It’s been too long since I’ve been back, my travels through the wormhole, while extensive, were sidetracked by a ruinous relationship with Corporate America that kept me away. Constantly beating at me, like an unseen wild animal that looks to consume your soul.

But I’ve thrown off that yolk, and look forward to spending more time with my beloved equipment, the stockpile of which has grown tremendously since last I wrote, yet, has sadly lain mostly unused until the point of my liberation last week. I am now free to pursue my passions as President of MaadDaawg Enterprises Inc. MaadDaawg.com shall soon arise with more on that.

I believe last we spoke I had just put the finishing touches on my “Dueling Banchetto’s”, an awesome achievement in mind and technology at the time. While the Gamer was water cooled, the “Bencher” was equipped with a Single Stage Phase Change Chiller that froze the CPU to -40C. What a thrill ride it was to speed along at speeds unheard of under water cooling.

But alas, as with all good things, that ended as it became obvious that the SS alone would not enable the speeds I craved, so I went to DICE, a combination of Dry Ice and Acetone that enabled awesome temps of -65/-70C. I never did fall in love with DICE though and it was only a very short period of time before I realized that I had to go all the way, I had to do LN2 …. and once you go LN2, there ain’t no going back again.

Let me back up a little to the pre-Single Stage (SS) days of water cooling. Water Cooling (WC) required you to mount a water block on your motherboard with a back plate that sandwiched the CPU in between them. Water pumped through the system and the radiator(s) kept the CPU cool. While an important consideration, the TIM you chose was not as critical as when you go sub zero. You didn’t need to worry about condensation because, by definition, water cooling will only cool your system to you ambient temperature. Consequently physics dictates that there will be no condensation.

When you go sub zero with an SS unit you have to protect your motherboard from condensation, because the colder temps of the phase head will create condensation, and unless you’re adequately prepared for it, it will destroy your system. Although there are several ways to accomplish waterproofing your motherboard (more today than last year) I went with my peers and started using rubber artist eraser to prepare my systems. CPU and GPU both. There are many good “how to” guides out on the net, some of the best at Overclockaholics.com.

A simple layer of eraser was basically all you need for DICE as well. DICE is fun in that the mixing of the acetone with the dry ice can create some very dramatic eruptions, but it’s deadly as well as the mixture creates toxic fumes that could kill if you don’t adequately ventilate.

DICE, and LN2, both require specialty material to use. For DICE you need a DICE pot, one for your CPU and if you’re so inclined, one for your GPU. LN2 gets a little more interesting.

In addition to protecting your equipment from water, LN2 also requires a degree of thermal protection as well. What is most normally used is a combination of closed cell foam insulation, Snow King insulating tape, and Armaflex. There are numerous variations and I’d encourage any newcomer to check the threads on Overclockaholics.com for tips before starting.

In addition to LN2 pots, which may or may not be similar to the DICE pot you’re using, you also need a Dewar to hold your supply of LN2. A Dewar is a double walled vessel that maintains the LN2 at or close to it’s native temp of -365C until you’re ready to use it. Note however that all Dewar’s “leach” out a small amount each day, so your supply will not remain forever if left unused. The most common Dewar used by the enthusiast community is a low pressure vessel that vents at 10 pounds of pressure and loses about 1/2 a liter a day or less. The high pressure Dewars hold at about 300lbs of pressure and can vent up to 10 liters per day.

As a rule of thumb, most LN2 pots can be used for DICE while most DICE pots are not good for LN2. This is because of the dynamics of how each is used.

With DICE you normally want to get as cold as you possibly can, which means keeping the pot full of dry ice and acetone and periodically mixing the brew. LN2 is all about “temperature control”.

