Maximum Passive Airflow? Chinese Content Creator Built A PC That Cools Using Centrifugal Force

Low Boon Shen
By Low Boon Shen 17 Min Read

PC cooling, in some ways, is an art form – there are many approaches to cooling a PC, but different people have different goals, be it noise, thermals, reliability, or even just looks. Some of them go further and build systems that cools passively to ensure zero noise, but what happens if you bend the rules by putting a passively-cooled PC in the center of a giant, 3D-printed fan?

A PC That Cools Itself, Sort Of

Maximum Passive Airflow? Chinese Content Creator Built A PC That Cools Using Centrifugal Force
Maximum Passive Airflow? Chinese Content Creator Built A PC That Cools Using Centrifugal Force

This mad creation is designed by Bilibili creator 苏打baka (we’ll call her Sodabaka from here on for readability’s sake), which straps an ITX-based PC onto a giant DC motor that rotates at speeds to prove a theory that she has received from her viewers: can you cool a PC by using airflow generated from centrifugal forces?

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Maximum Passive Airflow? Chinese Content Creator Built A PC That Cools Using Centrifugal Force

The theory was confirmed in the initial run with an old Intel Sandy Bridge-based system, but Sodabaka has went further by putting a modern-day Core i9 to see how far can it be “passively” cooled by subjecting the system to the Prime95 test. Turns out, with appropriate coolers designed for passive cooling (which features wider gaps to better facilitate convection cooling), the processor is seen pushing upwards of 200 watts, which is not too far from the 253W it is rated for under well-cooled conditions.

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Maximum Passive Airflow? Chinese Content Creator Built A PC That Cools Using Centrifugal Force

Later on, the build has evolved into a giant 3D-printed fan with an ITX PC strapped in the hub, in which Sodabaka jokingly claimed it has the capability to cool the user on top of the PC itself. Curiosity has pushed her into trying something that is of questionable safety, by subjecting the fan to the maximum speed the DC motor is capable of.

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Maximum Passive Airflow? Chinese Content Creator Built A PC That Cools Using Centrifugal Force

At this point it shouldn’t surprise you that in various points of the video, especially in the end, you can see her hiding behind a riot shield in case sh*t hits the (literal) fan – as the experiment has proved, the sheer speed of the motor has caused the heatsink to get violently thrown off the CPU it was attached to, where the heat pipes gets completely ripped from the contact plate, which is originally part of the heatsink.

Oh, and in case you were wondering: kindly do not try this at home.

Source: Tom’s Hardware

Pokdepinion: Gotta give her points for the sheer courage to try this.

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