Who hates fanless PCs? But sometimes aftermarket options just don’t meet your requirements. That happened to one person Editor (opens in new tab)Instead of using an aftermarket passive CPU cooler, a creative enthusiast modded a 1kg copper bar to cool one of the best CPUs on the market, the Ryzen 9 7950X.
The user’s system revolves around a Streacom DB4, a fanless case capable of mini-ITX builds. Under the hood, the MSI MPG B650I Edge WiFi is powered by AMD’s 16-core Ryzen 9 7950X and 64GB of DDR5 memory. The HDPLEX 250W GaN ATX power supply, on the other hand, delivers up to 250W of power.
DB4 comes with a passive cooler that supports chips up to 65W. Streacome also offers an optional module that expands the cooling capacity to 105W. However, it still falls short of the Ryzen 9 7950X’s 170W TDP, so his avid DIYer has taken matters into his own hands. Moreover, users are familiar with fanless systems.
At the core of the user-modified cooling system are two ESG Feinkupfer 1 kg (2.2 lbs) copper bars, retailing for about $100 each. Redditor reused the small plate that came with the Streacom DB4, but added custom 233 mm (9.17 inch) copper bars to keep the processor and motherboard chipset cool. Unmodified copper bars transmit heat to his Streacom DB4’s four side panels. He estimates that the system currently weighs about 13 kg (28.66 lb), with copper at 4.4 kg (9.7 lb), case and other components at 7.5 kg (16.53 lb) and 1 kg (2.2 kg). pound). , Each.
He did not use soldering to connect the various copper parts and copper bars to the panel of the case. Instead, Redditor used Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut, a liquid metal-based thermal compound between the copper parts, and Arctic MX-6, a carbon filler-based thermal compound where the copper bars make contact with the case panel.
After pushing the Ryzen 9 7950X to max for two hours, the owner observed 95 degrees Celsius on CCD1 and 90 degrees Celsius on CCD2. The temperature on the motherboard was around 77 degrees Celsius, but the temperature on the side panel of the Streacom DB4 fluctuated between 50 and 60 degrees Celsius. The temperature is not bad. Soldering the joints improves the temperature. Of course, the cooling performance of copper bars cannot be compared to the cooling performance of heat pipes or vapor chambers. Hobbyists use their systems for programming to keep the processor from running at maximum for too long. Therefore, a DIY copper cooler should suit the owner’s needs.
