Oil Cooled Pc Case With Live Fish!
Intro: Oil Cooled Pc Case With Live Fish!
So I built this with the idea in mind that I wanted an Oil Cooled computer. The original idea was just to get a 5 gallon and fill it up with oil, but after seeing that the price difference between a 5 and 15 was negligible I got the 15. This then led to my idea to have two compartments: one with the computer and mineral oil and another with water and fish. This Project really wasn't too hard, but it was terrifying putting my already pre-existing computer into a pool of mineral oil.
So For this build You will Need: 15 or 20 Gallon tank, Glass cut to the measurements that are said in the video, Plexiglass also cut to size, fish tank heater and filter, aquarium safe Silicone glue,5 gallons of mineral oil, and some drill bits.
STEP 1: Measurements
You first need to take your computer out of its housing and measure the length of the motherboard on the input side or you can read what your motherboards measurements are. The next thing you need to measure is the height of either your graphics card or your cpu heatsink. This depends on which one protrudes the farthest out. You also need to measure your power supply's length. All of these measurements will be used to cut either the glass or the plexiglass.
STEP 2: Cut Glass and Plexiglass
For the glass you will need two pieces one piece is the heatsink or gpu height + an inch or so. The other is the motherboard + psu + 2 inches. Then for the Plexiglass its the motherboard + psu.
STEP 3: Drill Holes in Plexiglass
What you need to do for this is place your motherboard on the top left side of the plexi.Then mark all the spots where the holes are and drill into the plexi. For drilling into the plexiglass make sure to drill backwards or the drill will catch and crack the plexiglass forcing you to start over again.
Next put screws through the motherboard holes connect the motherboard to the plexiglass
STEP 4: Optional Connect the Power Supply to the Plexiglass
This is optional because you can just drop the power supply into the case but it looks better mounted to the plexiglass
For this you will need a screw tacking set.
Start by taking the fan out of the power supply. The fan is now no longer needed because the temperatures in the oil will stay low.
Next Tack 4 holes on the psu on the side where the fan used to be.
Next place the Psu in the far right mid area.
Next drill holes into the plexiglass where the psu holes that you tacked were.
After this screw the Psu to the Plexiglass
STEP 5: Glue Glass
Use aquarium safe Glue to glue the glass to the tank in an L shape then wait 48 Hours.
STEP 6: Place Plexiglass With Motherboard in Smaller Section of Tank
First wire everything up so you don't have to drop your computer in agian
Drop your computer mounted to plexiglass in the smaller section of the tank. Then check if it turns on to avoid a major headache.
Then slowly pore the mineral oil into computer section into you reach your desired amount.
Then SLOWLY pore water into the larger section until desired amount is reached.
STEP 7: Treat Water Then Add Fish
Add your filter and heater then buy all the water treatment stuff you need.(consult local pet store)
Then lastly add your fish and Congrats Your Done!!!
12 Comments
ShermanS1 6 years ago
How often do you have to change out the mineral oil? I heard that the mineral oil will degrade with heat over time, but I haven't seen anywhere how you can tell it's degrading or the frequency that it needs to be changed out.
IIwootII 8 years ago
A patch is coming your way!
IIwootII 8 years ago
Now that's a GREAT looking pc! :)
ToHate-59 8 years ago
great build and ible. what tempratures is the rig running at? Im surprised that you need a seperate heater but probably not a bad idea to have as a backup.
cvscrules 8 years ago
It is usually running at a few degrees above room temp at idle, but when gaming the temperatures will raise and heat will try to find somewhere to disperse to, and it has two places to go. These are either through the glass to the water, or out to the air. So by keeping the temperatures a little higher than normal in the water it will make it so the water isn't constantly heating and cooling drastically between gaming and idle. This leads to a happier and healthier life for my fish.
amberrayh 8 years ago
Wow, I didn't know that you could put a computer in mineral oil. And adding the fish tank is awesome! Thank you for sharing :)
en_rov 8 years ago
builderfish24 8 years ago
MattS25 8 years ago
cwolfe13 8 years ago
steven4872 8 years ago
Put a watt meter on the heater and then on the computer. You might find the heater is off most if not all the time. An aquarium that size doesn't need a lot of power to keep the water warm. My 5 gallon aquarium only needs 20W hours to keep the water warm. Many computer consume several times that level. depending on how long the computer is on and the temperature you want to keep the water at, you might not heed the water heater at all.
morlog 8 years ago
Good call on letting people know to drill the plexiglass backwards, its something that a lot of people wouldnt know to do