PC cooling isn’t something you’d expect to be interesting at first glance. You probably are thinking of your laptop’s annoying fan that spins up occasionally, or maybe you think about your desktop at home and it’s dusty fans. However, in the world of hobbyists, anything can be crazy if you throw enough money at it.

People throw money at PC cooling usually for one of three reasons:

1. They are a PC speed addict
2. They are looking to break PC speed world records
3. They have a lot of money to throw and nowhere else to throw it

Often, these hobbyists install a liquid cooling system (not unlike that in a car) with a pump, a radiator, and pipes leading to and from the hot components. These tend to look quite nice and perform well. However, things get more interesting the deeper down the rabbit hole you go.

If someone wanted a nice conversation starter as a PC, they could end up with something like this:

This is a PC submerged in a special liquid formulated by 3M that is electrically insulating and thermally conductive. It also has a very low boiling point (34°C) such that it simply boils off at the surface of hot components and then condenses at the surface of the fish tank PC and releases the heat to the air.

This is not the most practical way to cool a PC. (This is definitely not the most practical way to start a conversation.) Replacing a component would be messy work, and the PC would probably have to be drained and refilled every time it is transported. Oh, and 3M’s special liquid is $285 per gallon.

However, you cannot argue that this is not pretty interesting. Maybe it could get more interesting, though; we need to go deeper.

This is a computer motherboard. Yes, that is frost. For those few looking to break world records, this is how they go about it. First, they tell the computer to draw tons of power and ramp up its internal speed. Then, they pour liquid Nitrogen or liquid Helium into the “pots” on the (not for long) hot components of the PC.

This may seem like overkill. After all, liquid Nitrogen exists at -196°C and liquid helium exists at -270°C (which is 3 degrees above absolute zero!!!). However, people looking to break world records are looking for every last drop of overkill they can get.

At this point, it may seem a bit strange that these things even exist. What’s the point? Can’t I just keep on using my good old air-cooled HP laptop? Absolutely. Air-cooling still works and is still cheap.

Honestly, I can’t come up with a good reason for these methods to exist. They’re a waste of money for most people and don’t give much in return. However, hobbyists will be hobbyists, and I’m glad. I’m glad because they’re out there creating the next crazy technology and I get to sit here, on my regular air-cooled PC, and watch the incredible technology develop right in front of me.