Many motherboards, CPUs, and GPUs cannot function at the depths of cold that LN2 can create and they subsequently hit their cold bug (CB) temp and lock up. When this happens you need your trusty propane (or mapp gas) torch to warm up the pot (and the CPU/GPU) to the point where it will successfully boot again. This point is referred to as the CBB. You will spend a good deal of time learning where your motherboard and CPU “bug” out on you, then, you use controlled pouring to hold the system at a steady temperature just below the CB to best optimumize performance. To keep it interesting, sometimes when you change voltage or clock settings, it can cause the the CB and CBB to move, so it’s never a dull moment.

I found my Dewar online at E-bay as have many of my OCAlliance brothers. The OCAlliance by the way is the brothership between the Overclockaholic Gladiators and the Sub-Zero Syndicate and is the number one overclocking team in the USA. Number seven in the WORLD! That’s pretty damn good cause there are a lot of good overclockers out there.

Having my Dewar I bought my pots from Kingpin Extreme Cooling. An F1EE for my CPU(s), a Tech Nine slim for SLI, and a Tech Nine Fat Boy for the hot 480.

My first few sessions were not as successful as I’d have hoped. There is a big difference between running an SS at -40C and pouring LN2 at temps well below 100 degree’s or lower. After several Dewar’s worth of practice I finally got my system under control and was successful in wracking up a few “boints” for my team. At that time I was using an EVGA e762 4-way SLI motherboard, an i7 975 and i7 980X, and an ASUS 5870 video card – both under LN2. It was just too much fun and the LN2 ran out way too fast, but….. no pain, no gain, right?

The TIM you choose when going LN2 cold is critical and until recently it was believed that Artic Silver Ceramic was the best because of it’s thermal properties. Just recently it’s been discovered that OCZ FREEZE is far superior. I’ll be testing that out this weekend, but I know it’s true cause thats what my brothers tell me, and they know.

You also use your torch to “flash” the pot .. which is a pretty awesome experience the first time you do it. When you start pouring LN2 you’ll note that the temp goes down rather slowly, 1 or 2 degrees at a time. When you get to about -60C you hit the pot with a good dose of flame from the torch and warm it up 10 or 15 degrees. When you start pouring again you’ll notice a kind of “snow” falling off the inside of the pot into the awaiting LN2, and it sizzles, snaps, and erupts (you don’t want to have your face over the pot and be looking down without some damn good safety goggles when you do this). After that, you’ll notice that your temps are falling in 10 degree increments or more. You do know you need a digital thermometer (K-type) to do LN2 don’t you?

Then my corporate bosses figured I wasn’t working hard enough (I was only putting in about 60 hours a week working at home) so they decided to send me all over the damned country. From no travel I went to traveling at least every other week. I was so damned tired when I was home, and in so much pain (I ain’t no spring chicken), that my benching suffered something terrible. Then, my job was eliminated and I was unemployed. BUT HAPPY for the first time in a long time. I decided the hell with corporate BS and incorporated MaadDaawg Enterprises to give myself something to do, a means to help others do what they want to do, and, hopefully, make enough money to keep me off the street with a “please help” sign.

Took me about a month to decompress but while doing so I found myself buying new equipment, which was strange considering that now I had no more incoming revenue? A new ASUS Rampage 3 Extreme mobo and a MSI GTX 480 Lightning to go along with my Core i7 980X. They are being prepped for LN2 as I type, well, not actually as I type cause that would be impossible, but, you get the idea. So, this weekend will be LN2 fun in the man cave (future home of MaadDaawg Enterprises Inc) in the basement. Just wish I had more than one 35 Liter Dewar to extend the fun time.

One thing I should mention. If you decide on going LN2, check your local source for pricing first as some locations may be cost prohibitive. For some strange reason too, the smaller your Dewar the more per Liter they charge, so keep these things in mind. AirGas is usually the main if not the only choice you’ll have.

So I hope I haven’t bored you too much, but, the main thing I’m wanting to say is “The MaadDaawg” is back wOOt.

Be seeing you around more often, and don’t forget to check in with Overclockaholics.com and MaadDaawg.com whenever you get the chance. Be good to see you there.

The Daawg