Cooling with Dry Ice?

[OCLouie]

I have access to huge amounts of dry ice. I am wondering if/how this could be used to cool down a processor. One could drill a hole in the center of the heatsink,fill it with Dry Ice and seal it up again. Then the result should be a fan blowing ice cold air off of the processor. What do u guys think?

(BTW..Joe, this is Brandon not louie. I will get a handle here in a sec )

[nonagon]

I'm not really sure I understand the setup you're describing, so I can't be of much help in evaluating it.
However, I was interested to hear about your good fortune when it comes to the Dry Ice, and I have other ideas about its use.
Since Dry Ice is a temporary solution, it would probably be best to employ it in some fashion that would allow you to get the most time-use out of it. Unless you're planning on using some sort of complex water-to-ice intercooler to keep the Dry Ice solid longer, I think the best way to use it would be in an air chiller setup.
You could place the Dry Ice in a heavily insulated container with openings at both ends (a drilled mini-cooler would work). Then, run tubing (also insulated) into your case and connect it to a heatsink from the side in a straight-through configuration so that the chilled air is exhausted back out of the case (gotta keep that condensation down). This would be very cold air acting on the heatsink, and, since there is no direct heat source acting on the Dry Ice, it would remain solid much longer.
Just a thought.

[yoblad]

That is a great idea. Just the kind response I was hoping for. But please describe the way I would run the air as a heatsink. I am new to the extreme cooling scene and am still pretty ingorant. I can probably bring home an 8X8X7 block of dry ice home from every week or so. And if it boils off too quickly, I can have reserved in my freezer as the same size block of dry ice can be bought for around 8 bucks.
Also what are the other ideas for it's use.

[imagex]

why don't you water cool yor system and use the dry ice to cool your coolent.set your rad in a cooler of dry ice and antifrezz?

[yoblad]

I'm just brainstorming alternative cooling options. Plus that would be too easy

[theonetheycallnil]

how 'bout direct die cooling whith the ice? the only trouble would be holding it on there cutting it and making sure that you have enough to let you play for a while without being afraid of cooking your cpu

[imagex]

i've played with the stuff before and it don't last long at all,i went through 8lbs of dryice in about 30 min.

[Finx]

This is an interesting topic - I like nonagons thinking but maybe mounting a rad in the ice itself or switching to copper tubing when it goes into the chamber for your dry ice. But it is also a risky solution because it will go by quickly and when you are chilling playing games such as a great Quake 3 Tournement i don't think their going to wait for you to refill your dry ice in the middle. But it would be good experimenting.

- Finx

[Soupy]

I don't see any possible way that you can use Dry Ice. you can't seal it, because it will explode. you can't put it in water because it will fill your house with fog. What ever you do, Don't put in a sealed water salution. Just so you have an idea what I'm talking about break a couple of junks up small enough to fit in a 2liter bottle, fill the bottle part way with hot water and put cap on and run like hell. I've seen mail boxes explode with one of these put inside. I use to work with this stuff and beleive me it is not something you want to use for cooling. I beleive the best thing this stuff is good for is fog mashines and pulling hail dents out of car hoods.

Just my 2cents
Soupy

[Joe]

its nice for cooling Turbo Intercoolers also

Simple way to cool with dry ice... this isnt as effective as it could be but it wont die when you run out of ice

Take a styro cooler. drill two holes- one at top left, one at bottom right. Run some kind of ducting from bottom hole into computer, so it blows into the CPU fan. Add a fan to the cooler to move air through. This will take the cool CO2 and put it right on the heatsink. Cool gas = more temperature differential between HS and gas, = more heat removed.

Alternatively, you could take cylinders of dry ice or any long solid pieces. Create a large tube directly over your CPU HS. (no fan). The sticks will touch the HS and absorb the heat, as they boil off the sticks in the tube will move down. This way you have ice touching your HS at all times (until you run out... be careful!)