Submerging your computer in mineral oil sounds crazy, but it's super useful - here's how to do it
Linus Sebastian and Luke Lafreniere of the YouTube channel LinusTechTips built a computer with parts anyone can buy online.
Most the parts are pretty standard, except for the case, which is water-tight and made of clear plastic.
They assembled all the computer parts outside the case.
They then installed tubing at the bottom of the case that would allow air bubbles to rise from the bottom. It'll all make sense when you see the final product.
They added blue aquarium stones to the bottom of the case so that the finished product would look like a fish tank.
They carefully installed the parts into the water-tight case.
It was finally time for the moment of truth and pour the mineral oil into the case. This made me wince, because pouring liquid on electronics seems so unnatural.
In it goes!
They have to pour carefully and slowly, so it takes some time.
The pour is finished! Linus and Luke marvel at how clear the mineral oil is and how nice and shiny it makes their parts look because they're constantly being oiled for that oil-shine.
And this is why Linus and Luke installed the piping under the aquarium rocks. As Linus puts it, "the bubbles are awesome." But they're not quite finished...
They turn the computer on, which also turns on the LED lightning in the case, because no custom computer is complete without LED lighting.
It looks fantastic and it works pretty well for keeping your parts cool, but Linus and Luke don't really think it's worth doing unless you love tinkering and have a lot of patience, as it's apparently tedious and time-intensive.
Here are the parts Linus and Luke used for the mineral oil build.
Check out LinusTechTips' YouTube videos to get the full rundown of how they built the mineral oil PC.
And they have a handy Q&A with answers to most of your questions, like "Can you put fish in it?"
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