Roman Hartung alias der8auer has already tried several times to further optimize the cooling of a notebook – but so far without success. The application of liquid metal and the tuning of the fan control have a positive effect, of course, but the project should only show a few percentage points of performance gain.

The preliminary highlight is the printing of a water cooler for the notebook. This is an Acer Predator with an Intel Core i9 – 9980 HK and a GeForce RTX 2020 Max-Q. Acer cools the two components along with the power supply using an elaborate heat pipe construction, in which five heat pipes ensure that the waste heat is conducted to the cooling blocks with their cooling fins, where two radial fans, typical for a gaming notebook, provide the necessary fresh air . But with such a construction, you will of course quickly reach certain thermal limits.

For this reason, Roman turned to the Parare company, which has developed 3D processes that also produce complex components Enable metal. The printers themselves are of course from other manufacturers, but Parare has built up a certain amount of expertise in metal 3D printing, which is used in the automotive industry, among other things. Such a process can be used, among other things, when a destructive process (machining, milling, etc.) is not possible because the complexity of a component simply does not allow such processing.

At Parare, a water cooler was then built that is to be used in the notebook. This was 3D-printed from aluminum and of course has roughly the design of the original air cooler with its heat pipes, since it should also fit into the notebook again. The two fans should still be used, but of course the cooler has the connections necessary for water cooling.

Inside, in the area of ​​the CPU and GPU, there are of course some structures that absorb the waste heat should optimize. With this kind of flat design it would not have been possible to build such a cooler in the classic way. There is simply not enough space for a CNC-milled cooler with cover and O-rings and even assembly would hardly have been possible. In this respect, 3D printing offers the possibility of realizing this.

In another video there will also be the results on the use of water cooling in the gaming notebook. We will update the message accordingly.

1. Update: First results

Roman has meanwhile installed the water cooler in his notebook and is delivering first results. It is also explained in more detail that there is an internal water cooling circuit that is operated by a small pump even without using the external connections. This pump works with 5 V and can be connected internally in the notebook. The two fans cool this internal circuit. In stationary operation there are quick-connect connections via which the cooler is then operated externally. The notebook remains completely independent in mobile use.

2. 500 to 3.00 The 3D-printed cooler cost 0 euros in this form or would cost roughly. It is a prototype, i.e. a initially unique project.

The first measurements show a rather high boost clock in single-threaded operation, which is reflected in the corresponding Cinebench points . Were it so far 454 points are it now 473 points. In the multi-threaded test, the temperatures then rise again 90 ° C, but obviously significantly higher boost clock rates are achieved, so that the Cinebench result by 600 to 700 Points (2nd 889 Points before and now 3. 521 Points ) is higher. The increase in processor performance is already quite decent.

Obviously, however, the cooler still has its problems with cooling the GPU. In the Time Spy test 9. 225 Points achieved for the graphics test, with the 3D printed water cooler there are only 5. 195 Points. The GPU also gets around good 10 ° C warmer than before.

In the next video tests with the external supply of the water cooling will follow.

2. Update: Results with an external circuit

Now Roman has also delivered the results with an external circuit connected. By further optimizing the power limit, the result in the multi-threaded test of Cinebench R 23 on 3.997 points are increased. From 2. 700 points with the standard cooler became 3. 500 Points with the internal circuit with the notebook case open and now almost 4. 00 0 points with the external water cooling.

Now that the temperatures for the GPU were also right (although Roman had to adjust the amount of thermal paste here), was able to also the 3D performance based on 9. 225 Points increased to 9. 551 points

In the end, the performance plus certainly does not justify the effort and certainly not the costs. But that’s always the case with such a project and how much effort you want to invest is ultimately up to you.