# Cooling ideas (unconventional and off the wall ideas)



## HorrorCosmic

So, were all here for one thing, performance, and that comes at a cost, heat and temperature are the killers of any system and we all know the conventional cooling; Case Fans, aftermarket aircooler, water cooling, phase change, even something small like changing the thermal compound can make a big difference.

That's not why I made this thread, this thread is about quirky ideas on cooling that might just be crazy enough to work, I remember on some of my older builds I would use these adhesive copper heatsinks on the capacitors, regulators and resistors to give the motherboard some added cooling but I've wondered what else could be done.

I had an idea on using insulation around heatpipes, haven't tried it but its an idea, how about everyone else? has anyone had a crazy idea that could improve there PC's temp?

post them, they may be worth trying.


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## Spritanium

What if a waterblock had a heatsink and fan built into it? Would that do anything?

EDIT: Just had a thought. How come no one has made a closed-loop water cooler with a rad that doesn't need to be mounted elsewhere in the case? Something resembling a tower heatsink. This wouldn't make it cool any better but it would be a useful option.


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## HorrorCosmic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Spritanium*
> 
> What if a waterblock had a heatsink and fan built into it? Would that do anything?
> 
> EDIT: Just had a thought. How come no one has made a closed-loop water cooler with a rad that doesn't need to be mounted elsewhere in the case? Something resembling a tower heatsink. This wouldn't make it cool any better but it would be a useful option.


I have seen something like a hybrid cooler but back in the Nvidia GTX 200 series.

Seems like they still make them.


Zalman seemed to be the only one that made an External radiator, i guess the dangers of having your pipes exposed and outside the case didn't make it ideal. Oddly enough thats the same case i have











I like the ideas tho, lets hear more!


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## DaveLT

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Spritanium*
> 
> What if a waterblock had a heatsink and fan built into it? Would that do anything?
> 
> EDIT: Just had a thought. How come no one has made a closed-loop water cooler with a rad that doesn't need to be mounted elsewhere in the case? Something resembling a tower heatsink. This wouldn't make it cool any better but it would be a useful option.


Asetek made a few, for HP workstations only. I think
And then there was the Sapphire Blizzard X1900XTX which is too long ago already (HP Z800 and Z820)
Fujitsu also had CLCs that mounted on the CPU socket for LGA775


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## jprovido

heatsink cooler + waterblock + thermoelectric cooler. anyone made something lik ethis?


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## HorrorCosmic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jprovido*
> 
> heatsink cooler + waterblock + thermoelectric cooler. anyone made something lik ethis?


Swiftech made a waterblock with a TEC integrated, thats close.

I saw a picture of a build a few years ago, the guy that built it had this massive radiator from an air conditioner and mounted it to his AC vents.

I was thinking, doing something similar to what ASUS does with the armor kits, get a piece of aluminum and cut openings for the ram, cpu, PCI slots and use some thermal padding and make like a massive heatsink for the mobo.....and it would look cool.


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## DaveLT

Not sure about Z87 Sabertooth's TUF Armor but the Z77 and P67 TUF Armor does JACK. Yes, it's plastic. It actually heats up the mobo even more (By way of restricting any incidental airflow)


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## technogiant

One thing that I've not seen that would I think be awesome is a water block but have a vapor chamber as its base so that the heat would be rapidly spread over a wider area so the water could remove it more easily.

I've seen a high end cpu air cooler with a combination of a vapor chamber and heat pipes but never a water block...they still rely on good old fashioned conduction to get the heat to the water.


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## richie_2010

What about a whole block to cool the motherboard.
Just leave the gap for cpu n ram n pcie slots.


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## HorrorCosmic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *richie_2010*
> 
> What about a whole block to cool the motherboard.
> Just leave the gap for cpu n ram n pcie slots.


Thats the idea i had as well, get a large slab of aluminum or copper, and if your good with metal fabrication or knows someone cut an array of fins, make an opening for cpu, ram, pci, power, sata, and the other connectors, then cut the under side to match the rises of capacitors, area for the chipset and regulators then some thermal padding, maybe some liquid metal for the chipset if you use copper.


