WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:06.080 CPUs run hot. So hot that they would destroy themselves if it weren't for 00:00:04.319 --> 00:00:10.400 built-in protections that slow them down. But we don't want to slow down. We 00:00:08.559 --> 00:00:14.559 want to go fast. And thus nerds are willing to spend hundreds of dollars to 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:17.279 keep their CPUs cool. But what if there's a whole other side of cooling 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:22.000 that no one's talking about? The backside. Why not put a cooler there as 00:00:19.520 --> 00:00:25.199 well? So we did. Before you furiously comment saying, "Cooling a CPU from the 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:28.560 back doesn't work. There's too many layers of stuff between the CPU and the 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:31.760 cooler for it to be effective." Well, take a look at this footage. That is 00:00:30.240 --> 00:00:35.680 heat on the back of the motherboard. And there's enough that removing it might 00:00:33.680 --> 00:00:39.760 actually make a meaningful difference. So, does it? And if it does, is it easy 00:00:38.160 --> 00:00:43.360 or cheap to do? Well, that depends. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:47.360 No, no, no. Not until after this segue to our sponsor, 00:00:44.559 --> 00:00:52.320 Threat Locker. Their web control module blocks devices from opening prohibited 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:56.320 websites and can even redirect to an access request page instead of 00:00:54.320 --> 00:01:00.760 displaying a traditional error message. Check it out at LMG.gg. gg/webcontrol. 00:01:08.479 --> 00:01:13.840 The simplest way to cool your CPU from both sides is to just point a fan at the 00:01:12.080 --> 00:01:19.280 back of it. And that's been done before. My first PC case was the Anttech 3002, 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:22.960 which had a mount for a fan right behind the motherboard tray. Did I spend 30 of 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:27.680 my high school dollars on an Noctua fan to put it there? Yes. Did it do 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:31.040 anything? from what I remember kind of. So, first things first, let's see if 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:34.240 Antech was cooking or not. Noctua has this handy magnetic mount from uh their 00:01:32.880 --> 00:01:39.840 desk fan that we're just going to use just as a quick little preliminary test 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:42.400 here. We're seeing about a degree or two 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:47.360 difference uh going from like 51 something to more closer to 50 49.7 kind 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:50.880 of area. And that lines up with the preliminary testing that we did taking 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:55.200 measurements from the CPU and hardware info. But we all know that proper 00:01:52.720 --> 00:02:00.159 cooling requires contact. So, let's see how easy or hard it is to mount a cooler 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:03.680 on the back here. First things first, any mounting design that we make, we'll 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:07.680 need to make sure that the CPU cooler on the front isn't affected because, 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:11.680 spoiler alert, it's doing most of the work. And mounting hardware for CPUs is 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:14.800 made with relatively tight tolerances to ensure that you can get even contact 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:18.400 across the CPU's integrated heat spreader. And pretty much every part of 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:22.720 the mounting hardware plays an important role, including the parts that go on the 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:27.360 back of the motherboard, which are in our way. Let's get rid of it. 00:02:25.760 --> 00:02:31.760 And you know what else is in our way? The Intel socket back plate that holds 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:35.280 the CPU retention arm on the front. And that also prevents our second cooler 00:02:33.519 --> 00:02:38.560 from making direct contact with the back of the motherboard. So, not only can we 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:42.720 not get away with using out ofthe-box CPU cooling parts for this, we're going 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:47.680 to have to remove the back plate as well, which means that we're going to 00:02:44.640 --> 00:02:49.920 need to make a custom back plate. Yes. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:56.239 Originally, what I was thinking of doing is we could probably just modify the 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:58.239 original back plate to add the cooler 00:02:56.239 --> 00:03:02.480 onto the back. However, as you can notice, there isn't really a whole lot 00:03:00.239 --> 00:03:06.800 of material on the ends to put the bolt holes through. I'd basically be drilling 00:03:04.720 --> 00:03:10.200 right along the edge here. So, we're going to have to make a new one out of 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:14.509 metal. 