Risky PC Experiment: Direct CPU Water-Cooling! Can It Survive? | Minimal Build Challenge

[@headmetwall]

While cleaning a laptop, I mistakenly didn't secure the heatsink properly. The first sign of an issue was surprisingly positive-my expected battery life had gone up by about 50 minutes!

[@travisholt92]

😂 thermal throttling for the win!

[@metallurgico]

remove it completely and you have infinite battery life. that's how macs do.

[@yoimsho]

what about 3d printing a direct water to cpu cooler with an o-ring gasket seems sketchy, risky, and fun!

[@mitchellstrobbe7779]

I second this idea

[@iamzid]

or stick it on with silicon gasket maker, that way you're not relying on pressure on the o-ring to keep the seal.

[@jammin8844]

It should be kettle shaped for when the water turns into steam

[@virtualtools_3021]

cnc or dremel fins directly into the ihs and screw holes to hold it down and seal the oring

[@psiah9889]

​@@jammin8844 Temp would have to hit 100c for that... incidentally, a lower boiling point liquid might be ideal because evaporation saps away a lot of energy. Ethanol, for instance, will boil at 78C, which would make it very hard for the CPU to get much hotter until you run out.

[@BlackHoleForge]

I think we should call it the Chinese water torture water cooled PC.

[@ghosttheoremproductions5469]

Mount motherboard cpu-face-down, 3D print a surround for the cpu (an upsidedown cup with the cpu as the "bottom"), seal edges using RTV, use pump to spray distilled water through a misting nozzle aimed directly at the cpu, set over 3D printed trough which directs the flow of water back into the water tank you're pumping from, profit.

[@AndirHon]

This would be a little better than letting the water pool on the CPU, at least you're moving SOME of the heat away.

[@CaveyMoth]

The desk has metal built into it. Attach the CPU to the metal desk components for free cooling!

[@What-he5pr]

Nice lol

[@CrawfordAutomation]

Pipe CPU heat to your coffee..

[@CaveyMoth]

@@CrawfordAutomation Free mug warmer!

[@RegularOldDan]

Me going into the video: "Yeah, he'll be dropping deionized water on a CPU..." Me seeing the mineral stain on the CPU: 😱

[@bibasik7]

I would've made a wall of clay on the edge of the IHS and made a pool of water in the middle

[@haydenc2742]

Yeah...or plumbers putty...something to hold the water in on top of the cpu

[@Oblithian]

Smother the whole thing in vaseline.

[@haydenc2742]

@@Oblithian Nah...that is messy as hell...I say spray flex seal all over the board (tape over RAM and PCIX slots)..much easier and cleaner to conformal coat than slather in vaseline...that will melt and drip and run all over the place

[@matthewnardin7304]

​@@haydenc2742Why pussyfoot around with flex seal. Just rhinoliner the whole board except the IHS and then spray it with a garden hose.

[@haydenc2742]

@@matthewnardin7304 If it works...is rhinoliner flexible? Or clear? I used to work on crypto gear in the Marines that was covered in this ULTRA thick and hard (yet a little flexible) but trying to get to the components was a bear! A thin layer might be better than a heavy coat...but I get where you are coming from...if it coats it and protects it, since it's permanent...rock on

[@jerogiman]

This is stupidly impractical, I like it.

[@lady_draguliana784]

New Series IDEA! "FanLESS Showdown!" where people design alternative cooling methods and you build out of junk and test them!

[@RalstigRacing]

I ran an old Pentium II without a CPU cooler when I was younger (middle school, just messing around with old scrap parts). It was fun to watch the temp in bios climb to 95 C almost immediately. It never shut itself down due to temps. I had to do it manually. It still ran after putting a cooler back on.

[@GeorgeJFW]

Man that 7700k has been through some stuff lol

[@DigitalJedi]

My 9900K watching me walk in with a new frosty dewar:

[@CaveyMoth]

"I've processed things you people wouldn't believe."

[@GeorgeJFW]

@@CaveyMoth hahahah

[@ThePinkPanth3r]

For this water cooling to work, your CPU would have to be happy being at 100c.

[@What-he5pr]

Why's that?

