Last week, Reddit user “That-Desktop-User” uploaded an image of an AORUS motherboard with a giant cylinder of copper sitting on an Intel Core i9 CPU. We have already hit the “don’t do this at home” stage of the article, but let us dive into this Frankenstein creation a little further & find out why it supposedly outperformed the Noctua NH-U14S CPU cooler with NF-A15 140mm fan.
Redditor Uses An 8 Pound Copper Cylinder Block To Cool An Intel Core i9 CPUs
The post was discovered on the Linus Tech Tips Reddit but originated on the Reddit “Hardware Gore” with the tagline “for broken and gorey hardware.” This peaked several interests, from users wondering about cooling techniques and how the science behind it would work, to adequate cooling techniques using liquid or air, to the amount of money saved by a giant copper block.
While “That-Desktop-User” does not recommend for the hardware be stress tested, he does mention a little about the results.
“It idle’s at around 35c. And when benchmarking, it maxed at around 80c.
It is already threaded and ready for liquid cooling. Got it off a few thousand dollar medical machine used to simulate a persons vitals. Not sure what exactly it’s purpose is, but it has a brass filter in the inside.
Yes it can be improved.”
The Reddit user estimated the weight to be between eight to twelve pounds. Upon running both benchmark and stress tests, That-Desktop-User found that the starting temperature was 80°C, but within ten seconds, it lowered to 27°C. The tests ran for fifteen minutes, and the system was idling most of the time with temps of around 35C and 80C during benchmarks on the Intel Core i9 CPU. The benchmark (unknown at the time of this post) was processed for close to two minutes. The stress test lasted much less, coming in under one minute due to the increasing temperature emitting off the hardware, which made the enthusiast uncomfortable.
The motherboard used was a Z390 AORUS Pro so we are looking at a 9th Gen Core i9 CPU under the copper cylinder.
However, let’s look at some of the issues and inconsistencies of this test. Standard radiators require as much surface area as possible to adequately transfer heat to other sites so that it can be dissipated. This large copper block, even with its inner brass core and pre-drilled holes, cannot transmit the heat well enough without the assistance of other devices and for dramatically longer processing times. That-Desktop-User mentions that the heat during the stress test spiked fast enough that they were uncomfortable, so even though it was capable of the feat, it did not last long.
Now, let’s talk about the “elephant in the room.” By “elephant,” I’m talking about the eight to twelve pounds that the user placed onto the system. With only one image to go by and the amount of pressure added to the processor that is already compressed onto the board by the Intel LGA 1700 socket, there is possibly a great deal of damage that could have been done to all the components surrounding the copper/brass hybrid block. That is a lot of money lost in the end.
Is it neat that a hacked-out piece of medical equipment kept an Intel Core i9 CPU cool for a short time? Sure, if you like computer science projects like this. Is it recommended? From the information gathered, possibly not.
The post 8-Pound Copper Block Used To Cool An Intel Core i9 CPU, But At What Cost? by Jason R. Wilson appeared first on Wccftech.
