The Sketchiest CPU Cooler

Megalith

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Can you make your own heatsink? Sure, but this video by LinusTechTips suggests that it probably isn’t a worthwhile idea. That aluminum cutting job really sets me OCD off.
 
I am not even going to bother watching that.

The answer is: Yes, but only if you have the right tools AND are not a complete idiot on purpose making the worst thing possible in order to get video views.
Yeah... it really was a "how can we come up with a video to get views and be silly for $10 or less" but I guess the average person might find a video about fabricating a custom heatsink in a home machine shop to be boring, and garbage like this gets the views from the people who still eat paint chips.
 
I am not even going to bother watching that.

The answer is: Yes, but only if you have the right tools AND are not a complete idiot on purpose making the worst thing possible in order to get video views.

A bit of a negative spin to say they do it purely for views. The guys at LMG are PC enthusiasts for sure but nothing more. They generally suck at anything remotely DIY (including most PC builds) but it's hilarious to watch them try anyway. Watch JayzTwoCents for the real good stuff.
 
A bit of a negative spin to say they do it purely for views. The guys at LMG are PC enthusiasts for sure but nothing more. They generally suck at anything remotely DIY (including most PC builds) but it's hilarious to watch them try anyway. Watch JayzTwoCents for the real good stuff.

If they actually wanted to try to do it, they would have done research instead of just hacking away at a piece of aluminum like a bunch of 5 year olds... at least that is what it looks like from the image of the video.
 
If they actually wanted to try to do it, they would have done research instead of just hacking away at a piece of aluminum like a bunch of 5 year olds... at least that is what it looks like from the image of the video.

They sort of did it that way on purpose...

If you even tried to watch they went for a worst case scenario situation to see if it would work. It did for all of 7 minutes before it throttled. If you're unfamiliar with the channel, they do not in any way take themselves very seriously. No need to get triggered here.
 
A bit of a negative spin to say they do it purely for views. The guys at LMG are PC enthusiasts for sure but nothing more. They generally suck at anything remotely DIY (including most PC builds) but it's hilarious to watch them try anyway. Watch JayzTwoCents for the real good stuff.
Did you just recommend the guy who drilled holes through a motherboard in an attempt to mount a waterblock, as the "real good stuff" for DIY?
 
Sure that happened and sure I would have known better like most of us here. But the guy makes some really solid water-cooled PCs.

Anyway, you lot seem to have very negative opinions on YouTubers so I guess I won't mention any ever again.
 
Sure that happened and sure I would have known better like most of us here. But the guy makes some really solid water-cooled PCs.

Anyway, you lot seem to have very negative opinions on YouTubers so I guess I won't mention any ever again.
Yes, the two that I've mentioned in this thread, which were about very specific videos they made, is "a lot of negative opinions". There are definitely youtube channels that make decent content, but I would never recommend some idiot who had already been building PCs for years, who drills holes through his motherboard to mount a waterblock as "good".


Sorry, but that's just absurd. Nevermind the fact that even if the traces weren't visible on the backside of the board, that doesn't mean there are no traces there. Shunt mods, volt mods, etc. sure. Hell, I even remember back when a thing to do was using conductive pens for repairing car window defrosters being used to bridge gaps for overclocking was a thing. But this? Come on.
 
Yes, the two that I've mentioned in this thread, which were about very specific videos they made, is "a lot of negative opinions". There are definitely youtube channels that make decent content, but I would never recommend some idiot who had already been building PCs for years, who drills holes through his motherboard to mount a waterblock as "good".


Sorry, but that's just absurd. Nevermind the fact that even if the traces weren't visible on the backside of the board, that doesn't mean there are no traces there. Shunt mods, volt mods, etc. sure. Hell, I even remember back when a thing to do was using conductive pens for repairing car window defrosters being used to bridge gaps for overclocking was a thing. But this? Come on.


That's some standard to live up to. The human part of his video is that he actually documented it and still showed everyone what a mistake he made. I applaud that. If you can make such stupid mistake and own up to it, that gets my respect. He didn't even have to ever make a mention of that mistake but he did it anyway.