[@MadZax33]

or use a liquid that evaporates at a lower temp

[@sinisterthoughts2896]

​@@What-he5pr water heats up to 100 C. But it will not go above it(in our atmospheric conditions)

[@Llohr]

I'd say it would have to be happy significantly above 100C. Boiling the water-and replenishing it as it boils away-would remove a lot of heat, and keep the CPU right around 100C. Changing phase like that is a very large energy sink, which is why evaporative cooling works so well, e.g. heat pipes. Since 100C means thermal throttling, you'd need a CPU that wouldn't throttle until well above that.

[@yngndrw.]

@@sinisterthoughts2896 He just needs to put the computer in a vacuum chamber.

[@inhumanguy]

now i'm curious which would perform better: a tin foil heatsink or filling the dripper with alcohol and some paper towel

[@CrawfordAutomation]

The paper towel and all of the air in between the layers would probably be too insulative... Alcohol also has a lower thermal conductivity and thermal capacity than water. Now alcohol DOES have a lower evaporating temperature, meaning you could get it under 100c, but that would take a lot more alcohol.

[@hairyonions]

yep do a tinfoil heatsink, with the fan, that would be interesting

[@RohanSpartin]

What about chilled alcohol?

[@gammafoxlore2981]

@@CrawfordAutomation A closed evaporative loop might work though...

[@DigitalJedi]

I have actually cooled a CPU like this before. Back when I worked at Gigabyte, I was also a competitive overclocker. I had a Xeon X3480 (1st-gen i7 965 equivalent) being cooled with a stainless steel cub full of ice-water that just sat on the CPU with thermal paste between them. Idle was surprisingly ok from what I remember and it staved off overheating for a very long time. I used that same cup with dry ice for my first 5.0ghz run on an i7 4790K.

[@stephen1r2]

They still do that with the cubes. I've seen Gamersnexus learning how, but they use N2 liquid these days. IDK if its cheaper than things like dry ice in acetone, but it might be safer? kzbin.info_Z_ifswznbM?si=9vkeIZUaRCZeprc_ kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJSygoVtatl-Z6csi=ZmOEBh4yFSWTIpWJ

[@DigitalJedi]

@@stephen1r2 LN2 is just even colder. I use it too, but the ice in the fridge is effectively free, and the dewars used for overclocking have a lot more internal surface area to actually transfer heat into the liquid. Liquid helium is even better, even colder, but rarely used due to cost. I also think it's kinda wasteful to use helium for overclocking, and I'd rather use either LN2 or pump ice-water through the water block. Dry ice and acetone is a bit more dangerous, but it's really not used as much due to being the same amount of work as an LN2 setup for less cooling.

[@ulrichkalber9039]

If you drop something on the CPU that evaporates below the working temperature of your CPU you have phase change cooling. Pure alcohol would work. WARNING: Inhaling alcohol vapors makes you drunk fast!

[@MKAZ-_-S]

how about liquid nitrogen then?

[@shariarrahman7562]

That's a feature. Not a bug

[@ulrichkalber9039]

@@shariarrahman7562 in ruzzia it is.

[@Guardian_Arias]

Just FYI, isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) is not the same as ethanol alcohol. I wouldn't recommend chronically inhaling Isopropyl.

[@proginx]

Alternatively, acetone would be the lowest "safe" liquid with a boiling point off 56C

[@shlazzargh]

Cray used to use a system that evaporatively cooled the processors (for the SV1 we had where I used to work). The system sprayed Fluorinert onto the CPU packages and then collected the vapor and distilled/cooled it back to a liquid. This was a bit different than earlier models that just immersed the boards in Fluorinert and was supposed to be more efficient. I think I saw a video a few years back where the person immersed their PC board in a tank of Fluorinert. Not sure how toxic that stuff is, but it seems to work well as a coolant.

[@AySz88]

As the "inert" part of the name suggests it isn't directly toxic - fluorocarbon compounds, e.g. after already reacting and forming bonds, are pretty chemically stable. But apparently this one has a horrific amount of global warming effect.

[@amicloud_yt]

I think Ben Krasnow on Applied Science fried potato chips in that stuff a while back...

[@l0I0I0I0]

You can buy micro misters that do a great job of cooling. If the cpu was upside down, you could mist upward and have the excess water drip out like an AC unit drain line but with much less water as micro misters use very little water and power.

[@cx6847]

Compressed air from compressor straight on top of the CPU...I bet that will be the best cooling !

