448/Feser_Crossfire_SLI_Multi_Spacing_Fittings.html?tl=g30c101s873#blank



Here is the whole category of toys:
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g30/c101/s873/list/p1/Liquid_Cooling-Fittings-Accessories-SLI_Connectors-Page1.html

[cicada]

Thanks D&T, those are about what I was coming up with too, I wasn't sure if the '1-slot' they were referring to actually meant 'blocks in adjacent slots', guess it doesn't.  It looks like the Feser ones could work.  I was looking at some similar fittings from DangerDen but they only came in a pack with one set of fittings and three tubes of differing length - for $12... and I'd need 3.. 

All the fittings and connectors and odd and ends are adding up to be almost 1/4 of the total cost, it's insane!

I'm kind of thinking that I'll just go with tubing and compression fittings for now - I've read that it's a total pain in the ass to get the tubing length just right, but it should work just fine and won't impact flow rates much.  The XSPC compression fittings I'm looking at are pretty low-profile, so I think I can squeeze two of them and a small chunk of tube between the blocks. 

Of course I've thought lots of things lately and been totally wrong

[DeathAndTaxes]

Thanks D&T, those are about what I was coming up with too, I wasn't sure if the '1-slot' they were referring to actually meant 'blocks in adjacent slots', guess it doesn't.  It looks like the Feser ones could work.  I was looking at some similar fittings from DangerDen but they only came in a pack with one set of fittings and three tubes of differing length - for $12... and I'd need 3.. 

All the fittings and connectors and odd and ends are adding up to be almost 1/4 of the total cost, it's insane!

I'm kind of thinking that I'll just go with tubing and compression fittings for now - I've read that it's a total pain in the ass to get the tubing length just right, but it should work just fine and won't impact flow rates much.  The XSPC compression fittings I'm looking at are pretty low-profile, so I think I can squeeze two of them and a small chunk of tube between the blocks. 

Of course I've thought lots of things lately and been totally wrong

Compression fittings aren't exactly cheap either.  You won't save much.  For 4 cards you will need 12 compression fittings (excluding the "outside" fittings to connect to rest of network.  The small amount you will save will be paid in pure frustration trying to get it to fit together.  Also mounting the cards will be a lot of "fun". The SLI bridge connectors provide some strength to the multi-GPU package making it easier to install and uninstall (looks like one giant 6 or 8 slot GPU) .

I think now you might be realizing why I said if you can get good price of 5970s then selling the GPU for 5970s makes sense.  You only need 1 waterblock for each set of GPU.  4 GPU = only 2 cards = 1 bridge not 3.  All those things start adding up.

Basically watercooling has such a high unit cost per element being cooled you want that element to be as expensive and powerful as possible.  Dual GPU cards are a perfect fit.

[cicada]

I think now you might be realizing why I said if you can get good price of 5970s then selling the GPU for 5970s makes sense.  You only need 1 waterblock for each set of GPU.  4 GPU = only 2 cards = 1 bridge not 3.  All those things start adding up.

Basically watercooling has such a high unit cost per element being cooled you want that element to be as expensive and powerful as possible.  Dual GPU cards are a perfect fit.

It's true, and if this rig were strictly for mining I'd be going with the 5970 hands-down.  From the benchmarks I've seen however, a pair of 6950s in CF handily outperforms it in most games - albeit at a higher total TDP and complexity, and of course I have the 1GB models instead of the 2GB used in most of the benches..  but since I've got them already, that's what I'm working with

[MadHacker]

I use these Feser Crossfire / SLI Multi Spacing Fittings
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8566/ex-tub-448/Feser_Crossfire_SLI_Multi_Spacing_Fittings.html?tl=g30c101s873#blank
as the poster above sugested.

i have 6 6970's watercooled side by side and works great.

[cicada]

i have 6 6970's watercooled side by side and works great.

Dear god man.. do you have pics of that?

[MadHacker]

i have 6 6970's watercooled side by side and works great.

Dear god man.. do you have pics of that?

not yet.
i should take some pictures.

i have the rads mounted in my cold air ducts.
so it directly heats teh house as well

[DeathAndTaxes]

I use these Feser Crossfire / SLI Multi Spacing Fittings
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8566/ex-tub-448/Feser_Crossfire_SLI_Multi_Spacing_Fittings.html?tl=g30c101s873#blank
as the poster above sugested.

i have 6 6970's watercooled side by side and works great.

How do you get around the 8 GPU limit in AMD drivers?

[cicada]

i have 6 6970's watercooled side by side and works great.

How do you get around the 8 GPU limit in AMD drivers?

He doesn't - 6970 is a single-GPU card.