On Reddit, a user shares a picture of a huge CPU cooler with the community. The cooling tower consists of several Intel boxed models. When lying on top of each other, these protrude far beyond the edge of the housing.
Gamers and PC enthusiasts are striving for ever better solutions to adequately cool their powerful PCs and keep high temperatures under control. When PCs didn’t have glass side panels and came in a boring beige color, standard coolers from Intel and AMD, so-called boxed models, were widespread.
The advantage of buying a processor in the boxed version is primarily the manufacturer’s warranty, which usually goes beyond the legally required warranty of two years. The included coolers were often not the primary reason for purchase and therefore usually ended up unpacked in some corner or lying around on the desk.
The older models of boxed coolers in particular have been surpassed by much better and, above all, more stylish models from various manufacturers. In this article we’ll show you what you can still do with the annoying boxed coolers.
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The Leaning Tower of Intel
What kind of cooler does the photo show? The user “hartigan99” posted a picture of a special processor cooler in the official “PC Master Race” subreddit. It is a creation of several standard coolers from the CPU manufacturer Intel.
How is the huge cooler construction made up in detail? The individual heat sinks were placed one on top of the other and connected to each other using cable ties. At the top there is a fan that is included with a cooler. The lowest radiator in the tower was installed in a conventional manner. This sits directly on the processor and is connected to the backplate via its 4 plastic pins.
You can see the whole structure here:
What is the backplate used for? The backplate is a plate that is attached to the back of the motherboard. It is used to attach the CPU cooler. The secure hold is intended to protect against damage caused by cooler models that are too heavy. Given the structure at hand and its total weight of at least 8 coolers, it may be doubtful that the protection is still sufficient.
The reliability remains unclear
Does this assembly work reliably? The creator of the article doesn’t say a word about the efficiency of the cooler formation. It is unclear whether there is enough contact between the individual boxed coolers to properly dissipate the CPU’s heat.
For better heat transfer from the top of the processor to the heatsink, thermal paste is usually used. It would be conceivable to use this for more efficient transmission between the individual coolers.
Does the installed fan provide an advantage? No not really. It can be assumed that the heat dissipated does not even reach the top of the fan. The main heat exchange occurs much more passively through the heat sinks located far below.
The further away the heat source is, the less effective the heat dissipation is. Coolers with heat pipes to transport heat effectively are a much better choice these days.
In general, remember to open your PC regularly and remove any dust that has accumulated.
What about the robustness of the construction? The stability of the tower itself can also be questioned. It is only held together with cable ties and will probably become significantly tilted if the PC is no longer used lying on its side.
Due to the height, the housing can no longer be closed. The side panel would have to be modified accordingly.
All in all, this is more of a fun project than a serious attempt to cool a system properly. The risk of a defect is very high. For your expensive hardware, you should rather rely on the conventional variants from the cooler manufacturers.
How is your PC cooling going? Did you also do it yourself and put your own design in your computer? Or would you rather stick with the normal manufacturer models?
The solution presented is not good, but expensive ones are not always better either