The Bartxstore Eco pot:
The Pot:
As I said, you’ll need to invest a good hundred euros to buy a pot. The price of metals at the moment also has an impact on the price of pots. This is the most important element as it is the one that will be filled with dry ice to cool your processor. It is often made of copper or a mix of copper/aluminium. The choice of these materials is due to their very good thermal conductivity. Dry ice pots are a little cheaper than liquid nitrogen pots because the internal maze is relatively simple. Indeed, as you will see in the tests, it is almost impossible to manage the temperature with dry ice, which is a completely different factor to LN2.
An LN2 pot or a specific pot?
For dry ice, it is more interesting to use a specific cup and we will explain why. Take a look below at some pictures of the internal maze of pots. You can see that the internal circuits are more complex than the one of our Eco pot which I will tell you about later.
It is important to remember that liquid nitrogen is liquid (easy) and dry ice comes in the form of ice sticks. The problem with the sticks is that the contact surface with the bottom of the cup is going to be very poor, so you will need to optimise it. Imagine ice cubes in a glass that should cool the base of the glass. The contact with the base will be very bad. By adding water, the water will be cooled by the ice cubes and the contact with the base of the glass will be optimal. We will explain later on how we will optimize this contact for dry ice. But as you will have understood, in a cup with a simple maze, it is easier to optimize the contact with dry ice.
Bart’s Eco Pot:
For this series of tests, we will use an ECO pot made by Bartxstore. Its reference name is CPU LN2/Dice Copper ECO Pot. This pot is sold at a price of 155 euros plus shipping from Poland and is made entirely of copper. Its dimensions are 160 mm high, 60 mm diameter for the base and 54 mm diameter for the top.
It is fixed by 4 threaded rods. It is delivered with all the elements to be compatible with the following sockets: Intel 775/115x/1366/2011/1700 and AMD AM2/AM3/AM4. The good news is that you will also receive Armaflex insulation (6mm sheet, 19mm sheet and a tube for the pot).
The weight of the bucket is about 1 kg. This bucket can also be used for nitrogen, but it will not be as effective as a “real” LN2 pot. The surface area and internal maze is much more limited than a traditional pot for use with liquid nitrogen. Here is a first set of photos of the pot installation and its attachment for the photos.
The idea here is to give you an idea of the installation. For example, all the insulation is missing. You can see where the fixing is to be placed to hold the pot in place. This Eco pot uses a backplate but it is kept away from the back of the socket by spacers. This part must be well insulated.
The base of the pot also has a small hole for the thermal probe. As stated on the brand’s website: “Perfect for begineers who would like to start with extreme overclocking”. If you want to start with extreme overclocking, this Copper ECO Pot is a great choice!
