A different way to use dry-ice?

[knowledgegranted]

Hey guys,

I often get dryice at my home for various reasons. I was wondering if I could undergo an unorthodox mod to my computer using dry-ice (not the dice method). I want to pipe a fan from a cooler of dry ice into my computer. Would this be feasible? I understand it's pure CO2 so it could promote some health faults but those could be worked around.

[x88x]

Only thing I can think is to use something like an NO2 pot. I don't think a closed system would be possible without either insane pressures or a portion that would cool the CO2 back down to a liquid. Even then it would depend on the thermal properties of liquid CO2. I can't help but think there's probably a reason why people use NO2 instead of CO2.

[knowledgegranted]

I don't think I explained myself well.

I would put the Dry-ice into a cooler and connect it to my computer through an airvent. I would use the evaporating dry-ice air and run it through my computer system and out the exhaust fan opening. Would this work? or too much to worry about?

[Oneslowz28]

He is wanting to just run the chilled air from the d-ice to his PC intake via a duct. It will work but if you keep your case below ambient for long and then run out of d-ice you risk condensation and nice bright blue sparks.

[x88x]

Ah, ok, I see..so, yeah, in that case OneSlow's right.

[mDust]

It would have to be pretty efficient to cool enough for condensation to come into play. Chances are, you'd be using a case fan to pull the cold gas through the duct. The fan is going to pull more air through the duct than is going to be boiling off the block of ice, so ambient air is going to be mixed in as well. Basically, it's going to be cold gas turbulently mixed with air which is hardly going to be less than ambient temp. The net effect will probably be a core temp ~1-2*C less than normal. This would honestly be a waste of dry ice.
If it were sitting directly on a the CPU heatsink it would work better. Or if you have liquid cooling, wrap the ice in paper towel and put it on the radiator. Make sure the ice doesn't come in direct contact with the rad so it doesn't freeze the water. I'd assume the system puts out enough heat that the water would never freeze, but it's best to play it safe.
EDIT: Also, just to clarify, the ice shouldn't be left on the rad if the system is turned off...copper tubing is strong, but expanding water ice is much stronger.

[knowledgegranted]

I might give it a go on an old P4 board I have. See how it works and things. I'll do a little bit of research before hand though so don't worry.

[Zeroignite]

Dunking some dry ice directly into a watercooling reservoir would lead to some major issues pretty quickly, as the CO2 sublimating off would rapidly build up and overpressure the system. Putting an big chunk of dry ice directly on top of some sort of heat exchanger with water running through it might work... say, a wide flat reservoir with a reasonably conductive top surface. As for just blowing air over the solid CO2, I'd think the change in temps would be minor, and you'd have massive condensation problems. That fog you see coming off of a block of dry ice isn't gaseous CO2, it's water droplets condensing from the air.

[blaze15301]

i put my res in cold salt ice water. then surrounded my rad with ice. it lowered my temps maybe a good 5 -7 at best. to be honest it was really worth all the work i did because my cpu wouldn't let me push it any more.:bash: