Liquid Nitrogen and Dry Ice CPU Cooling Insulation Guide

Liquid Nitrogen Insulation Preparation

Sub-ambient cooling isn’t a very common form of cooling for computers and most enthusiasts that do engage in it typically use single-stage phase change systems. The next step up from that would be dry ice and then liquid nitrogen is the typical peak in cooling capability. While testing the Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H under liquid nitrogen I snapped a few shots of my insulation process and the end results.

I will be using the above board for this short guide. It was one of the first boards qualified for Phenom II operation and it has been my main AM2+ board since.

Before you can start insulating you need to prepare the motherboard. For AM2/AM2+/AM3 motherboards you need to remove the heatsink mounting bracket. For LGA775/LGA1366 motherboards, there is nothing around the socket that you need to remove.

With the mounting bracket removed you should have a clear socket. Notice the little components around the socket, these will corrode and short if you don’t insulate.

This will be what we will use to insulate the motherboard. It is a plasticine based modeling clay and it is non-conductive, easily pliable, and doesn’t bond to the motherboard.