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## Wabbit16

Back in the day when the Northbridge chips used to run super hot, I remember me placing fans all over the PC and I had one 40mm one that ran at probably close to 13'000rpm (or at least that's what it sounded like) over it to keep it cool.

Oh, and I had this strange hard drive cooler that I had cooling my old 40GB Seagate down. That hard drive lasted 4 years before packing up, taking all my data with it









It was one like this:


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## TheHommander

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HorrorCosmic*
> 
> Thats the idea i had as well, get a large slab of aluminum or copper, and if your good with metal fabrication or knows someone cut an array of fins, make an opening for cpu, ram, pci, power, sata, and the other connectors, then cut the under side to match the rises of capacitors, area for the chipset and regulators then some thermal padding, maybe some liquid metal for the chipset if you use copper.


But what else would you need to cool on your motherboard besides the chipset, Ram, and CPU??? its not like you motherboard gets too hot and bogs down performance?!?!!?


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## Schmuckley

Motherboards don't get that hot..anymore.


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## CM MR HAF

Does anyone ever get nostalgic for 10 heatpipes, 2 x 120mm fans and a 75W TEC?



I was project lead on it back in the day, and we called it "Citadel", it was a fun cooler indeed.


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## KYKYLLIKA

Stirling cryocooler engine


+

Kraken

=

Liquid air cooling. You don't even need a pump because the difference in heat will drive enough pressure to circulate.


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## korruptedkaos

I remember seeing someone on here from Canada who dug a huge deep hole in his garden & put a massive coil of copper in the ground,

then drilled two holes through his wall into his house & then to his Rads/Comp etc.

will see if I can find it for ya?


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## Schmuckley

http://www.overclock.net/t/406256/the-official-bong-lovers-club-56k-fail/0_100
bongs

http://www.overclock.net/t/1392108/guide-horizontal-volenti-coolers/0_100
volenti


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## willgobiqu

great.area for the chipset and regulators then some thermal padding, maybe some liquid metal for the chipset if you use copper.thanks


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## RnRollie

an 80 mile long shielded/insulated copper wire.... straight up extended into space which is about -260 °C
heat is sucked through the wire and then dissipated into the cold space









Note: carbon nanotubes would be more efficient (and stronger and lighter) of course, but its easier to get your hands on 80 mile of copper wire vs 80 mile long nanotubes


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## Ashuiegi

Cooler master made one tower cooler with a tec intergrated too , there is couple of these on the market but they are hard to find.

the ultimate cooling would be a helium cold heat monted directly on the cpu , these can go down to 2 K and take 50W at these temp , of course you need the compressor unit next to the pc and i don't have exact number but i think it s between 20000 and 50000 bucks at least.

https://leyboldproducts.oerlikon.com/products/produktkatalog_03.aspx?cid=40_30_20_50 here is one that take 110w at 80K , i can't find the one i used that went down to 2k, it was possibly made to order since it s was in fondamental research environement.


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## RnRollie

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Spritanium*
> 
> What if a waterblock had a heatsink and fan built into it? Would that do anything?
> 
> EDIT: Just had a thought. How come no one has made a closed-loop water cooler with a rad that doesn't need to be mounted elsewhere in the case? Something resembling a tower heatsink. This wouldn't make it cool any better but it would be a useful option.


Aquatec did in 2003....

http://www.dansdata.com/aguatec.htm


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## Lubed Up Slug

What about putting a reservoir in a mini fridge? I wouldn't put the whole system in the fridge because it would create condensation on parts which could cause issues, but perhaps even putting the res in the fridge would cause condensation on the tubing, in that case I guess you could insulate the tubing. You might need a stronger pump or even more than one pump, because of the increased distance the water has to travel and the increased viscosity of the water, but it is an interesting idea.


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## DaveLT

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lubed Up Slug*
> 
> What about putting a reservoir in a mini fridge? I wouldn't put the whole system in the fridge because it would create condensation on parts which could cause issues, but perhaps even putting the res in the fridge would cause condensation on the tubing, in that case I guess you could insulate the tubing. You might need a stronger pump or even more than one pump, because of the increased distance the water has to travel and the increased viscosity of the water, but it is an interesting idea.


