Oil PC hardware all ready to go

A few days ago, I started running a very intensive stress-testing program on the bench computer that will eventually be submerged.  94 hours of running later I am pleased to report that it ran fine with zero issues.  (The main part of this picture is just the part where it says it completed 1800 tests in 94 hours with zero errors.)

On another note, I just contacted Laird plastics in Syracuse to see if they had any suggestions about which specific type of acrylic would be best for my project.  Hopefully they can get back to me in the next little while so I can actually order up some materials.

Tomorrow I'll be working a lot on my CAD model, and will hopefully finalize my design.

Up and running - secondary PC

So, a couple of days ago, I installed the last few pieces of this computer, and have had it up and running for a while now.

Initial test run

During the process of putting this together, I encountered a few issues that needed addressing....

First off, the power supply I am using is a budget-oriented model, so it comes with fairly short cables.  This was fine for the computer it was originally in, and fine for bench testing.  However, the 8-pin CPU power cable was too short to reach the connector at the top left of the motherboard, so I needed an extension.

The extension cable came in with an adapter for my smaller hard drive. (the black part)

Another issue I encountered with this particular motherboard is that the front audio, the headphone port and microphone port, has its header on the sound card.  So I had to run a cable directly across the middle of the motherboard ... grumble grumble... not as clean of a routing job as I wanted, but there was nothing else to do sooooo....

Some more pictures...

 The front panel connectors (power switch, power LED, reset switch)

PCI-express cables for the video card

Finished insides

Finished outside.

I may end up cutting a window in this case, but that is probably a summer project.

Onto my oil project.  I have a good report that the test piece of acrylic seems unchanged, even after about three weeks being submerged in the mineral oil.  This is good.  This means to me that the same type of acrylic that the tech department has lots of will work just fine for my project, but I will need a thicker size.  I'll be calling Laird plastics tomorrow if I can find the time.

New Case + Monster Update (What I've Been Working On)

Well, I got my case on Tuesday, and spent some time building inside of it.  (tons of pictures start now...)

[Alot of writing at the bottom of this post way down there]

Box...

Case + packing removed

Better than I expected for a cheap case.

 Opened up

Installing motherboard standoffs (Isolate the motherboard's PCB from the metal case)

Board installed

Needed to change the orientation of my heatsink, so...

I needed some alcohol to clean the old paste off.

Nice and clean.

Routed and connected the front panel USB and audio cables

Interior

Powersupply mounted

Graphics card installed, as well as cable management.

And cable management around the back.  Looks pretty messy, but I'll clean it up later probably.

I am still waiting on two more parts to come before I can call this computer finished.  I needed an adapter to let me mount the smaller laptop hard drive I am using.  Because the case is a 'value' oriented case, it didn't have the correct mounts for that drive.  Also, I needed an extension cable for one of the power supply cables.  These two things should get to me tomorrow.

One other thing I did was to move the computer I am actually going to submerge onto the test bench.  This will give me a place to test and validate all of the hardware while I go about designing and building the acrylic parts.  One more thing, I traded 9600 GSOs with a friend.  They are basically the same card, just with different coolers.  This one has a slight problem where the fan will go at 100% speed all the time, even though the card isn't really hot.  The one I had was much quieter.  Anyways, I traded him so he could shut his computer up (this thing gets pretty dang loud - very annoying after a while).  The fan issue won't matter to me as this will eventually be oil cooled, and the fan will barely be spinning anyways.

I also added a much bigger fan to the test bench.  This fan was in the roof of my new build, but it makes a really annoying rattling sound when it is mounted horizontally, which it was in my other case.  Anywho, I took it out, and turns out the spacing on the fan mounts of the tech station were exactly correct for this fan as well, so I mounted it.  I love how ridiculous it looks.  So I'll be testing this computer over the next little while, and giving it some TLC.  After all, I replaced it about five months ago and it's just been collecting dust ever since.

Brings me to my next topic.  I need to figure out a way to get every little bit of dust off each component.  I really want the oil to stay clean, so I need to get all the dust off.  A little blast of compressed air usually does the trick, but this graphics card has some serious dust build up inside of the heatsink and under the plastic shroud.  I may have to disassemble it to clean it.  The rest of the parts should be fine with some air blasts from the old compressor.

