GoKawiilYouTuber builds PC water-cooling loop from scrapped 4kW air-conditioner radiator
Hardware modder TrashBench repurposed an old 4-kW outdoor AC radiator-fan-pump unit into a custom water-cooling loop for a PC, 3D-printing mounts for cold plates and reservoirs along the way. Testing showed an RTX 5060 dropped from 52°C to 33°C under the setup, and an overclock pushing boost clocks from 2902 MHz to 3300 MHz yielded only a 3% FPS gain despite the 14% clock increase.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The experiment illustrates how far GPU temperatures can be pushed down with extreme, scavenged cooling hardware, though the modest performance gain from overclocking suggests Nvidia's stock power/performance tuning is already close to optimal. It's a niche DIY showcase rather than a practical cooling solution, but it offers useful data for enthusiasts curious about the real-world ceiling of thermal headroom on modern efficient GPUs.
- A repurposed 4kW AC radiator cooled an RTX 5060 from 52°C to 33°C in a custom loop.
- Overclocking from 2902MHz to 3300MHz (14% increase) only yielded a 3% FPS improvement.
- The project reuses scrap AC hardware and 3D-printed parts, reflecting a broader DIY extreme-cooling trend among hardware testers.
EKWB EK-Quantum CPU/GPU Water Block Kit — If this DIY AC-radiator cooling build has you itching to try custom liquid cooling yourself, a proper water block kit is the perfect starting point. It gives you the cold plates, fittings, and tubing needed to build your own loop without having to scavenge an air conditioner first.
See EKWB EK-Quantum CPU/GPU Water Block Kit on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: tomshardware.com — Bruno Ferreira, 2026-10-31
Published there as: “Modder uses a trash 4-kW air conditioner radiator for his test bench to see how well it can cool a PC”
Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.