CPU air cooler runs ice-cold water through its heatpipes to liquid-cool a GPU — negative-temp DIY mod sees up to 17% performance uplift

We’re back with another classic from TrashBench, the ingenious modder who has previously dunked GPUs into transmission fluid to cool them. Perhaps that’s not very convenient, so why not try something far more feasible and, maybe even genuinely practical? Taking an air cooler, dismantling it, and turning it into a Frankenstein AIO that can tame GPUs like it’s a walk in the park.

I Made a Water Injected GPU Cooler – YouTube Watch On

Our journey starts with a Thermalright Peerless Assassin, a competent cooler on its own, but clearly, there’s room for improvement. One by one, the fins from its heatsink are removed until the heatpipes running through the finstack are exposed just enough. Then, a disc cutter is carefully run through the top to get access to the magic sauce.

For those unaware, the heatpipes inside an air cooler are hollow, with a small amount of liquid inside that evaporates and condenses during heat cycles, acting as a phase-change system. That’s enough to cool a CPU when combined with fans on either side. So, when we cut the tops off the pipes, we see channels inside leading directly to the base plate, which enables this madness.

Thin water tubes are connected and secured to these pipes, and once initial leaks are fixed, a pump at the other end successfully injects green-colored water through them, bringing this custom apparatus to life. It’s time for testing, and an MSI RTX 3070 is the first recipient of this honor.