News Ryzen 9 7950X Receives Passive Cooling From 1Kg Copper Bar

[Admin]

Redditor mods copper bars to cool his Ryzen 9 7950X -powered fanless PC.

Ryzen 9 7950X Receives Passive Cooling From 1Kg Copper Bar : Read more

 

[TechieTwo]

There's no magic here, it's just heat transfer. At one time CPUs had no heatsinks at all. Then they went to passive aluminum heatsinks. Then on to heatsinks with tiny fans. As the number of transistors and power consumption has increased so has the size of the HSF and now H2O cooling.

 

[USAFRet]

Similar, from a few weeks ago:

DIYer Passive Cools Core i9 with 8-Pound Copper Block

Solid metal cylinder suppressed Core i9 idled at 35C, but quickly reached 80C+ under load.

www.tomshardware.com

 

[Amdlova]

My passive system is cooled with a hyper 212 and have 600 grams

https://imgur.com/a/EzOlhRK

 

[brandonjclark]

My passive system is cooled with a hyper 212 and have 600 grams

https://imgur.com/a/EzOlhRK

2 POUNDS of pure copper costs..... wait for it.... about eight dollars...

 

[bit_user]

Similar, from a few weeks ago:

DIYer Passive Cools Core i9 with 8-Pound Copper Block

Solid metal cylinder suppressed Core i9 idled at 35C, but quickly reached 80C+ under load.

www.tomshardware.com

Yes, but that was a proof-of-concept and an open-bench system. In this instance, a much smaller copper bar is used, and it's coupled to the case. This appears to be an actual system, configured for daily use.

2 POUNDS of pure copper costs..... wait for it.... about eight dollars...

Read the article:

"The core of the user-modified cooling system is the two ESG Feinkupfer 1 kg (2.2 lbs) copper bars, which retail for approximately $100 apiece."
​

 

[bit_user]

My passive system is cooled with a hyper 212 and have 600 grams

https://imgur.com/a/EzOlhRK

And it sits oriented just like that? Seems like you'd at least want to flip it on its front, with some tall feet attached to the faceplace, so that you get convection going in the right direction.

The two CPUs listed in your sig are 120 W and 145 W. I assume it's one of those? And you're running at stock settings? How hot does it get, running what sort of workload, and for how long?

I have a 120 W Xeon E5 with a 6-pipe cooler and a 150 mm Noctua fan. It gets up to the mid-70's, in sustained all-core (CPU-only) loads. Case fans are 140 mm (front) and 120 mm (rear). So, call me skeptical that your CPU gets adequate cooling like that.

 

[lightofhonor]

Yes, but that was a proof-of-concept and an open-bench system. In this instance, a much smaller copper bar is used, and it's coupled to the case. This appears to be an actual system, configured for daily use.


Read the article:

​

"The core of the user-modified cooling system is the two ESG Feinkupfer 1 kg (2.2 lbs) copper bars, which retail for approximately $100 apiece."​

​

@brandonjclark is referring to the price for raw copper, which is currently in the $8-9 range per KG. Refined copper bars look like $30-40 on eBay.

 

[evdjj3j]

I'll sell this guy all the copper he wants for $100 a kilo.

 

[evdjj3j]

My passive system is cooled with a hyper 212 and have 600 grams

https://imgur.com/a/EzOlhRK

Are you talking about a different computer? The one in the pic has a fan installed at the top, that's not passively cooled.

 

[HansSchulze]

Um, a block of metal is like a cup filling with water when likened to heat. Yes, a bigger bucket lasts longer before it overheats. You still need surface area to exude the heat to the nearby air, unless you only need 2 hours of gameplay a day. You could just use a block cooler pump and a chamber pot. Or an ornate tabletop water fountain. OK, it's not as cool looking. Maybe a brick of bullion? Higher specific heat, maybe good for 4-8 hours?

 

[bit_user]

Um, a block of metal is like a cup filling with water when likened to heat. Yes, a bigger bucket lasts longer before it overheats. You still need surface area to exude the heat to the nearby air,

If you read the article, it describes how the block is used to conduct the heat to the case. They even specify which thermal compounds are used on the CPU side vs. the case side of the block. They go on to specify temperatures of the CPU dies, motherboard, and case after an intensive workload.

 

[HansSchulze]

If you read the article, it describes how the block is used to conduct the heat to the case. They even specify which thermal compounds are used on the CPU side vs. the case side of the block. They go on to specify temperatures of the CPU dies, motherboard, and case after an intensive workload.

Yes, and all the temperatures listed are out of spec. That case air temperature will overheat the GPUs.
Copper has a gradient, heat doesn't just run from one end to the other. The reason heat pipes are used is that steam travels at sonic speeds as opposed to inter-electron thermal speeds (faster than snails). It's like expecting a dam full of honey to drain when you open floodgates. How long does a black frying pan (good radiator) stay hot?

Intensive workload is to thermal system saturation, which could be many hours, at least, when the temperature no longer changes. I don't remember that detail. Real systems run continuously, 24/7, and this gradient won't last. CPU at 95 (over voltage too?) will electro-migrate and die in a year or two.

 

[bit_user]

Yes, and all the temperatures listed are out of spec. That case air temperature will overheat the GPUs.

True, but the system presumably doesn't have one, as they say it's passively-cooled and the builder went to the trouble of trying to cool both the motherboard chipset and CPU but nothing is mentioned about a GPU.

Copper has a gradient, heat doesn't just run from one end to the other. The reason heat pipes are used is that steam travels at sonic speeds

Yes. As the article mentions, solid copper is not as good a conductor as a heatpipe. The article also mentions the intended use is programming, where the user doesn't anticipate sustained, high loads.

Fun fact: heat pipes make noise. If you want a really quiet system, I would avoid them if possible. Perhaps that was the motivation behind solid copper?