Editing Computer cooling (section)

===Liquid nitrogen===
[[Image:2007TaipeiITMonth IntelOCLiveTest Overclocking-6.jpg|thumb|Liquid nitrogen may be used to cool overclocked components.]]

As [[liquid nitrogen]] boils at {{convert|-196|°C|abbr=on}}, far below the freezing point of water, it is valuable as an extreme coolant for short overclocking sessions.

In a typical installation of liquid nitrogen cooling, a copper or aluminium pipe is mounted on top of the processor or graphics card. After the system has been heavily insulated against condensation, the liquid nitrogen is poured into the pipe, resulting in temperatures well below {{convert|-100|°C|abbr=on}}.

Evaporation devices ranging from cut out heatsinks with pipes attached to custom milled copper containers are used to hold the nitrogen as well as to prevent large temperature changes. However, after the nitrogen evaporates, it has to be refilled. In the realm of personal computers, this method of cooling is seldom used in contexts other than [[overclocking]] trial-runs and record-setting attempts, as the CPU will usually expire within a relatively short period of time due to temperature [[Stress (physics)|stress]] caused by changes in internal temperature.

Although liquid nitrogen is non-flammable, it can condense [[oxygen]] directly from air. Mixtures of [[liquid oxygen]] and flammable materials can be [[oxyliquit|dangerously explosive]].

Liquid nitrogen cooling is, generally, only used for processor benchmarking, due to the fact that continuous usage may cause permanent damage to one or more parts of the computer and, if handled in a careless way, can even harm the user, causing [[frostbite]].