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VIDEO: Dream PCs 2008: Armari's amazing XCP
2008's Dream PCs are in the labs, and we've got video of Armari's amazing XCP, which submerges all its key components in liquid to keep them cool
Once every twelve months we challenge a select group of PC
manufacturers to enter a very simple, but very demanding competition:
build the best PC you can, money no object. We've seen PCs in the labs that have cost over £5,000 before, and even ones approaching £10,000, but Armari's XCP machine topped any previous PC, being born from over three years work and £100,000 of R&D.
The XCP is a liquid cooled PC with a difference: the main components are all fully immersed in special, non electrically conductive liquid. Getting this to work was a huge technical challenge - among other things, the coolant is denser than water, and expands and contracts according to temperature changes - but the results are trully wonderful. Check out the video below to see what we mean.
Our analysis of the Armari XCP and the other Dream PCs from Scan and HP are in Issue 61 of the magazine, which is on sale now. You can also see the winner of the 2007 Dream PC competition, Scan's White Cobra, here.
If you want to download hi-res images, click here to grab a zip file featuring four beautiful photos of the XCP.
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Fantastic piece of kit would look fantastic next to my tv as a htpc, can i borrow it ? Why did it not win ? Surely this is what dream pcs are all about.
Comment by magnet_css at 11:43am 30th August 2008
Did they think of using that? I'ts also designed for cooling electrics...
Comment by Binks12 at 10:17am 30th August 2008
'Ease down Ripley'...... I meant no offense. It's (the XCP) a fantastic piece of work , kudos to the builders and cheers on a true work of art. However , as someone who is fully qualified to speak on the subject of submersion cooling , I'm calling "PR" on the "3yrs and 180,000$" bit about R&D..... I call em as I see em. Good work all the same , BrainEater
Comment by BrainEater at 11:26pm 29th August 2008
Thats how the early motor cars cooling system worked!
Comment by blunder12 at 4:21pm 29th August 2008
Sorry techjim, but you're an idiot regardless of how many times you post the same old links.
Comment by thom804 at 2:18pm 29th August 2008
A company called P2i have just released something the call "ion mask" used for water proofing materials at a molecular level...at the moment used for clothing but they believe they are going to be able to use it for electronics so we could soon be drowning our pc's in a bath of water???
Comment by technogiant at 9:53am 29th August 2008
There's always someone who cannot appreciate good work and has to disparage or belittle someone else's efforts...if techjim and fellows had actually read AND understood what this was all about, they would have a better understanding, but no...its always better to ridicule and "prove" how they did it first or how they did it looooong before anyone else. So lame.
Comment by redphyve at 9:00am 29th August 2008
ya,...so ... check this out http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php I think you just wasted a lot of money and time BSing us about how you "Developed it". Also http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?CIID=26054
Comment by techjim at 5:46am 28th August 2008
Great job - well done Armari! however, the actual price for fluorinert is under 200 quid for 5kg (trade price)
Comment by user123 at 7:17pm 28th August 2008
This is just beautiful, they should enter it for design awards (the first Dyson vacuum cleaners were awarded shed loads of them from all over the world) and send it to lots of Science exhibitions as it is truly a work of engineering and art combined (and this is coming from a Physics teacher!) as it sets a benchmark for future PC building!
Comment by Isitari at 7:19pm 28th August 2008
I think you've wasted a lot of time / effort and cash on R&D.....My 'Thinktank' mod is over four years old , you could have just asked me I'd have told you everything you needed to know for free =P ...Or you could have just read any one of the many worklogs of those of us that have done this before. It is pretty tho.
Comment by BrainEater at 5:10pm 28th August 2008
that must of been so much fun to build but pretty hard aswell
Comment by TruthofaliaR at 2:42pm 28th August 2008
Would be great to see someone bringing that to a Lan party :)
Comment by sweedo at 12:54pm 28th August 2008
Yup, the Fluorinert is much denser than water so it weighs a lot! The XCP's case weighs 80kg too, so the whole thing needs four people to move it around... and a very strong desk to support it.
Comment by Sifter3000 at 12:47pm 28th August 2008
Sorry, got to agree with RedHotsRule549, there's a world of difference between dumping a PC in a tub of oil and using full immersion Fluroinert, and cooling that with a water cooling loop. The Armari is an amazing piece of work.
Comment by Sifter3000 at 11:01am 28th August 2008
http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/08/08/27/1930214.shtml
Comment by toycityworld at 10:06am 28th August 2008
dude the first link was seriously lame. That liquid would just heat up, and heat up. Lol. It has no method of exchanging heat... I think the Armari is a shedload higher spec than that. You heard the liquid they use in that costs £200/litre. I'm sure mineral oil costs lots less hehe. If you read the review in the mag, it's seriously cool. I wanted to ask CPC if they took any temperature readings from any of the components, as I assumed everything would be fairly cool...?
Comment by RedHotsRule549 at 7:34am 28th August 2008
Im sorry,I couldve sworn someone rednecked this on hackaday like 3 years ago,by dropping the mobo and all in an aquarium filled with vegetable oil.
Comment by Kagero at 6:40am 28th August 2008
ya,...so ... check this out http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php I think you just wasted a lot of money and time BSing us about how you "Developed it". Also http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?CIID=26054
Comment by techjim at 5:46am 28th August 2008
that is seriously cool, i have heard of immersion cooling before but i have never seen it incorporated into a custom machine like this. probably one of the coolest dream PC's i have ever seen, not sure what justifies the 100 grand R & D though, this tech allready exists and it certainly is not that expensive.
Comment by yougotkicked at 2:42am 28th August 2008
that is seriously cool, i have heard of immersion cooling before but i have never seen it incorporated into a custom machine like this. probably one of the coolest dream PC's i have ever seen, not sure what justifies the 100 grand R & D though, this tech allready exists and it certainly is not that expensive.
Comment by yougotkicked at 2:42am 28th August 2008
DryIce and high pressure cooling is way better and the unit dont have to be a bathtub like this one .. lol
Comment by necron99 at 10:11pm 27th August 2008
I dont really like it, but it's really good to see a major firm thinking and looking outside the beige, black, or chromed box.
Comment by NewParadigm at 9:42pm 27th August 2008
although the title of dream pc kinda means anything u could spend whatever money on i think these concept machines that pop up no and again should be excluded from the competition for the ones that are actually available as commercial products like Scan's new "Great White"
Comment by Mizugetsu at 8:43pm 27th August 2008
Is this a custom? Or can you actually buy it? It looks pretty expensive, but so damn sexy
Comment by KxKuK at 7:58pm 27th August 2008
i love it when u can see what could actually be achieved when money really is no object.
Comment by TBallS at 7:05pm 27th August 2008
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