The reason for the title is that I have to repeat that to every one who sees it, and in some cases, many times to the same person. This computer is an Oil Submerged PC that I have built into my corner desk out of boredom. First thing’s first, please don’t bother asking me how fast I can run it, because I have no plans on over clocking it. This was just an attempt to see how it would all come{and to prove I could figure out what others had not ^.^ }. I went for three things on this project. One: building a completely useful PC in a tank of mineral oil. Two: at least a ten-degree difference in operating temperature. Three: A marginal amount of interchangeability in components. I have had no problems with playing games, typing papers, watching movies, or surfing the net thus far. It runs at an over all temp of 38 to 41 degrees C from 48 to 52 C previously. The DVD drives, hard drives, and even the components mounted to the motherboard are reasonably interchangeable. The main power supply involves a great deal of cutting and splicing of wires to replace. That being said, I consider this a success, though it is more of a novelty at the moment as it is too much work for the average PC owner to want to mess around with. The PC components came from an old computer I had that I didn’t really use much anymore. Those that follow this oil submerged PC’s closely will want to know how I got around the oil wicking problem…easy. For most of the wiring coming off of the power supply, I used twist connects mounted through the acrylic top. The oil gets to those and drips back into the tank. The rest of it was solved by keeping the oil level BELOW the connections on the back of the motherboard. The oil is pulled out from in between the CPU and main power supply by a continuous flow oil transfer pump, sent through a triple 120mm fan radiator, and then put back into the tank at the bottom via the copper tubing. There are three bubblers under the illuminated fans sunk in the gravel that give an interesting swirl of bubbles to the oil...and yes I have planned for the possibility of water build up on the bottom of the tank. There is a small network of tubing on the bottom that I can use to draw out the bottom fluid to see if there is any water in it. The power and hard drive lights have been placed in a copper tube behind the clear CPU fan in the valley of the heat sink fins to give a swirl of light as the fan turns. I did not expect the fan to suck in the bubbles fro the center fan, but was pleased at how I ended up with a ring of bubbles from it doing so. The Gatewatch 2 monitors the fans speeds and the temperatures of the CPU, video card, oil coming in, and oil coming out. I ended up going with toggle switches for the on/off, reset, and transfer pump on a whim, I really can’t explain why. The keyed lock power switch was just another addition that has no real explanation other than taking up empty space for appearances. The computer was run for three moths before being turned off with no unusual temperature spikes. That shut down was for updates. The only problem I have encountered so far was a piece of gravel floating up on a bubble and then falling back down into the fan and jamming it…rather funny to watch happen before my eyes. A piece of coat hanger wire worked it loose. Future plans involve using all new components, an octagonal 35-gallon tank, and a lot more effects using clear tubing and LED’s. I will post a pic of it running with no lights on soon.

Components:
MSI K8N NEO Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 FX CPU
4 gigs DDR 400 RAM {Kingston}
Antec 500 Watt Power supply {submerged in tank}
Meanwell 300W Supplemental Power Supply (behind swap drives)
Two Western Digital Caviar SE 400GB Hard Drives inside Vantec EZ-Swap trays
Aero cool Gate watch 2
Two cheap DVD drives cannibalized from another case
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT Video Card with radiator
Ten gallon fish tank and blue gravel
Fish tank aerator pump and tubing
Black Ice GT Stealth {triple 120mm fan}
Three momentary toggle switches and one powered key lock switch
11 ½ gallons of mineral oil
Continuous flow oil transfer pump salvaged from a junk yard.