What you're doing is completely negating anything else he's done because of one silly mistake. Again, you seem to be holding him up to some standard just because of what you deem is the dumbest idea alive (and I agree, it is rather stupid to drill into PCB).

What I'm saying is, you can't judge whole channels because of cherry picked videos taken out of context. To get back on topic, the video Megalith posted from LMG is just LMG being the likable idiots they are. Nothing more. There was nothing remotely scientific going on in their creation of the heatsink to which some would argue is purely for views and others, like myself, would argue it's just them being them.
 
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That's some standard to live up to. The human part of his video is that he actually documented it and still showed everyone what a mistake he made. I applaud that. If you can make such stupid mistake and own up to it, that gets my respect. He didn't even have to ever make a mention of that mistake but he did it anyway.

What you're doing is completely negating anything else he's done because of one silly mistake. Again, you seem to be holding him up to some standard just because of what you deem is the dumbest idea alive (and I agree, it is rather stupid to drill into PCB).

What I'm saying is, you can't judge whole channels because of cherry picked videos taken out of context. To get back on topic, the video Megalith posted from LMG is just LMG being the likable idiots they are. Nothing more. There was nothing remotely scientific going on in their creation of the heatsink. To which some would argue is purely for views and others, like myself, would argue it's just them being them.
You're right, it was LMG just being silly, which is exactly what I said they were doing. It was a silly and cheap idea for a video. There's a big difference between LMG being silly and clearly not some DIY tutorial, and "the good stuff" turning out to be a complete retard. As far as that jayztwocents guy living up to the mistake... more like wanting more views and using his "accident" to get them. What he did was the equivalent of taking a bandsaw to an ATX motherboard to make it fit into an ITX case.

Also regarding the other videos jayztwocents has done, the bulk of it appears to be primarily playing with the watercooling equivalent of lego parts. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's not some amazing DIY work. He doesn't do much if anything in the way of case mods, he seems to have done a little painting here and there, and primarily just builds loops. I hate to break it to you, but anyone with time can do the same thing if they've got a stock of tubing, radiators, and fittings sitting around and the time to play with it. Using off the shelf coolants and dyes to have colored coolant flowing through tubing is not some artistic skill thing either. I've built custom loops, added windows to cases, mounted radiators and fans to places that had no factory provision, and I'm not going to pretend the end result was a beautiful work of art every time, but there's lots of people who do that even here on hardocp and it's a lot more than just bending some tubing and picking a dye for coolant.
 
Also regarding the other videos jayztwocents has done, the bulk of it appears to be primarily playing with the watercooling equivalent of lego parts. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's not some amazing DIY work. He doesn't do much if anything in the way of case mods, he seems to have done a little painting here and there, and primarily just builds loops. I hate to break it to you, but anyone with time can do the same thing if they've got a stock of tubing, radiators, and fittings sitting around and the time to play with it. Using off the shelf coolants and dyes to have colored coolant flowing through tubing is not some artistic skill thing either. I've built custom loops, added windows to cases, mounted radiators and fans to places that had no factory provision, and I'm not going to pretend the end result was a beautiful work of art every time, but there's lots of people who do that even here on hardocp and it's a lot more than just bending some tubing and picking a dye for coolant.

I'll agree with you here. He doesn't do anything especially custom or DIY and he does use off the shelf parts for just about everything. Maybe DIY was the wrong term for me to use and the comparison I drew earlier, in the context of a DIY heatsink, was nonsensical. In my mind I guess it seemed a valid comparison at the time. I still stand by that Jay does make very nice PC builds though they aren't very custom or DIY. I've been wanting to get in the water cooling game so his videos and builds are fascinating to me.
 
I used to make a lot of custom heatsinks from old discarded coolers by cutting them up into adequate sized pieces. In the late 90s early 2000s My VGA coolers almost always were some sort of FCPGA/SLOT1 coolers cut to proper size. In that era any slab of metal was better than factory gpu coolers.

But starting from a block of aluminium? That's crazy.
 
