How true is it that low temperatures mean overvolting is safe?

[JonJ678]

Reasoning is fairly simple. Chipsets often need fairly high voltages to hold processors at high clock speeds. If kept cool, they need slightly less voltage for stability. However, if kept cool, can they also be run safely at voltages that would be unsafe if hotter?

I'm wondering if this idea justifies watercooling motherboard chipsets. Extending motherboard lifespan, and slightly improving overclock.



In a similar vein, but a different question, what on motherboards get warm/hot? Ignoring pci cards. So far Ive come up with
Processor
Ram
Northbridge (or whatever its been renamed to now)
Southbridge (ditto)
Mosfets

Have I missed anything? I'm thinking of running the motherboard in an airtight box, so would like water blocks on abolutely everything that generates heat. Otherwise it'll just get steadily hotter inside and it'll all end in tears. It seems likely that I'm employed at last, so can start making things soon. Free electricity & workshop => thermoelectrics => avoiding condensation using airtight box. So many projects planned

 

[JonJ678]

Thank you. That's four solid replies already, and it's not even lunch time.

I'm not keen on overvolting ram, I think I've lost some ddr2 to this. Mosfets running hotter makes sense as the chip draws more power than the 775. Some boards have mosfets on both sides, which further encourages watercooling one side as it'll keep the board cooler, and this is the best the back chips can ask for.

IOn my motherboard there is clearly a patch next to my NB which generates quite a lot of heat, as well as a broad patch near the pci slots.

Though to be honest I'm not sure what a totaly sealed box, with no airflow in/out, is going to gain.

I definitely saw that thread, it's a large part of why I started this one. Thank you lots for the images. Sadly I don't have access to thermal imaging, so will have to go for informed guesswork. The patch near the northbridge worries me as I don't know what that is.

Totally sealed box with a small pot of dessicant means no condensation....

Keeping temps down will generally prolong the lifetime of a chip but too much excess voltage will have a damaging effect regardless of temperature.

I'm struggling a bit with the relationship between these. Will a given voltage cause the same damage at any temperature, or does keeping it cool reduce the damage done at a given voltage, so allowing more voltage?

Thanks again guys, i appreciate all the replies above

 

[JonJ678]

Ah, you're thinking of a TEC/chilled water?

Very much thinking of peltiers yeah, not given up on them yet. Construct a heat exchanger rather than strapping them to the chips directly, with many radiators cooling the hot loop. It will not be electrically efficient, and isn't exactly the standard first step into water cooling.

I fear I've come to the same conclusion, there needs to be something in the box to take heat out. I think I'm going to put a radiator inside the sealed box and pass the cold loop through this.


I'm confused by the common view of electron migration. It's electrons tunnelling to places you don't want them to be. So yes, voltage obviously increases the odds of this happening. But it's blatently proportional to current as well, and this is rarely mentioned.
I cannot see why it would be independent of temperature when everything else I know of that relies on this effect is not. Solid state diffusion is enormously dependent on temperature, and is very much quantum tunnelling in action. I need to find a materials scientist who overclocks computers, I'm sure theres at least on on here

Blacks equation is part of the answer, but not all

 

[JonJ678]

Making the case airtight would be exactly as hard as making it oil tight, but if air leaks a bit it doesn't matter. Oil will seep along cable insulation and the like, generally a terrible idea. The pump itself stands a reasonable chance of being immersed in oil, but I don't think I'll do that with the motherboard. I still want to be able to take the lid off and work on it as normal, and I think chilled air would do a better job than trying to chill and recirculate oil. Thanks for the suggestion, I just don't think it offers any advantage over air and several disadvantages.

Thank you sldsmkd, but can you quantify this?