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Mineral Oil PC Cooling Introduction for Nubs

Using Mineral Oil to Cool PC components isn’t something new but, What is Mineral Oil PC cooling all about? Is it safe? It is more effective than air and water?
by Andy Cresswell -
Mineral Oil PC Cooling Introduction for Nubs

There have been a few examples over the years of mineral oil pc cooling but nothing geared towards the kit builder. With mainstream mineral oil fish tank cooling kits cropping up all over the internet I felt I would take a look at what exactly is oil submerged pc cooling and if there are any advantages over watercooling your pc.

Some of you may just be getting your head around the idea of water cooling your precious hardware, now you have a whole new paradigm in PC cooling to get used to. Submerging your components completely in oil. Yeah, pretty nuts when you think about it.

Oil Submerged gaming pc Computer

While you may think it is crazy to submerge your pc in oil in order to get some extra degrees knocked off your temperatures but it’s actually a very efficient and safe way to cool your high-end pc components enabling you to hit higher overclocks.

What is Mineral Oil PC Cooling?

Mineral oil PC cooling is an extreme PC cooling method for computer components where non-conductive mineral oil is used to transfer heat away from the components. The mineral oil acts as a heat transfer fluid, allowing heat to be efficiently dissipated from the components. This cooling method is an alternative to traditional air or liquid cooling and has gained popularity in server environments due to its silent operation and low maintenance requirements. It also has the added benefit of completely immersing the components in oil, providing a unique aesthetic appeal to PC enthusiasts.

Where did Mineral Oil Cooling Originate?

Mineral oil cooling for computers originated as an experimental cooling solution for high-performance computing systems. Oil-submerged cooling has been around for a long time but, did not gain widespread popularity until the early 2010s with the rise of the overclocking, modding and PC-building communities.

These small communities embraced mineral oil pc cooling as a way to cool high-performance components while maintaining a silent and visually striking build. The method has since evolved, with enthusiasts and manufacturers constantly improving the technology to make it more efficient and practical for widespread use. The use of mineral oil cooling has now expanded beyond just the PC building community and is used in various industrial and research applications where reliable and effective cooling is required.

How does Oil Submerged PC Cooling Work?

Mineral oil which is odourless looks and acts like water but behaves very differently, it ‘diffuses’ heat rather than actively cooling like with air and liquid-based solutions. The oil does not have free electrons which have to be present in order to conduct electricity, this means it’s non-conductive and 100% safe to your hardware regardless of how messy cleanup operations can be.

Fish Tank PC Case

Why Choose Oil over Liquid PC Cooling?

Oil submerged Folding@home rig
Oil submerged Folding@home rig

I feel oil-submerged computers are more for hobbyists and PC cooling enthusiasts wanting to try something new, oil is thicker than water so, therefore, does not carry heat away from components as well as water meaning instant cooling power is not there when us overclockers need it.

Mineral Oil Holds More Heat, which means you need bigger radiators to compensate

While mineral-based pc cooling kits do not conduct heat as well as their water counterpart it does hold a lot of heat and keeps it at a stable temperature once it heats up to a certain point, perfect for server environments where heat is a common problem.

Mineral Oil or Water-Based PC Cooling?

From my own personal experience, water-based kits do a lot better job of delivering instant heat dissipation, which as an overclocker is perfect for me, however, that does not go to say that oil submerged pc cooling does not have its place in the computing community, but from my own perspective, I don’t feel that it’s in the overclocking world.

The Next Fontier: Oil Submerged Gaming PC’s
Mineral Oil Submerged Gaming PC

If you are more interested in gaming, overclocking and LAN Parties then I would say avoid submerging your components in oil, it would be far too heavy to easily transport to and from LANs, you might want to consider water cooling your gaming rig, heat dissipation while more stable at higher temperatures does not match the instant bite water delivers under intense load.

Do you have a mineral oil submerged computer? – Let me know in the comments I would really love to hear your experiences and how it compares to the old-fashioned heat sinks, liquid cooling or phase change builds.

Avatar for Andy Cresswell
Andy Cresswell

PerformancePSU Editor

Andy is the Founder & Editor of PerformancePSU with over 25 years of experience building custom PCs, watercooling and overclocking. When his thirst for more speed is under control, he is a programmer and father of one.
Reader Comments
  • Don’t think I’ll be doing that, I like my over clocked pc. I was hoping it might be a good way for silent cooling.
    Does have a wow factor tho.

  • Don’t think I’ll be doing that, I like my over clocked pc. I was hoping it might be a good way for silent cooling.
    Does have a wow factor tho.

  • It has the wow factor but for me its not worth it especially for an overclocker.

    Yes its more stable once it reaches a certain speed, but it does not carry heat away as fast and when your overclocking and over-volting your CPU, we just need that instant cooling power.

    For a side project it could be laugh, I wonder how phase cooled oil would work?

  • It has the wow factor but for me its not worth it especially for an overclocker.

    Yes its more stable once it reaches a certain speed, but it does not carry heat away as fast and when your overclocking and over-volting your CPU, we just need that instant cooling power.

    For a side project it could be laugh, I wonder how phase cooled oil would work?

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