Actual things I will be doing to the computer will be minimal, I'm thinking.  It works fine as it is.  But I may wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows 7 which should make hard drive performance much better.  (I can't believe I was using something this darn slow for my main computer...)

Another thing I though of today is that I can apply for a Red $ Gold Grant from IPEI to help fund some parts of my project.  This could potentially include a small SSD for this system to run off of if I can swing it, but that is still a LONG way off.  If I was awarded the grant, it would go toward paying for things like oil and acrylic.

So today I met with Mr. Sauve, and he was able to look up the purchase order from when he ordered acrylic last summer for the school's supply.  He ordered the acrylic from Laird Plastics in Syracuse.  I went to their website, and they have literally 30 different types of acrylic.  I'll call them tomorrow and see if they have any recommendations on specific type to use for my project.

Mr. Sauve also mentioned that the maximum size of acrylic sheet that the tech department's laser cutter can accommodate is 2 ft x 1 ft.  This could mean I need to change my design, although I was thinking about changing it anyways.  Think of the last design I posted as like a 'first revision'.  2nd revision coming soon.

Another thing I need to keep in mind for this 2nd revision is the volume of oil I would need to fill it up to the proper level.  Too much oil and I will be spending a lot more on oil.  Too little oil and it could have a negative impact on cooling performance.

Anywho, that's all for now.  I hope you enjoyed this monster of a post.

Quick update

So, its been a while since my last post, but I have some more stuff coming up.  Yesterday, I ordered a case off newegg, which should get here tomorrow.  This will allow me to move the computer that is on my test bench right now into a permanent home, and start testing the actual computer that will be submerged.  Seems extra complicated, but this was the best solution I could come up with.

Today, I spent a bunch of time working on the CAD model of my design, and this is what I have so far. ( a few changes since my last go at a CAD model.)

Sorry about the terrible contrast on these, but Inventor was acting weirdly and wouldn't let me change the colors of parts.  But anyways, I decided to go for a triangular-ish case.  It's something I've never seen before, and should be pretty effective.  The computer components will be mounted on sliders (for easy installation/removal) and will be inserted into the whole in the middle with the ports at the top.  Eventually, the radiator will be mounted via brackets on top of everything.  Next step is to see if this will actually work for me, in terms of acrylic sheet size and availability, as well as the volume of mineral oil I would need.

Tomorrow should see another post, maybe I'll try video recording me transplant this computer into the new case...we'll see.

TechStation got here! (+ some more planning)

Well, today I got a package in the mail...

which contained ...

parts for a TechStation  (ping pong table covered in boxes for parts...)

assembly almost done....

...and done.

...and put all my hardware on it.  Big thanks to Scott and High Speed PC for making this happen.

Having this TechStation now allows me to very easily swap out components, which I will be doing as soon as I finish this post.  

Onto some more thinking about the oil portion.  Today in a tech class, I noticed a fellow student working with some 1/4 inch polycarbonate.  I started thinking that this may work just as well as acrylic, and I would probably be able to use some of the school's supply.  I did some initial research of the effects of mineral oil on polycarb, and was rather confused.  I found a few sites saying it would be unaffected by the oil, while another which said it could start to show signs of etching after about 30 days.  I can't have that.  This thing needs to be 100% solid, so I probably will be getting some 3/8 or 1/4 inch thick acrylic sheets to use.  

One more major thing I decided to incorporate into my design is a radiator.  This will allow me to have some active cooling of the oil, so I can be sure the oil stays in a reasonable temperature zone.  When I spoke to Casey Dill back in February, he told me he can't use his oil cooled build for more than about three hours before he would have to turn it off due to the heat of the oil.  He strongly recommended that I include a radiator in my design.  So, this adds another layer of complexity to the project; I will need to figure out how to mount the radiator (or 2, depending on the specific type I get) to the case, and where to mount other things like a pump, and inlet and outlet fittings, and a pump.  

Well I think that was everything I wanted to mention, I'm going to to go work on my CAD model of this thing.