Using a house air conditioner to cool a computer?

[Rafe]

Has anyone ever tried it?

 

[j4ckaL]

What you mean cutting open a case and aiming the AC into it?

 

[Nubius]

Do a search either here or google...this question has been asked hundreds of times

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

I'll tell you from experiance, it does work BUT the water in the super cooled air will condense on the hotter parts of the computer....... So have a dehumidifer built into the AC unit...... Because that AC unit of mine kinda killed my 6600GT after 10 min of running and i had to dry it off...

 

[HAVOC]

Well allow me to tell my experience with this method. I haven't actually opened the case and put the AC next to the PC. This would be a stupid move on anyones part. But, I have had extremely good results from the way it's set up now.

In my apartment I have a new "Danby - 9900BTU - AC/Dehumidifier/Fan" This unit is actually positioned right across from my PC. The cold air actually blows directly over my PC from across the room about 10'+. Normally I have the AC set to between 72 & 74 F.

My PC case as said in my sig, "ThermalTake Shark" This case has two honeycomb side panel openings that are open to the inside of the case. Ambient air inside the room can pass into the inside of the PC. (Not good for dust, but i keep it very clean) I also have (1) 120mm intake fan & (1) 120mm exhaust fan. anyway... I've noticed that when I have the AC running at low temps... My case temp is normally very close to the setting of the AC. My CPU / GPU / HDD temps are all nice and low at IDLE as well.

BUT. When I turn off the AC for a few days... All of those temps are noticably higher, I would say by at least 5 to 10 degrees. Most notibly the CASE TEMP. Lower case temps for me = slightly lower component temps. The air flow inside my case is very, very good. So i've realized that pretty much what ever the ROOM temp is, is basically what the CASE TEMP is. So in closing with my AC keeping my room cold, it keeps my CASE cold, in turn slightly helping in component cooling...

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

My case isnt open but it has 4x80mm fans in the front as intakes and the AC unit blows right into them fans, the ac unit is set at 64F but the air is 40F as soon as it comes out of the unit, so.... yea..... Just dont let the water build up in or around the case or condense on the parts like it did on my 6600gt.....

 

[Trotter]

Of course, you can take an A/C unit and make a phase-change unit for your computer...

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

But you would need to prep the parts for extreme condensation... Or you can make a super chilled water cooling system out of it.....

 

[Flanker]

a super chilled water cooling system out of it.....

I think that idea has the most merit...cool the water instead of the air.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Yea buy that shit that lets it get to -20 and put it in the water and put the AC coils and shit into water and the radiators in the water with fans that work under water to move the water thru the radiators.....