PC in a Fridge - Ridiculous idea?

Wavey

Evening all,

This is an odd question to ask given the weather outside but....

I am getting alot of, and always had alot of, overheating problems on my pc(s).

My lastest hairbrained scheme is to build the machine inside a fridge or just place the existing machine insde a fridge.

Has anyone here ever done this?

Google is giving me alot of random opinions. The main concern seems to be condesation. IMO condenstaion would not be an issue as this only happens when you introduce a cold surface to a warm envoiroment. A PC in a fridge would be the opposite, as long as the fridge was running before the PC powers up.

I have gone down the water cooling road before and found the maintainance of this too time consuming.

I would propose to mount the PSU outside the fridge to keep the cooling load down and keep the case fans and GPU/CPU fans inside to circulate air.

The big challenge would be to get the cables out of the fridge whithout comprimising the cooling.

Any comments ??

Thanks,
Wavey

BadCharlie

Why is your machine over heating? Do u not keep it clean? maybe a poor case with poor cooling?
What is the spec and what are u using to cool it?

I don't think its a good idea at all to use the fridge.

C.D.

Wavey wrote: »

Google is giving me alot of random opinions. The main concern seems to be condesation. IMO condenstaion would not be an issue as this only happens when you introduce a cold surface to a warm envoiroment. A PC in a fridge would be the opposite, as long as the fridge was running before the PC powers up.

Classic example of why to be careful when you read things on the internet!

Condensation occurs due to humidity in the air. When the air comes in contact with a cooler surface, water condenses on it, or indeed if the air is cooled, moisture droplets will form (in the atmosphere, think clouds) So if we take all possible scenarios:

1: You turn the fridge and PC on at the same time

The ambient air temperature would be the same as room temperature, as soon as the temperature starts to drop, you are going to condensation. "But my GPU/CPU/NB/RAM are all hot, nothing will condense on them!". Indeed, but water will condense on things like your chassis and drip onto your components.

2: You turn the fridge on, wait till it is cold (and at a stable temperature) and then put your PC in

The air inside your case (prior to insertion) will still be humid and case the same problems as above. Not to mention if you ever opened the fridge door etc. you would introduce loads of humid air.

The only feasible way to get it to work is in an already very dry environment (as in very low humidity) or with a dehumidifier. Unless you are a rabid overclocker, there are very few heat problems that cannot be solved with a decent case and some foresight- cable management, good fans and planned air flow.

I have thought along the same lines as you before and came up with the perfect solution (if I were really pushed!). Next to my room is a small box room with 2 outside walls and it is generally 10+ degrees colder than my room. I could just stick my PC in there and run some very long cables to my desk

StopNotWorking

I just bought some massive fans for my computer.. for any desktop cleaning it out, getting a better heatsink and some better fans. Worst case scenario you get a better case and you should really have no cooling problems anymore.

If you are insistent however.. you would be better off building a water proof tank and submerging the computer into some oil or filtered mineral water, pump the liquid through a rad and back into the tank and you have some serious cooling with the same amount of effort as trying to mount a computer in a fridge.

uberpixie

Wavey wrote: »

Evening all,

This is an odd question to ask given the weather outside but....

I am getting alot of, and always had alot of, overheating problems on my pc(s).

My lastest hairbrained scheme is to build the machine inside a fridge or just place the existing machine insde a fridge.

First off get a can of compressed air and clean out the inside of your PC. Removing the dust from CPU/GFX card coolers will help keeping the temps down greatly.

Secondly: what case, fans and pcu are you using?

zilog_jones

I don't think the fridge will last very long even if it was possible - they're designed to keep cold things cold, not to store things that generate heat!

RoyalMarine

you mentioned that you tried watercooling, and it was too time consuming?

i had a watercooling setup before. the only thing i had to do was drain the fluid and refill with new fluid.

with a nicely placed fill port, and another upside down as a drain port, it should only be a matter of opening the valve/plug and leaving a small bucket underneath.

something like this would work wonder's.
not to mention you dont need to change it that often anyway!
i think i changed mine once in 9 months!

Deano12345

As mentioned above plenty of times above,it wont work.Fridges do a great job at keeping things cold,things that dont produce heat.But when you introduce something that does produce heat,its becomes ineffective.The biggest thing is when your computer cools down is condensation.You can insulate your computer by painting everything (thats a circut board,like your graphics card) with nail varnish.

Also,becasue your PC is putting out heat,the compressor in the fridge will have to work harder ot maintain a constant tempreture,therefore wearing out your fridge.

So,

Would it work ? Yes
Effective ? No
Cheap ? No

Its much easier to buy a new heatsink,case or fans

darealtulip

an air coditioned room would be a lot better (and probaly cheaper). But it makes more sence to get good cooling/case etc much much cheaper in the long run