In a mini (Not the BAR fridges that's for sure) fridge I doubt it will have much effect on the temps of the water to fall way below dew point

Otherwise i'm not sure if colder water will have increased viscosity. I only knows it happens in air, why turbos and superchargers have intercoolers is that reason


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## tuffy12345

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lubed Up Slug*
> 
> What about putting a reservoir in a mini fridge? I wouldn't put the whole system in the fridge because it would create condensation on parts which could cause issues, but perhaps even putting the res in the fridge would cause condensation on the tubing, in that case I guess you could insulate the tubing. You might need a stronger pump or even more than one pump, because of the increased distance the water has to travel and the increased viscosity of the water, but it is an interesting idea.


It's interesting, but you have to get the water to sit there for a while to cool it down. So like every time you turned on your PC, the water in your system would be at a chilly 33 degrees F but within a few minutes, it would be back to running hot.


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## ReaperN1

What about some kind of turbo (like on a car) concept where it sucks the air in through one and out through another. You would cycle air quickly but the question then becomes, what is your rooms ambient temp. Also how much would that actually keep temps down. If you created an intake at the bottom and exhaust at the top, might work for some setups that are not heavily OverClocked. I have a 3d printer and plenty of motors to test the theory. I could always try and build a proof of concept with printed parts. What do you guys think? It would work great if you could cool the air before the inlet.


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## DaveLT

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ReaperN1*
> 
> What about some kind of turbo (like on a car) concept where it sucks the air in through one and out through another. You would cycle air quickly but the question then becomes, what is your rooms ambient temp. Also how much would that actually keep temps down. If you created an intake at the bottom and exhaust at the top, might work for some setups that are not heavily OverClocked. I have a 3d printer and plenty of motors to test the theory. I could always try and build a proof of concept with printed parts. What do you guys think? It would work great if you could cool the air before the inlet.


LOL
Do it!


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## MR KROGOTH

More readily available phase change units.


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## nukem

I've always wanted to try taking a tower air cooler with heat pipes and cut the ends off of the heat pipes and run coolent through them. So your hyper 212 is an air cooler and a water block for example. Probably not enough gains to justify the work though.


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## abctoz

THE HEAT PIPES ARE NOT SOLID INSIDE? MY LIFE IS A LIE


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## nukem

That's why they call em pipes ma man


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## abctoz

sounds interesting though its equivalent to having a mini radiator near the cpu, i can't do it though i dont have water cooling









i had an of putting a DIY TEC inbetween the cooler and the ihs (this has been done), but with some temperature control so it never gets too cold where condensation will happen, so something like this:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TEC1-12709-TEC-Thermoelectric-Cooler-Peltier-136-8W-new-/131094156991?pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item1e85d2
+
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DC12V-Heat-Cool-Temp-Thermostat-Temperature-Control-Switch-Thermometer-50-110-C-/181430205898?pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item2a3e153dca16bf

looks nice and cheap, goo the thermostat next to the ihs with some TIM, set min temperature to maybe 10c.
wonder how well it will work


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## RnRollie

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ReaperN1*
> 
> What about some kind of turbo (like on a car) concept where it sucks the air in through one and out through another. You would cycle air quickly but the question then becomes, what is your rooms ambient temp. Also how much would that actually keep temps down. If you created an intake at the bottom and exhaust at the top, might work for some setups that are not heavily OverClocked. I have a 3d printer and plenty of motors to test the theory. I could always try and build a proof of concept with printed parts. What do you guys think? It would work great if you could cool the air before the inlet.


as long as you dont accelerate the air to the point where the friction starts to heat up the air, it can/will work.

there is a lot of friction/heat generated with turbofans spinning between 10000 & 30000 rpm


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## Goggle Eye

You could push the air thru a after cooler. Could take a twin tower heat sink. At the base of the heat sink cut the tubes from the base plate to the twin radiators. Weld in a Y connector and push air thru the copper tubes in the heat sink. On the Y copper tubing you would need to add additional pipes and a collector tube. Then make a air box with one inlet and one out let. Stack low rpm high CFM fans in the box. Run a tube from the out let on the air box to the collector tube on the heat ink. Then another tube from the air inlet to a point on the out side of the case. Reduce air temps for the heat sink since you are using ambient air temps. Not hot air from inside the computer case. Walla a after cooler. The difference you are pushing the air thru the copper tubes from the heat sink and on the out side over the radiator fins.