I used to make a lot of custom heatsinks from old discarded coolers by cutting them up into adequate sized pieces. In the late 90s early 2000s My VGA coolers almost always were some sort of FCPGA/SLOT1 coolers cut to proper size. In that era any slab of metal was better than factory gpu coolers.

But starting from a block of aluminium? That's crazy.
Haha, yeah it's amazing what passed for a heatsink back then with some double stick tape or maybe some dots of superglue in the corners and thermal compound in the center.
 
Now, I wonder what kind of badass heatsink someone with a proper shop and machining knowledge could crank out.
 
I realize that these videos are meant to instruct and inform, but when I scroll through these pages and I see a still shot in the video of this guys retarded face holding a hacksaw with heatsink fins that he cut with them, I just stay away. Why these guys choose to try and entice people to watch their videos with pictures like this is a mystery. I see it all over YT and it's annoying.
 
Now, I wonder what kind of badass heatsink someone with a proper shop and machining knowledge could crank out.
Quite frankly, probably not a very good one. Today's air coolers that truly perform are thin-fin heatpipe units. Extruded and or cut finned aluminum heatsinks are 30 year old tech if not older, and simply are not very efficient.
 
A bit of a negative spin to say they do it purely for views.
Agreed. I rather whore views for Youtube and sponsor cash than working a 9 to 5.

I realize that these videos are meant to instruct and inform, but when I scroll through these pages and I see a still shot in the video of this guys retarded face holding a hacksaw with heatsink fins that he cut with them, I just stay away. Why these guys choose to try and entice people to watch their videos with pictures like this is a mystery. I see it all over YT and it's annoying.
Any smart Youtube marketer will tell you that a good thumbnail will generate more clicks then just a block of aluminum stilling on a table.
Why make a YT video if you're not interested in views?
 
Can you make your own heatsink? Sure, but this video by LinusTechTips suggests that it probably isn’t a worthwhile idea. That aluminum cutting job really sets me OCD off.

Neat DIY kind of thing but I don't think that your average user is that dense that they can make their own heatsink without a lot of work, specialty tools and oh getting cancer.
 
Neat DIY kind of thing but I don't think that your average user is that dense that they can make their own heatsink without a lot of work, specialty tools and oh getting cancer.
Cancerphobe.
 
I realize that these videos are meant to instruct and inform, but when I scroll through these pages and I see a still shot in the video of this guys retarded face holding a hacksaw with heatsink fins that he cut with them, I just stay away. Why these guys choose to try and entice people to watch their videos with pictures like this is a mystery. I see it all over YT and it's annoying.
It's not as if the thumbnail was a lie or something, he's in the video, uses a hacksaw for a bit, and the end result is that crappy looking heatsink. Of course youtube video creators try to entice you to watch a video with the thumbnail, that's the whole point.
 
Cancerphobe.

Eh dipping sets of heatsinks into molten metal baths without filtration in BF China probably isn't the best thing for your health.

Someone somewhere posted some neat pure copper heatsinks that someone is making now. Not sure how the shine will hold up over time though. Never seems to hold up.
 
Not sure I understand some of the opinions here. This is not an instructional video, it's clearly comedic. It's obviously comedic from the tools his "engineering" team gave him, the music playing in the background, and his over the top commentary. The final product is obviously nothing anyone would seriously recommend. I enjoyed it. I was more curious, however, how long the aluminum block by itself (without fins) would keep the i7 cool. Just a big block of aluminum.
 
Pretty awesome. At the end he demonstrates how this mod allows his computer to play PS4 games natively. Well worth the watch.
 
Reminds me of some monstrosity I had back in like 2001 on my overclocked Socket A Duron 650 at 950.

Swiftech MC462

swifttech_2.jpg


A custom machined tapped copper base plate with individual pins screwed into it with a 7000rpm Delta screamer on top of it, running full bore 24/7.

My roommate in college loved me.
 
It's not as if the thumbnail was a lie or something, he's in the video, uses a hacksaw for a bit, and the end result is that crappy looking heatsink. Of course youtube video creators try to entice you to watch a video with the thumbnail, that's the whole point.

