Blogger Mike Schropp of “Total Geekdom” recently revealed the construction of his new wind tunnel-cooled computer. Designed for grid computing, Schropp’s new computer is part of the IBM’s World Community Grid, which combines a worldwide network of computers into a supercomputer that is working to identify cures for cancer and AIDS and find solutions to other areas of medical and humanitarian research.
“Knowing I needed to maximize cooling, I explored a concept I’d tinkered with previously; a wind tunnel computer case,” Schropp writes on his blog. “I did extensive testing with various designs, materials and configurations until I settled on a final design.”
Schropp constructed the basic shape of the wind tunnel out of MDF board composite, angle aluminum and polycarbonate, and installed a series of lever switches to control both the fan and the power to the LED temperature gauges. A standard box fan was placed at the air intake section of the wind tunnel.
According to Schropp, the wind tunnel-cooled computer is currently processing 8,000 single workunits per day, approximately 20 times the capability of a standard IBM World Community Grid member.
Schropp plans to modify the CPU by “delidding” it and hopes to increase the CPU overclock and GPU overclock. He also aims to continue airflow testing and investigate the possibility of cooling multiple computer systems simultaneously using the wind tunnel.