CPU Air Cooled Heat Sinks push the air over the radiator fins the radiator fins cools the heat pipes. Also cool the chip. After cooler you are pushing the air thru the radiator tubes and cool air over the fins on the out side of the radiator.

Example: Some turbo charged engines (Not All) they use what is called a after cooler and or a inner cooler. The air goes from the turbo to the after cooler is a big radiator to cool the air. Then the air goes to the intake manifold via pipes.

After cooler is more efficient.

Example a 1693 T A Catapilar diesel engine T stands for Turbo charged. A stands for After Cooler. Produces from the factory 425 HP. I have pushed them to 575 H.P. Dyno at the rear wheels back in the day.

A 1693 TA cat diesel engine pulling 46 inches of manifold pressure. (Depending on ambient temps your familiar with that term) The exhaust temps (The exhaust spins the Turbo Charger aproximatley 21,000 RPM will produce about 800 degrees F thru 1300 Degrees F. measured at the outlet on the turbo. In order to increase the rated horse power for a 1693TA Cat Engine the air from the turbo charge must be cooled they use a after cooler to cool the air. If you were pushing 800 degree thru 1000 degrees at the turbo is safe.

a 1693T would produce 325 H.P. from the factory a 1693T.A. would produce 425 H.P. from the factory. Cat made two versions of the 1693. It is a bit more complicated based on Fuel Ratios/manifold Pressure/Air Temps/ Humidity, altitude and so on. Give you an idea how efficient a After Cooler Is.


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## andydabeast

What about using CPU heatsinks for GPU cooling? It has been done but why is it not more popular? space requirement?

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=255863


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## RnRollie

Why do you think?

There are several reasons. Here a few more besides "space requirements":
1. CPU coolers are not made for GPUs, thus you have to adapt them
2. CHIP size... not all GPU's come with a nice square IHS, and most of them are not the same size... 40mm 45mm, 60mm, ... you want the base of the cooler to cover the whole chip/ihs
-- also, for those GPU which do not have an IHS on the chip.. you have to take care not to crush them. So a careful selection & usage of the "right" bolts and washers/spacers is needed
3. You have to cool more as just the GPU chip. In todays GPUs you need to get the VRMs under control also. Which is also why you need something like the custom made plates in the example/link you provided.
4. Weight. Having a 2 lbs tower cooler hanging of the side of your GPU cannot be healthy. You have to prevent the card from warping/bending/cracking. Thus you need to have some (additional) mounting to take the weight off the card.
5. Performance. Compared to the common vapour chamber cooler, there is not that much gain to be had. Unless you go for "moar powaaar" fans ( =more noise)









It can be done, but it can be quite an undertaking. Even if you know what you are doing.
I think for most people it is just too much work.
Its easier to buy a card with aftermarket cooler off the shelve, or to slap on a watercooling solution.

.


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## rogergamer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *andydabeast*
> 
> What about using CPU heatsinks for GPU cooling? It has been done but why is it not more popular? space requirement?
> 
> http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=255863


I already did it a few months ago:

__
https://www.reddit.com/r/3dm940/build_complete_industry_aka_twin_tower_custom/


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## DaveLT

Most high end graphics cards have vapor chambers and most tower heatsinks don't. It's not worth the try often as a smaller base on the heatsinks benefit them more rather than the big heatspreaders on heatsinks.


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## Lolwel21

I don’t have the equipment to try this out right now, but here’s an interesting idea involving TECs and air cooling:
Use a Peltier element to create a thermal gradient, which is carried by copper piping to the primary intakes/exhausts, where they are then soldered (or some similar heat-conductive join) to a grating or a heatsink.
The exhaust of the computer carries away the hot air, and the cooled pipes chill the air before it even enters the computer.
The power for the Peltier would be hooked up to a fan controller, so that it only activates when a component gets hot. It could also be redundantly limited by a thermostat if the need arises.


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