bad idea or not?

[Leonidas]

i had an idea while laying in bed the other day, perhaps i could build a computer inside a mini-refrigerator, cutting holes in the side to mount and then seal around my optical drives, and drilling and inserting all my cables and then sealing around them... but some questions popped up...

is this plain stupid?
how cold can you get a computer before you hurt it?
how much would this cost in comparison to just buying a refrigerated or watercooled case?
also, could i buy a small air-conditioning unit and mount it on the side of my case instead of a panel on one side? im just trying to think of a novel way to cool my cpu, i apologize for bringing silly topics to the table, but as always i appreciate any knowledge, insults, slurs, or insights into any ideas...

also im looking for a socket A mobo and athlon XP processor to hold me over til 64-bit gets settled and im willing to invest in it, anyone got any good ideas? currently im looking at an AMD Athlon XP 3000+(2.16ghz) for 105$, this price seems crazy low, but who knows, im also looking at an albatron usa kx18ds pro mobo for this hold-out system i already have most the other stuff i need including 2*256 mb ram modules for dualchannel, will i need more?

sorry to put so much in one post, but thanks alot all

 

[Nubius]

well anything is possible and no too cold doesn't exist...well it does but it requires liquid nitrogen , the coolest thing they have out there for commercial use is a vapochill phase change cooling system. It gets your CPU to like -45 degrees but that's also $1500. You gotta remember that refrigerators run off of water vapor for cooling so I don't know how well that will actually be on that. Same goes with air conditioners unless you find one that specifically says otherwise. I'd suggest getting a socket 939 chip although it's a bit more expensive, it'll be better in the long run when you want to upgrade because AMD will upgrade that socket. Get an MSI or Abit board specifically the ABit AV8-3rd Eye or the MSI Neo2-Platinum. I built a machine with the MSI board and it has a lot of nice options and runs great. If you could also spring for a 2x512 1gb kit that would be better for that system. You don't necessarily have to go high performace though.

 

[Trifid]

It might damage the fridge cooling thing though, so u got to take that in to concideration, and if u did do that, you would have to fill in any holes there might be so it wont get damaged like that (be like leaving the door open) it should be possible as long as the mini fridge is big enough.

 

[crward]

http://www.overclockers.com/tips1185/ this guy has done it (kind of)

 

[Nubius]

oh man what a tease! You read that anticipating the results he gets and the thing just blows up! Damnit! That pissed me off so I can't imagine what he went through. But yeah Trifid is right, refrigerators are meant to be able to be turned on and off so the compressor probably couldn't handle it. But still it makes for a nice experience and testability right?

Get some Hydrofluoride....only like $150 a gallon or so probably more but that's a completely nonelectrically conductive liquid. Looks just like water except you can put your motherboard in it just fine. Then make a nice intercooler set up with a pump that drains the hydrofluoride from the tub that your mobo is sitting in...goes through an intercooler sitting in dry ice...and then have the exit of the pump..pumping the now even cooler hydrofluoride directly ontop of the CPU.

They actually did that on the screen savers and I've seen an internet article doing that except using Liquid Nitrogen for the intercooler liquid...wound up turning the hydrofluoride to gel so the liquid nitrogen was a bit TOO cold lol for that purpose anyway.

On the screensavers, when they turned the pump off that was blowing the hydrofluoride liquid directly on the CPU you'd see bubbles come off the CPU because it was instantly making that liquid boil. Pretty co0