[@DigitalJedi]

This is actually not far off the idea behind those Airjet coolers. They focus a very fine jet of high-velocity air on a copper plate to cool it in a very thin footprint. They would most likely not have enough power to cool the CPU by itself, as the Airjets are only good for around 10W, but combined with a small heatsink with something analagous to liquid-cooling microfins, you might have a better chance. I wonder if a chipset heatsink would be enough.

[@TheMostUt]

After typing the below comment, I realise you mean 'shop compressor', not canned air. I'm going to leave the following, though, because it's interesting: The issue with this would be the thermal mass you can move through the nozzle. No idea what that would be, it could very well be enough to cool a big CPU, not a clue. But in that can is R-152, which has successfully been used in automobiles HVAC systems to cool cabins. That's gotta be something on the order of 15-30k BTU.

[@MrMcGreed]

I love engineers and their engineering... This is a prime example of some weapons grade "if it's stupid and it works, then it ain't stupid" - great video :)

[@aaronatstate]

"We're gonna have to add a fan." Hopefully he just had one laying around....

[@Sgt_SealCluber]

You don't actually have to add a fan, most mobos you can turn that warning off and continue on.

[@sebbes333]

*@Major Hardware* 5:40 The bigest problem is that the CPU thermally throttle too soon. If anyone could develop a CPU that can withstand like 100+*C (like 105*C or something) then this would actually have a chance to work. because as long as there was ANY water on the CPU that area would be locked to about 100*C because it takes a LOT of energy to boil water.

[@edwardnedharvey8019]

ROFL, when I saw you were going to use water on the CPU,I figured you had some way to seal it off, circulate the water, prevent it from causing shorts. No. Water drip directly onto CPU. 🤣🤣🤣 Love it.

[@Chikiwikie]

I always wanted to know if you could turn an IHS into a water block, like machine some grooves right in there and put some acryl on top.

[@TheKillbz]

You should make CPU coolers out of the most random stuff you can find lying around..

[@rockzors]

You could make that foil into a channel so it will flow off the mobo. Then collect it and re-pour it by hand? Or submerge in distilled water.

[@Oblithian]

lazy river cooled pc? I like it.

[@davidrmcmahon]

Maybe a air compressor blowing straight down on it, really long hose so you don’t hear the compressor?

[@Raaask]

Silly idea that will probably not work: Those thermoelectric stove fans that you put on top of a wood burning stove. Slap that baby on the CPU and save electricity by using it's own heat!

[@fellwind]

Peltier cooling is a thing. Its not as great as you'd think.

[@krisrobitzsch]

Ha! I have the same portable test bench. The Lian Li PC-T60. Mines silver though. Do you have the radiator attachment?

[@Leo99929]

Minimal PC: Just a full PC but with the jankiest cooling imaginable.

[@HowDareYouu]

3:55 u can just disable the cpu fan sensor from the bios. It is also written on the screen, just read it

[@The18107j]

What type of drive did you have Windows on? Would Windows install to and boot from a usb? If not, would you be willing to try a live Linux usb for fewer/cheaper parts?

[@the_mister_magister]

What are you printing in the background? I was wondering what that background noise was and took me a sec to realise it's FDM printer

[@ekner]

Me and a friend made cpu-blocks with open bottoms that sprayed water directly on the die of delidded cpu's, back in about 2014. First tests were run with cold tap water directly from the pipes in the house, so temps and flow were fantastic. Idle temps below ambient, and load temps of like 40c/100f.

[@Meta-Drew]

I tihnk you could have done it without the fan, it looks like there was an option to disable that warning

[@CanalGabrielCoelho]

try the same with rubbing alcohol or acetone. It wont leave any residues after evaporating and it will evaporate much faster, which probably will move heat much more efficiently. Direct contact liquid cooling systems use very low boiling temperature fluids in order to use phase change cooling by boiling instead of slow evaporation like you get with water.

[@mrcrackerist]

what if you extended the his water proofed it and use water directly ontop of it like a 20L tank?

[@mattf9096]

What if you made a device that would safely hold a bunch of water in contact with the CPU, like a 5 gallon water cooler bottle or something similar? Would the heat transition effectively into that volume of water? And if so, how much time would you get before it stops cooling enough to keep the system running?

[@Masterplan15]

One of those electric dusters blowing on it?

