Dice in Practice

[blindfitter]

First Dice run,
Need a couple of answers from the dryice guys,

Got a pot on order will be here in couple of weeks, organizing a supply of Dry ice.

Am familiar with the board prep, same as Single stage.

A bottle of acetone 1 litre is to be obtained, any special sort?

Now the cooking begins, system will set up with xp and tested with air cooling ect.

So what comes next, start up computer with nowt in pot? Add acetone how much? Add pellets of dry ice? Or fill the container and start benching.

As the pot uses the dice do you keep it topped up or let it almost empty? Do you have to add acetone when adding more dry ice.

Just getting the prep done, will be dragging the old dfi expert for this first run, learn on old kit first, rather than putting new kit at risk.

Temp I have a fluke to measure temps, do you just take the temp down to max -71cish

[maverik-sg1]

My only advice (having not used DI before) would be to set-up best clocks on phase - I know your unit is undergoing some work right now so I have the R507 mach here for you if needed mate

Mav

[blindfitter]

cheers my friend, hope pete dont keep it to long,

it the mixing I need to know about at the moment

[4Qman]

K404 is dice man.

Key is ti be prepared and understand and know your setup before you bench

[ncc-1709]

make sure you have a tamper at all times as air pockets form down the bottom of the tube.
and 1inch of acitone, so dice, make a sluchy mix and keep tamping it down. you could just top it off with dice and keep pushing it down.

[blindfitter]

make sure you have a tamper at all times as air pockets form down the bottom of the tube.
and 1inch of acitone, so dice, make a sluchy mix and keep tamping it down. you could just top it off with dice and keep pushing it down.

Thanks for the tip, not heard or seen that one published.

Any more tips welcome

[Deanzo]

Use pure acetone or as close as you can get, other wise you will have ice form at the bottom of the pot.

Add your crushed up dry ice first, and let the pot cool down a bit before adding the acetone.

Keep the pot full of dry ice, you will only need to add more acetone after hours of benching.

Unlike LN2 you can't really pick/set your temp, it will just drop to -70 (or so) and rise during load, vcore plays a big part on how much it will rise.

[K404]

The first few pellets of dice will sublime very quickly, with a nice plume of CO2 gas. Only put a little dice in until the acetones temp drops, else it'll spit. I actually wouldnt use slush to start- the surface area means it'll sublime more violently and will be more likely to spit. I try to dig out some bigger bits to get the pot and acetone down to temp.

Add enough acetone to cover the surface area of the base of the pot.

Dont fill the tube. If ya cant see the acetone bubbling, thats enough I reckon. Filling the tube will use up dice a lot faster for very little gain, if any.

Startup order is up to you. Sometimes il boot to BIOS and view the CPU temp, then start adding dice, sometimes il let the dice cool for a minute before I start the computer...doesnt really matter- it wont be until you load the CPU in windows that you'll find out if the contact is good.

The pot will need a little time to absorb cold to hold a load properly.

The acetone will evaporate/be carried away slowly over the day. You'll lose a couple mm of the depth over the course of a day.

___________________

I do see conflicting advice in this thread Comes down to user preference I guess

[skull]

*absorbs everything!* This is all good guys, i really welcome all advice.

[blindfitter]

Thanks, I know everybody does not do things the same way, we all have preferences, but its good to get a variation of method.

Where’s a good stockist of acetone? Because 1 of my daughters runs her own beauty business and can get it for me from the wholesaler, would this be good enough,

[ncc-1709]

their is a link somewhere on the forusm to it on e-bay at like £10 per liter.

and filling the tube just means you dont have to top it so regualrly that all, if you can keep topping it up, then less is gonna be better, as it desolves into the acitone better.

and yes, the spitting was fun the first time, but i aint gonna have it happen again... as it hit my eye last time.

[K404]

Some LLoyds Chemists sell it, it should be less than £10/L.

In an act of desperation, I tried a beauty salon for acetone- apparently they use acetone-free solvents because its bad for the skin. I have no idea if their substitute will be good at -78, or good for thermal transfer.

Ebay has it £18/5L (single can)- thats the best bet.

[elfy]

ok so it seems to be add a bit acetone, inch or so, ad some pellets to start bringing it down, boot to bios to look at temps? then add some more untill you can't see the acetone then just top up as you go along? no need to add more acetone?

[blindfitter]

ok so it seems to be add a bit acetone, inch or so, ad some pellets to start bringing it down, boot to bios to look at temps? then add some more untill you can't see the acetone then just top up as you go along? no need to add more acetone?

Sounds good to me elfy, you having a go

[Highland3r]

Few lessons learnt when benching DICE with Persivore. Note we used Chilly Tubes, so there's a large raised "lump" in the middle of the tube so things may differ slightly.

Firstly we found the best way to get a perfect contact (and allow the TIM to cure) was to boot the machine (running stock or close to stock speeds with a slightly increased vcore) with no DICE in the tube. You can add acetone if you want though.
Boot to bios and monitor the CPU temps, if you've got a thermocouple stuck in the tube (they're VERY handy and worth looking into if you can) then check the tube temp is increasing also.
If you don't have one, then feel the base of the tube to make sure its getting warm. Let the system run until the CPU gets to ~ 50 deg then shut it off and leave for a few mins. This helps the TIM spreadout a little and improves contact. Most TIM's will freeze solid at DICE (and phase) temps and this method allows it to spread out a little.

Once done, add a little DICE into the tube. As kenny said you'll see violent sublimation intially but this dies down pretty quickly. Using a pole (metal works well) carefully poke the DICE to remove any crust which maybe forming. As mentioned before you should aim for a watery slush in the bottom of the tube.
Only add a small amount of DICE at a time, and use your poking stick to ensure all the pellets have contact with the acetone. Also ensure you don't get any lumps forming on the base of the tube.
If you can't see the "boiling" liquid in the bottom of the tube then you're using too much DICE.

Acetone wise, 1-1.5 cm will more than enough and as kenny mentioned you'll need to top it up during a session.

We usually booted the machine with max overclocks once the tube was down to its lowest temp. Check the bios and make sure (assuming you're mobo's accurate) the CPU is dropping temp as you'd expect.

I'd recommend fixing a thermocouple to the base of the tube if you can, a little blob of seal string works nicely and makes benching a WHOLE lot easier. Firstly you can ensure contact is good (temps drop when CPU is loaded). Secondly its easier to work out what works best in terms of DICE addition and can also help you work out when you need to add more DICE. This is assuming of course that you get a decent contact between probe and tube, if you don't then its not much use at all!