WTF?! Modders have used numerous means to take PC cooling to new lows. Liquid nitrogen is widespread for overclocking benchmarks, however different notable instruments embody massive quantities of copper, dozens of toes of water block tubing, and a blizzard. One tinkerer has determined that the subsequent step is to make use of an air conditioner designed to chill a whole dwelling.
A latest Bilibili video from modder “Electrolytic Sodium Carbonate” (ESC) demonstrates how an air conditioner can interface immediately with a PC tower. Though the strategy is probably going wildly inefficient, it retains each element extraordinarily cool.
Our overview of the GeForce RTX 5090 exhibits it reaches noticeably increased temperatures than its predecessor regardless of the revolutionary cooling system Nvidia used for the brand new flagship’s founders version reference mannequin. In response to machine translation from Tom’s {Hardware}, ESC needed to arrange for the brand new GPU king with a brand new over-the-top cooling system, testing it on a 4090.
The modder has a number of ridiculous cooling apparatuses linked to PCs all through her dwelling, together with a thick water block with a number of tubes. Nonetheless, ESC bought and modified a brand new Xiaomi KFR-35GW air conditioner, linking it to her check system with a liquid cooling reservoir. The 12,000 BTU AC unit attracts over 1,000 watts and measures 765 x 268 x 550mm, towering over the rig it is linked to.
Though the customized setup goes past overkill, the outcomes are spectacular. Each check system element, together with the RTX 4090 and Intel Core i9-13900K, stayed below 30 levels Celsius throughout a 40-minute battery of benchmarks that included FurMark and AIDA System. The CPU core temperatures solely rose by a few levels. Later, outside testing noticed the GPU rise to simply 36C.
Picture credit score: Bilibili through Tom’s {Hardware}
Benchmarks with the i9-14900K and RTX 5090 are forthcoming, however these early outcomes outperform earlier uncommon cooling options. For example, putting in beneficiant quantities of copper, whether or not in bars or a large block, solely retains CPU temperatures roughly inside the 70s and 80s Celsius, however this technique ensures whole silence. Working 100 toes of tubing and a gallon of coolant can hold a GPU below 30C and a CPU round 40C below load.
One of many solely issues which may beat a kilowatt air conditioner is a historic blizzard, which one other Bilibili modder, Baka, demonstrated in 2023. With passive cooling, an RTX 4090 uncovered to a -63 Fahrenheit (-52C) winter storm ran at -40C whereas the accompanying i9-13900K maintained 15C at 6.18GHz.