[@Wr4ptor]

What about having thermal paste and then a solid metal rod as thick as can fit?

[@marcolazare1408]

can you try with a more volatile liquid ? for example alcool ?

[@littleburg2215]

How about just setting a chunk of 40 x 40 extruded aluminum on the cpu?

[@mrthabeast1985]

You can disable monitoring the cpu fan speed in the bios, had to do that when i installed my custom loop, because i decided to use a high amp header for my fan hub

[@CrawfordAutomation]

How long would just a big block of copper sink heat away from a CPU... Or any metal really.

[@DavidStruveDesigns]

One question I've always had about CPUs and coolers, how come the CPU shield can't be made to have internal water channels, and have THAT be the cold plate that a water cooling loop cools? The current way it's done is kinda silly. You have the internal CPU shield, liquid metal, then the main CPU shield, thermal paste, the another piece of metal on that - either air cooler bottom plate or water cooling plate and the heat has to go through all those layers before it even gets to any cooling air or water. Surely there's a way to cut down on the number of layers the heat has to go through before it's removed to the air or into water?

[@nope1918]

You could remove the IHS and directly cool the CPU die. Having an unprotected die is pretty risky though, there's a chance it could get shorted out if the thermal paste you use is at all conductive and the die itself is pretty weak so if you use even a tiny bit too much pressure you can crack it. Though on that note the IHS can be pretty thick and cooling can certainly be improved by thinning it out but still leaving it intact to protect the die.

[@DavidStruveDesigns]

@@nope1918 Wouldn't it be less risky to just turn the IHS itself into the cooling plate and have water pumped through channels in it?

[@nope1918]

@@DavidStruveDesignsIt would, if you wanted to water cool your PC. But then intel/AMD would have to offer two versions of their chips: One with the watercooling IHS and one with a normal IHS. Not everyone wants extreme performance. In fact, most people don't. The design with an IHS is a bit inefficient, but unless you're doing extreme overclocking it's unlikely to make a difference anyways.

[@generalfishcake]

If you use silicone to glue a glass container directly onto the CPU with the bottom open, wouldn't that have better contact/thermal conductivity than metal & thermal paste?

[@MarcStollmeyer]

Dry ice would be a good alternative to water(or regular ice). No liquid to kill the motherboard, lots of cold. Maybe stress test, maybe overcooking possible?

[@arutezza]

what about some kind of intercooler system to cool down air going into a case

[@rootbeer666]

For a long time I've wondered if there will be a cooling design that seals a chamber to the IHS with a gasket and flows water over it, direct IHS cooling. I'd like to see you do it someday. Maybe use those LGA1700 contact frames as a way to clamp it down onto the IHS, they're not expensive.

[@B16CXHatch]

I wonder how effective just having a decent fan blowing straight on the CPU would be, particularly on a lower power CPU like an i3 7100T. If I'm bored enough, I may try that as I happen to have a 7100T and spare motherboard laying around as well as a pile of fans in a variety of sizes.

[@scloh1]

I put some IPA onto my skin and put it in front of a fan and it felt ice cold. Not sure how practical or safe it would be but if you can find a perfume bottle or atomizer that does fine droplets, use that to continuously/periodically spray the IHS somehow and rely on the phase change to remove most of the heat. Maybe don't spark anything or light a match nearby though..

[@Sgt_SealCluber]

You don't actually have to add a fan, most mobos you can turn that warning off and continue on.

[@Mohenjo_Daro_]

I'm wondering how well just the fan pointed at the cpu would work without the foil and/or water. The fan plus water drip would also likely work well, and alcohol would work even better since the fan will make both evaporate faster

[@Timmycoo]

lol I love when you do silly things like this. They are some of your more "out there but crazy awesome" vids.

[@CaptnApathy]

what if you just wall off the fins of a heatsink and fill that with water?

[@nanaki-seto]

LOL we use to do direct die water cooling back in the day. Think taking a water block cutting a hole in the middle of the mounting surface and running your water loop. In our case we use aluminum and rubber. Rubber went between the block and cpu substrate and for the inlet it was a thin copper tube that was pinched so it forms a fan of water and was aimed so that it would hit on one edge of the die then the outlet was pretty normal. The inlet tub was set very close to the die surface so that when the block was full the fanned out jet would still hit the entire face of the die and you would have turbulent water flow. We could keep a amd tbird at 75 to 85c. Those cpus could go to some scarry temps hitting over 100c in many cases

[@kelvinjinxd]

I heard somebody built ethanol dripping cooling 20 years ago.

