AMD Ryzen 9 7950X Passively Cooled with Copper Blocks

[AleksandarK]

A Reddit user has shared their experience of passively cooling an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, with some modifications to the setup. Using the Streacom DB4 passively cooled case, the user u/AromaticImpress7778 pulled off cooling a processor with 16 cores and 32 threads with a TDP of 170 Watts. Interestingly, the Streacom DB4 case rates CPU support for only 65 Watts, meaning some modifications were in place. To support the high-TDP CPU, the user used two of the one-kilogram copper bars and attached them to the case. Heat is transferred to the two one-kilogram blocks using the case's default plate and an additional 233-gram copper plate for the CPU and motherboard. These big copper blocks are not soldered to the case, but instead, the user puts Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal between copper parts and Arctic MX-6 between the case and copper.

To cool the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and MSI B650I board, accompanied by HDPlex GaN 250 W and 64 GB of memory, the system did well enough for a passive build. After running the system at full load, the CPU reached 95 degrees Celsius for CCD1 and 95 degrees Celsius for CCD2. The external panels of the Streacom DB4 case were getting 50C to 60C of heat. Additionally, the user noted that the usage of this system will be more relaxed, as it will not run under full load for a prolonged period. Regarding the system's total weight, the entire build weighs around 13 KG, with 4.4 KG of that being only copper. The case weighs 7.5 KG, and the other parts weigh about one kilogram.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Dirt Chip]

Very nice custom built.
What is the cost co the copper block?

 

[Ferrum Master]

Looks pretty much waste...

I am not sure why on earth you would use this when we have heatpipes? It is like crawling back to the tree.

 

[Kyan]

Won't it be much more effective if it is cut to look like a heat diffuser and not a copper block ?
Cool work nonetheless.

 

[londiste]

He mentions performing at 90%. That implies pretty severe throttling.

 

[Nostras]

He mentions performing at 90%. That implies pretty severe throttling.

I wouldn't call it severe, but depending on how high the workload is and if we assume the max power is 175W (no PBO) this could be anywhere between 100W and 170W of actual power usage.
But that's more of a testament of how poorly 7000 series scales with additional power.

https://aqzrxtxcxr.cloudimg.io/www.hardwaretimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Screenshot-2023-01-22-at-21-37-12-Ryzen-9-7950X-performance-to-power-limit-scaling-1.png?func=bound&w=1024&h=689

 

[djuice]

The wholesale price of copper is around $4 per LB, so with at least 2.23kgs of copper, that's 4.9lbs, so around $19.60.

 

[ZoneDymo]

He mentions performing at 90%. That implies pretty severe throttling.

that is what is so silly about this, it doesnt matter, Ryzen is thermally controlled, it clocks itself as high as the cooler allows, so sure this will work...just will have to give up some potential performance...

 

[fibre]

Very nice custom built.
What is the cost co the copper block?

around $50 per 1kg (I searched the block from photo on amazon)

 

[londiste]

I wouldn't call it severe, but depending on how high the workload is and if we assume the max power is 175W (no PBO) this could be anywhere between 100W and 170W of actual power usage.
But that's more of a testament of how poorly 7000 series scales with additional power.

https://aqzrxtxcxr.cloudimg.io/www.hardwaretimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Screenshot-2023-01-22-at-21-37-12-Ryzen-9-7950X-performance-to-power-limit-scaling-1.png?func=bound&w=1024&h=689

7970X stock power limit is 230W. But even if it is 170W, getting 90% of the performance should land somewhere around 100W of power usage. Your link also puts the power for 90% of full performance somewhere between 100-130W.

The tricky part about the copper bars that are the point of the article is that they do seem to be bars which... sucks for cooling. What cooling needs is as much area as possible - radiator, fins, basically. Chuck of copper adds some capacity to store heat but not much beyond that. With this amount of copper there could be a significant short-term advantage but that gets saturated quite quickly.

 

[Gungar]

The wholesale price of copper is around $4 per LB, so with at least 2.23kgs of copper, that's 4.9lbs, so around $19.60.

Wow, i didn't know copper was THAT cheap.

 

[geon2k2]

Wow, i didn't know copper was THAT cheap.

Its not, found one Kilo with the same Feinkupfer .999, marking as seen on the picture on ebay at 115 USD. If he has 4 kilos of copper and all is the same type it can be pretty expensive.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

needs fins for looks too.

 

[chodaboy19]

Neat experiment even if it's impractical.

 

[kondamin]

Its not, found one Kilo with the same Feinkupfer .999, marking as seen on the picture on ebay at 115 USD. If he has 4 kilos of copper and all is the same type it can be pretty expensive.

scientific .999 grade is always more expensive than industrial stuff where it doesn't matter that much. if it's just for piping or what ever practical application 99.9% $15 a kilo

 

[mechtech]

scientific .999 grade is always more expensive than industrial stuff where it doesn't matter that much. if it's just for piping or what ever practical application 99.9% $15 a kilo

Typically good quality electro-pitch is 99.99% and sells at market value

Funny thing is, raw material is about same cost as a noctua cooler lol

 

[kondamin]

Typically good quality electro-pitch is 99.99% and sells at market value

Funny thing is, raw material is about same cost as a noctua cooler lol

that 15$ is what’s it’s going for on alibaba.

how much of a Noctua cooler is copper the heat pipes and the plate that contact the cpu. Fins look like aluminium.

I’ve only had dh15s which came with 2 fans, don’t know about the others.

 

[sLowEnd]

7970X stock power limit is 230W. But even if it is 170W, getting 90% of the performance should land somewhere around 100W of power usage. Your link also puts the power for 90% of full performance somewhere between 100-130W.

The tricky part about the copper bars that are the point of the article is that they do seem to be bars which... sucks for cooling. What cooling needs is as much area as possible - radiator, fins, basically. Chuck of copper adds some capacity to store heat but not much beyond that. With this amount of copper there could be a significant short-term advantage but that gets saturated quite quickly.

Yeah, if the idea is to have a mass absorb heat, something leading to a tub of water would be better. Water's specific heat capacity is a lot higher than copper.