water cooing Water Cooled MSI GP66 inspired by goofy LTT videos

[Orion_]

Water Cooled Laptop, MSI GP66

This linked video is a bit of a TLDR and shows the most current setup of the laptop and radiator stand. There are some gameplay clips at the end and all games are on ultra with RTX on and DLSS on quality in 1080p because that is what my monitor is. The end shows pictures of the cooler in it's different configurations over time.

 

Towards the end of last year I found myself trying to cut up my IETS GT500 cooling pad to replace the fan and make it more quiet. While doing this I came across a series of water cooled laptop videos from LTT and a few others. After finding out about the XMG laptops and their Oasis cooler shortly after, I knew I needed to give it a shot. Cost wise the XMG laptops weren't it for me, I thought I could out do them with a better preforming laptop and a DIY water loop and radiator setup while keeping it as practical if not more. From here, I settled on an MSI GP66 11UH, the most powerful gaming laptop in it's class holding the record of (at the time) 14,057 and a BeQuiet Pure Loop to keep on the idea of keeping things as quiet as possible. 

 

Way too many attempts at bending 1/4" copper pipe to match the stock heatsink, 2 broken stock heatsinks, and more SnBi solder than Id like to admit, I had my first iteration of the water cooled GP66 together. The first version used a remote radiator connected by amazon QDC which were soon replaced by Koolance QDC which are nothing short of amazing. I kept with BeQuiet fans and experimented with a few fan variations. Starting with 2 Pure Wings fans and then 4 in a push pull setup I stuck with 4 for a time mainly because the fans helped keep the radiator from getting dinged up in a backpack (did I mention I was taking this with me to work?). Eventually I dialed this in to just 2 Silent Wings 3 fans with higher static pressure. With the water cooling set up, games ran at 15-18* less with no sound from the fans whatsoever. Cinebench gained about 3000 points from air cooling, air cooling still worked perfectly, and I set the now world record score of 14,091 on Time Spy for the 11800h/3080 combo!

 

 

 

Time went on and I was hit with a realization, this all started because I wanted a more quiet cooling pad, so why haven't I made this radiator into a cooling pad yet? I ran  to MicroCenter and grabbed something I thought would work. Let me take a second to say, the MicroCenter guys in Tustin are troopers; dudes did what they could to help with this madness and not one cracked a laugh when I said I was water cooling a laptop. With some minor modification I rigged up the radiator, reservoir, and voltage regulator to the stand. It still worked, but it degraded the cooling significantly. because there was no bottom if I used the laptop in bed a blanket would block any and all airflow. Regardless of placement, the grating on the top further suffocated the fans trying to blow through them. This reduced the cooling gains from -18* to -10* at best.

 

 

 

After giving it some time I flushed the Go Chiller coolant I was trying out (didn't even give it a week and it was causing more liquid to come out of the QDC because of gunking them up) and 'borrowed' my wife's old stand she had for a chrome book. Using zip ties at first it was obvious this stand would be the way to go. The top was unobstructive and the bottom kept the intake fans from being blocked. These two benefits weren't the only things, the cooling actually improved compared to the remote radiator. Keeping about 10mm for the fans to have good airflow, the cool air from the fans (cooler than the laptop at least) was blowing into the intakes of the laptop and helped take off another 2* from when the radiator was remote. This wasn't enough for a substantial boost in benchmarks, but it was enough to keep Cinebench from breaking 92* at the same overclock which had previously been (very slightly) throttling. The final tweak that was made to reduce the profile of the stand was to replace the 4 Pure Wings fans (Burnt out the Silent Wings turning the voltage controller too high on accident) with the Phanteks T30 fans. These beastly fans push more air than the push pull BeQuiet fans and are still unbelievably quiet. Lastly, I also 3d printed a bracket for the Koolance fittings, because they are actually bulkhead fittings because they just weren't amazing enough to begin with. With this setup most games will never break 60*. The only game I have that gets anywhere near 70* is the Dead Space remake. Doom Eternal plays at 60* GPU and 61*CPU (73* 81* on air); Metro Exodus (Enhanced Ed) plays at 59* GPU and 54* CPU (79* 75* on air); and Dead Space plays at 55* GPU 65* CPU (64* 87* on air). On all games the overclock and undervolt need to be dialed back on the CPU to prevent crashing when it gets too hot.

 

 

 

 

 

[Blqckqut]

this is pretty damn sick

ive seen laptops where you have the aio going into the back of the laptop, but i like this more

 

i love the idea of the stand and rad eing under it, pretty smart

 

only change id make is put more anti vibrate pads, bc once it rams up ur gonna have a shaky fingertip

[Orion_]

19 minutes ago, Blqckqut said:

only change id make is put more anti vibrate pads, bc once it rams up ur gonna have a shaky fingertip

Thank you!

 

Hah! That would be funny, I can't say I thought about vibration. One thing I noticed with the setup is that there is next to no difference between low speed and high speed for the fans/pump. With all fans Ive used between the Pure Wings, Silent wings, and the T30s Ive run them at around 5-6v. I tried benchmarks at 11.5v a few times (controller is cheap and from Amazon so Im hesitant to trust 12 to be 12) and never had any difference. With the T30 and their preset speed profiles (Torn on how to feel about that part tbh) I just have them set to hybrid (1500 RPM max) and set it around 5-8v, basically whatever it happens to be at when it turns on. All pump/fan control is manual.

[RevGAM]

On 6/23/2023 at 2:26 AM, Orion_ said:

Water Cooled Laptop, MSI GP66

This linked video is a bit of a TLDR and shows the most current setup of the laptop and radiator stand. There are some gameplay clips at the end and all games are on ultra with RTX on and DLSS on quality in 1080p because that is what my monitor is. The end shows pictures of the cooler in it's different configurations over time.