[@802Garage]

Wait, but now I want to see you just directly water cool the CPU by like using a silicone seal and then actually pumping water over it.

[@chriscalderon1337]

So, what is the best possible cpu cooler you can make with a bit foil and a single fan?

[@everettstormy]

My kinda budget build

[@mrfilax3214]

Could you maybe do a budget custom loop? I mean some rubbe tubing, cheap aquarium pump and instead of the water block, just drill into the IHS and send the water though the cpu. That is after delidding and conformal coating the resistors or whatever the things under the ihs are, but I'd leave the die uncoated for the best cooling

[@DJULTRA7]

What about a soda can as the water container? Also what if there was a way to trick the motherboard into thinking there is a fan.

[@bismuth7730]

I always wanted to see what would happen if someone made ryzen super thick IHS into a coldplate and have that as a water cooling block.

[@James_R_]

Wouldn't it be better to get a Pi and run android, or a tablet with a keyboard?

[@lancecorey6582]

From where did Windows get loaded?

[@Larotus]

As soon as you pulled out that Thermal Grizzly Paste, im like... hmm there is probably a cpu cooler with pre applied thermal paste that is cheaper than that tube, and yes there is. I like your experiment tho, so keep on going!

[@furl_w]

DI water + mix it with something to reduce the vapor pressure?

[@jonathanbutler6635]

I think a 3d printer enables you to be a bit more creative and a lot of people have access to 3d prints for free or cheap through libraries or online services. Would love to see if you could print a better system. For instance a container that uses the cpu ihs and light waterproof adhesive to attach side walls of the cup and a small fan(since most computers require on to run) with a print to stir the water keeping to water temperature regulated.

[@schoktra]

I was curious what would have happened if you used something with a lower evaporation point like an isopropyl drip. Should give that a try next time.

[@Lux158]

I think you need a fluid that evaporates earlier.. otherwise you could only „cool“ down to ≈95°C IPA could work but then you shouldn’t drive until you are sober again :D

[@CrawfordAutomation]

English, Double, or Belgian?

[@Lux158]

@@CrawfordAutomation I meant IsoPropanolAlcohol ;)

[@AySz88]

5:50 Water softeners replace some of the "hard" ions with "softer" sodium, but that means there's still salts in the water. You'd want deionized water instead (available at the pharmacy).

[@Guardian_Arias]

All correct information, filtered water using a reverse osmosis system would also be sufficient and a lot cheaper if you already have a reverse osmosis system. Most companies that install water softners try to upsell customers onto a reverse osmosis system.

[@GeneralNickles]

They make these tiny water blocks for water cooling smart phones. I've always wanted to take one and see how much you can cool a CPU with it. How new and how powerful of a CPU can you cool with such a thing? I'm betting anything over a 486 would throttle pretty quick.

[@killcode6979]

You should design a flow system very similar to what you did, but with a drain system through the CPU cooler mounting holes. That way you can have constant flow and drain. Maybe make a dish so you can direct the flow around the CPU and then down the holes.

[@kmemz]

Conformal coat the board as much as you can, cram in something on the retention bracket as well as anything it might come across on the way down to keep water from shorting the system, turn it vertical, and try spraying water at it in much higher quantities than the couple of droplets. That could be a far more interesting setup.

[@archeryan8404]

theres an option in most bioses to disable those f1 messeges for fan and temps usually

[@JordonBeal]

Jesus, your water is almost as hard as mine. What, do you live in the Chicago suburbs or something? Chicago-area water, 45% calcium, guaranteed.

[@SuperNesus]

Keep this young with a pilot series of mad methods, if there is something there maybe a cooling showdown

[@pankothompson5903]

wounder if you could gently bend old large GPU coolers heatpipes etc. to fit on there for a cheap functional CPU cooler, maybe even get a big blower style on to it. an icecube in the cup would likely give it a decent amount of run time

[@LeeSmith-cf1vo]

I suspect the water is actually probably not doing a whole lot here, but just the foil alone could be sinking a decent chunk of heat. I wonder if you'd be better off shaping the foil with some fins.