00:03:14.640 --> 00:03:20.959 Well, that's one thing I noticed. Oh, is that going to be a problem? They 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:23.200 probably put this so there's a small thin layer 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:29.200 insulation layer to probably make sure just in case that 00:03:26.720 --> 00:03:33.879 none of these traces or contacts. Oh yeah, cuz there's definitely open VAS 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:33.879 there. 00:03:34.239 --> 00:03:40.080 So, we plain just won't be able to get the same degree of contact on the back 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:43.360 as we have on the front. First of all, uh we're on the the wrong side, but 00:03:42.239 --> 00:03:49.599 second of all, this is not a flat surface like the cold plate on your cooler or the IHS on your CPU. There's a 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.959 bunch of tiny electrical components that are going to prevent this cold plate 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:57.120 from sitting flush with the back of the motherboard. What are we going to do about that? Well, we're going to need a 00:03:55.519 --> 00:04:02.920 cushioning layer that's a lot thicker than your typical thermal paste, like 00:03:58.720 --> 00:04:02.920 this 1 mm pad. 00:04:03.519 --> 00:04:09.519 Sadly, it has a worse thermal conductivity than any thermal paste. But 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:13.680 hey, it's much better than air, which is what the fan's working with. So, I'm 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:16.880 just going to estimate it because like it's just got to be good enough, you 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:19.840 know? That's what I always say. It's just got to be good enough. We decided 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:27.040 to go with a mechanism that's just mounting into these corners that are already part of the Intel bracket 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:31.360 because it just makes our lives easier to mount in here. We had to make some 00:04:28.320 --> 00:04:33.759 custom length screws because I don't 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:38.080 even actually know exactly what these holes are for on the Noctua coolers cuz 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:41.360 I've never used them. I'm assuming it's compatibility with much older hardware. 00:04:40.080 --> 00:04:46.000 Uh but I've never actually had to use them. So now I do and it's a what an 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:49.680 exciting time for me, a new experience. Thankfully there's Robertson screws in 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:54.639 the precision screwdriver kit which has an adapter that lets you lose any of 00:04:51.919 --> 00:04:57.840 those precision bits with the LTD screwdriver. Technically, the length of 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:02.240 these screws should mean that nothing actually will screw into the 00:04:59.520 --> 00:05:08.160 motherboard, but there is a chance that like things can bow and bend a little 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:10.400 bit. So, I am going to be careful. I'm 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:15.199 kind of trying to stop when I feel resistance out of just sheer terror 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:21.120 because I am legitimately worried about this board existing. So, let's 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:24.400 let's boot. If this seems simple, it's because Justin did all of the hard work. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:27.840 Honestly, I mean, looking at it right now, we're still looking fine. It's not 00:05:26.320 --> 00:05:30.720 better. It's not worse. This is kind of 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:40.080 interesting. So, when we're looking through the thermal camera, we can see that our front CPU cooler is just much, 00:05:36.320 --> 00:05:41.520 much warmer overall than our back CPU 00:05:40.080 --> 00:05:46.960 cooler, which implies that it's moving away a lot more heat to be expected. But 00:05:44.080 --> 00:05:52.639 honestly, it feels like we haven't done much because the base of our CPU cooler 00:05:49.280 --> 00:05:54.479 is 20°. So, I don't think it's it's 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:57.520 doing much at all. So, why doesn't the cooler perform better? Well, the 00:05:55.919 --> 00:06:00.240 motherboard is acting as an insulator, which slows the rate of heat transfer. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:06.319 And it doesn't matter how thermally conductive our CPU cooler or our thermal pad is. It can only remove the heat that 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:09.759 reaches the other side of the motherboard. Think about it like this. 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:13.520 It doesn't matter how many lanes your highway is if everyone has to file 00:06:11.440 --> 00:06:17.280 through the same single lane bottleneck, support public transit. This cooler can 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:20.319 only pull away as much heat as it's being given. But once you pull all of 00:06:18.960 --> 00:06:23.759 the heat away, you're going to be rate limited by the motherboard. So, it 00:06:22.400 --> 00:06:29.840 doesn't matter how much extra cooling power you put on here, unless you decide to go sub-zero. And if you're going to 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:31.520 go sub-zero, just put it on the front. 