I'll put it to you like this. This guy isn't doing it right. If there was a photo of a nice pair of ass n' titties, I'd go look. His fuckface and his fuckvoice keep me away. He sounds like a dying dolphin when his mouth opens and his facial animations make it look like he's taking it in the ass even when he's not.
 
Reminds me of some monstrosity I had back in like 2001 on my overclocked Socket A Duron 650 at 950.

Swiftech MC462

swifttech_2.jpg


A custom machined tapped copper base plate with individual pins screwed into it with a 7000rpm Delta screamer on top of it, running full bore 24/7.

My roommate in college loved me.


In retrospect, those damned fins are so thick, it's amazing to me that it performed so well for its time. I would have expected thinner finned HSF's with more surface area to do better.
 
I'll put it to you like this. This guy isn't doing it right. If there was a photo of a nice pair of ass n' titties, I'd go look. His fuckface and his fuckvoice keep me away. He sounds like a dying dolphin when his mouth opens and his facial animations make it look like he's taking it in the ass even when he's not.
We get it, you don't like the guy. But if your complaint is about the fact that he's in the thumbnail, even if the thumbnail had been some T&A he still would have been in the video anyway and it would just mean the thumbnail was misleading.

Complaining about the use of an "enticing" thumbnail when the thumbnail is actually representative of the video content; while pretending a thumbnail that would have been complete bullshit is somehow better, makes no damned sense.
 
Reminds me of some monstrosity I had back in like 2001 on my overclocked Socket A Duron 650 at 950.

Swiftech MC462

swifttech_2.jpg


A custom machined tapped copper base plate with individual pins screwed into it with a 7000rpm Delta screamer on top of it, running full bore 24/7.

My roommate in college loved me.

hah! I had that same cooler! I had forgotten about that. ahh good times
 
Exactly , that vid is for entertainment IMO, but it did bring up memory of the old Alpha Pin type HS, I think I still got one on PIII.

Also reciprocating saw is not right tool, a cutoff saw would on been cleaner IMO (still not best, but available to most).

I could have done better with an angle grinder.
 
Reminds me of some monstrosity I had back in like 2001 on my overclocked Socket A Duron 650 at 950.

Swiftech MC462

swifttech_2.jpg


A custom machined tapped copper base plate with individual pins screwed into it with a 7000rpm Delta screamer on top of it, running full bore 24/7.

My roommate in college loved me.

I actually had one of those as well. And when I was experimenting with making my own water cooling setup. I encased the whole thing with some type of cover, put a couple barbs on it, and tried it out.

It completely sucked.

Now the waterblock I made from some random piece of aluminum which was basically just a cylinder with a flat bottom with another piece of aluminum siliconed to the top as a cover worked awesome. I still have that one.
 
In retrospect, those damned fins are so thick, it's amazing to me that it performed so well for its time. I would have expected thinner finned HSF's with more surface area to do better.

The thinner finned heatsinks that cost like $10 did way better.

Thing is, when that monstrosity came out, all the heatsinks were thick finned pieces of trash. So it was better only by comparison.
 
In retrospect, those damned fins are so thick, it's amazing to me that it performed so well for its time. I would have expected thinner finned HSF's with more surface area to do better.
The huge copper base in those wasn't something common at the time(if I'm remembering right), and even competing designs were made mostly entirely out of aluminum, or didn't really have that great of a fin pitch. That swiftech wasn't too far out from things like the alpha heatsinks(I had a pep66 running on a p3 for a bit) and while it did have a copper slug embedded in the base, the fins were still huge compared to a modern heatsink(and of course no pipes or anyhing of the sort). Just take a look at those old "golden orb" coolers and you'll see what I mean, and those were really popular for a bit(they never really got thin fins, the later zalman ones did though).
 
hah! I had that same cooler! I had forgotten about that. ahh good times

Yeah, I had completely forgotten who made it and what it was called. So I did a google for "best socket A heatsinks" and limited the date range from 2000-2002, and found it in an Anandtech review. Immediately recognized those pins :p

The Disadvantages are certainly as I remember them:

  • Very loud (unless the rheostat is used)
  • Not suitable for Socket 370 CPUs
  • Expensive
  • Might not fit all motherboards


At least #1 and #3
 
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