[@dberry1973]

I've used old heat sinks before, big old lumps of metal work for a while, so a metal cup with water should work well!

[@townsend420mt]

Turn the mother bored upside down make a shield around the cpu and have a water pump with a sprayer spraying at the cpu. Maybe even try a delided cpu and try direct water cooling with a sprayer

[@stewiex]

You could have possibly made a big thermal paste dam directly on the CPU to hold the water. 😂

[@Cr45hM0hr]

Your first setup, but with a CPU sized square of paper towel. Surface area and evaporation potential for your painfully slow drip.

[@MARTINREN1231]

theoretically, can you make something like a diverted channel from a flowing water (maybe a river?) and make it so that it enters the water cooling loop, through a cpu block then back out in to the river? i mean i doubt it will increase the water temperature significantly enough to bother the eco system. maybe a custom water block where there is no micro channels/fins since those gets clogged the moment a single algae/particle touched it.

[@UnknownProductions0]

you should delid and do "direct die" mineral oil/3m novec. theres a video somewhere of it being done and the cpu water "boils" it looks really cool

[@StayMadNobodycares]

use your kitchen sink as an endless cold water supply for a loop you already have and have the hot return run down the sink drain.

[@paulrichalland]

You can disable the "CPU Fan error" message by going into advanced mode -> Monitoring and then set the line for "CPU Fan" to "Disabled"

[@grimreefer5159]

Turn a cheap air heat sync into a water cooled heat sync by 3d printing a box to go over it with an inlet and outlet to flow water over the fins.

[@jandastroy]

This makes me wonder if you could make an aluminum block that sockets directly on the top of the CPU, with a socket that would fit a cold can of whoever is willing to sponsor that fire hazard...

[@muumia4]

Could you just jump the cpu fan header so you could ditch the fan? No need for power button either. Also run the OS from usb so you don't need the drives.

[@Psyden5757]

i feel like an old south bridge heatsink from an old motherboard will be 2x better lol

[@anlumo1]

The water just heats up and sits there at equilibrium. You need to either constantly exchange it or cause some chemical reaction like evaporation to get rid of excess heat.

[@cdnaudioguy]

What about making a little 3D-printed adapter that goes on the end of the water bottle and seals against the CPU. Then allow the water to touch the CPU directly?

[@garthmacleod]

You should de-lid a CPU and 3D print a vessel to hold water with an opening at the bottom to expose the die. Seal it up with vaseline around the die so water doesn't escape.

[@ZappyOh]

1) A motor + A damp cloth on a stick + A reservoir of water. 2) Make the reservoir drip onto the cloth. 3) Make the cloth rotate on the CPU. 4) Profit.

[@squishy312]

If you could somehow make a giant heat pipe out of copper endcaps and like barely 1 drop of water, you could probably get it to cool decently. 2 endcaps together filled a mixture of sand, and aquarium gravel sized regular gravel. (Make sure everything's dry first.) Add a drop or two of water into it, and solder it together with some regular lead/tin solder and some flux or plumbing silver solder. Sand one endcap flat and put some thermal paste on it with a fan and you'd be good. You could maybe ad a small aluminum plate thermal pasted to the top to radiate out heat. Lots of possibilities.

[@almfreak]

You should use alcohol cooling! The boiling point of ethanol or isopropanol will be around 80°C, so it should take a lot of heat away as it begins to boil. Granted now you’ve got hot alcohol vapors floating around so the fire hazard may not be worth it, haha!

[@bitkarek]

try to model a in foil passive cooler and stick a fan on it...

[@CH11LER.]

Use silicone sealant, build a wall around the outside of the CPU, add a cheap fish tank pump and create a little water loop with the reservoir being the pool of water on the cpu. This will allow the water to flow, removing heat from the block Heck, you could even seal it up if you wanted to prevent evaporation

[@thomasblyth7539]

now I want to see a video of over-engineering a direct water cooling setup

[@flinx]

Have CPU and mobo facing down. Put wall around CPU socket to keep mobo dry. Pump coolant up onto CPU at slight pressure.

[@cardboardsnail]

That would work better if you used a liquid that has a lower evaporation temperature. The problem with that though, is it can quickly fill the air in the room with the evaporated stuff, and people are not too good at breathing in most chemical vapors.