00:06:29.840 --> 00:06:35.680 Don't put it on the back. I'm just going to take the fan out. I wonder if it will 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:39.520 even like if the cooler will even saturate. Like, that would be a good 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:47.280 indicator if uh if this thing is actually doing anything. 21.3. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:48.720 It's going up very slowly. So, it is 00:06:47.280 --> 00:06:52.400 actually we are transmitting some heat away. But, do you know what's going to make this heat up faster is if I just 00:06:50.960 --> 00:06:57.680 touch it with my hand. Let's compare that to running the front without the fan. So, we're looking at it right now. 00:06:55.280 --> 00:07:01.919 It's sitting at 27°. Now, Reese is going to hit 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:07.840 Cinebench and we're going to see how quickly this thing heats up. 28 26 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:11.840 29 30. 00:07:09.520 --> 00:07:17.199 It's like it took us like literally minutes to go up a degree before and 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:19.599 this is climbing a degrees per second and eventually it will start getting to 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:25.759 the point where it's probably thermal throttling. This just illustrates how much more important this is than 00:07:23.840 --> 00:07:29.360 whatever we're doing on the back. Keep watching please. We decided to use our 00:07:27.840 --> 00:07:33.599 environmental chamber to have a perfectly controlled temperature for the 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:37.919 most precise of results. But when we tested in there, every permutation of 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:42.160 our system performed the exact same. back panel, back fan, back cooler, stock 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:46.000 cooler, it did not matter. Was all of our preliminary testing wrong? No, it's 00:07:44.400 --> 00:07:49.199 the environmental chamber who was wrong. To maintain temperatures within a tenth 00:07:47.599 --> 00:07:52.720 of a degree, the chamber needs to constantly blow conditioned air. And 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:56.400 that conditioned air blowing was enough to cool the motherboard on our control 00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:01.199 system, which means that we saw no improvements on our cooled system, and 00:07:58.400 --> 00:08:03.919 that blows. We needed a more realistic air flow scenario. So, we found a spot 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:09.039 in our office that was roughly equidistant from a bunch of ventilation. 00:08:05.919 --> 00:08:11.039 We set the room temp to a tight 22ish° 00:08:09.039 --> 00:08:15.440 and tried again. And would you look at that? With the custom back plate and a 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:20.080 fan, we see CPU temps drop 1 to 2°. Heck yeah. And with our cooler mounted to the 00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:23.280 back, we see a further improvement of 00:08:20.080 --> 00:08:25.599 1 or less degrees. It's not nothing, but 00:08:23.280 --> 00:08:28.319 it is almost nothing. Oh, and we've kind of been neglecting to tell you about the 00:08:26.960 --> 00:08:32.399 results that make this whole endeavor look uh even more foolish. When we 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:35.440 compare CPU temps with our front mounted cooler on its stock mounting hardware 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:40.159 instead of our custom back blade, it performs better than our back mounted 00:08:37.760 --> 00:08:43.919 cooler setup. So, uh, all the haters at the start of the video who said this 00:08:41.599 --> 00:08:47.279 won't work, shut up. It does work. It just works poorly. Maybe you could get 00:08:45.760 --> 00:08:52.560 better performance out of a more precise custom mounting mechanism, but why 00:08:48.959 --> 00:08:54.480 bother when you can just do this? 00:08:52.560 --> 00:08:59.120 Or maybe you could just segue to our sponsor, Acuity Scheduling. At work, 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:03.440 sometimes actually physically doing your job is the least time-consuming part of 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:07.440 your day. Preparation and organization can take up countless hours. Time which 00:09:05.680 --> 00:09:11.920 you could be spending doing things you actually love. Well, Acuity Scheduling 00:09:09.839 --> 00:09:16.000 is a comprehensive scheduling software that offers in-depth calendar 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:20.320 management, easy booking tools, and multiple ways to send reminders and 00:09:18.160 --> 00:09:24.080 follow up on bookings. 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What do you think? 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:05.920 Was there something that we missed? Something that you could have done differently? Let us know in the 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:10.959 comments. And if you liked this video, why don't you watch a cooling solution that did work, like our AC cooler.