 

Towards the end of last year I found myself trying to cut up my IETS GT500 cooling pad to replace the fan and make it more quiet. While doing this I came across a series of water cooled laptop videos from LTT and a few others. After finding out about the XMG laptops and their Oasis cooler shortly after, I knew I needed to give it a shot. Cost wise the XMG laptops weren't it for me, I thought I could out do them with a better preforming laptop and a DIY water loop and radiator setup while keeping it as practical if not more. From here, I settled on an MSI GP66 11UH, the most powerful gaming laptop in it's class holding the record of (at the time) 14,057 and a BeQuiet Pure Loop to keep on the idea of keeping things as quiet as possible. 

 

Way too many attempts at bending 1/4" copper pipe to match the stock heatsink, 2 broken stock heatsinks, and more SnBi solder than Id like to admit, I had my first iteration of the water cooled GP66 together. The first version used a remote radiator connected by amazon QDC which were soon replaced by Koolance QDC which are nothing short of amazing. I kept with BeQuiet fans and experimented with a few fan variations. Starting with 2 Pure Wings fans and then 4 in a push pull setup I stuck with 4 for a time mainly because the fans helped keep the radiator from getting dinged up in a backpack (did I mention I was taking this with me to work?). Eventually I dialed this in to just 2 Silent Wings 3 fans with higher static pressure. With the water cooling set up, games ran at 15-18* less with no sound from the fans whatsoever. Cinebench gained about 3000 points from air cooling, air cooling still worked perfectly, and I set the now world record score of 14,091 on Time Spy for the 11800h/3080 combo!

 

 

 

Time went on and I was hit with a realization, this all started because I wanted a more quiet cooling pad, so why haven't I made this radiator into a cooling pad yet? I ran  to MicroCenter and grabbed something I thought would work. Let me take a second to say, the MicroCenter guys in Tustin are troopers; dudes did what they could to help with this madness and not one cracked a laugh when I said I was water cooling a laptop. With some minor modification I rigged up the radiator, reservoir, and voltage regulator to the stand. It still worked, but it degraded the cooling significantly. because there was no bottom if I used the laptop in bed a blanket would block any and all airflow. Regardless of placement, the grating on the top further suffocated the fans trying to blow through them. This reduced the cooling gains from -18* to -10* at best.

 

 

 

After giving it some time I flushed the Go Chiller coolant I was trying out (didn't even give it a week and it was causing more liquid to come out of the QDC because of gunking them up) and 'borrowed' my wife's old stand she had for a chrome book. Using zip ties at first it was obvious this stand would be the way to go. The top was unobstructive and the bottom kept the intake fans from being blocked. These two benefits weren't the only things, the cooling actually improved compared to the remote radiator. Keeping about 10mm for the fans to have good airflow, the cool air from the fans (cooler than the laptop at least) was blowing into the intakes of the laptop and helped take off another 2* from when the radiator was remote. This wasn't enough for a substantial boost in benchmarks, but it was enough to keep Cinebench from breaking 92* at the same overclock which had previously been (very slightly) throttling. The final tweak that was made to reduce the profile of the stand was to replace the 4 Pure Wings fans (Burnt out the Silent Wings turning the voltage controller too high on accident) with the Phanteks T30 fans. These beastly fans push more air than the push pull BeQuiet fans and are still unbelievably quiet. Lastly, I also 3d printed a bracket for the Koolance fittings, because they are actually bulkhead fittings because they just weren't amazing enough to begin with. With this setup most games will never break 60*. The only game I have that gets anywhere near 70* is the Dead Space remake. Doom Eternal plays at 60* GPU and 61*CPU (73* 81* on air); Metro Exodus (Enhanced Ed) plays at 59* GPU and 54* CPU (79* 75* on air); and Dead Space plays at 55* GPU 65* CPU (64* 87* on air). On all games the overclock and undervolt need to be dialed back on the CPU to prevent crashing when it gets too hot.

 

 

 

 

 

Fantastic! I bet that Transformer loves its new ride! Well done!

[Orion_]

Quick update as I move into the 4th iteration of this. Got a lot of comments on Reddit and elsewhere that the fans were being obstructed by the laptop and thus cooling was limited. I tried with the laptop on and off the stand and cooling was always slightly better with the laptop on the stand (1-2*, but it was consistent). Because of this, I thought the air from the fans was helping cool the laptop more by getting more air into the laptop intake; justifying the obstruction of the fans. Despite this, I thought "I don't know a dang thing about what Im doing here, maybe something else is going on here?".

 

I looked back into my parts bin and dug out a D5 knock off pump that came with an Amazon kit I bought for a reservoir a while ago. With some minor modification (removing the SATA plug, soldering PWM, and replumbing) I had the new pump in. To my surprise, the temps dropped even more. With the D5 clone I was able to OC to 4.5ghz and never broke 89* on Cinebench, before it would hit 93* at 4.4ghz. Wanting to be stubborn I almost didn't try with it off the stand, but, again, I have literally no idea what I am doing here. Taking the laptop off the stand It now finishes Cinebench at 4.5 at 82* and was even able to boost to 4.6ghz to finally break 15,000 points with the i7 11800h. In games the performance is even more laughable than before with the radiator mounted remotely with the new pump, Doom Eternal now barely breaks 50* (a near 10* gain) and I was able to finish Metro Last Light on Ultra in 4k (TV, laptop is 1080p) at LOWER temps than I was playing 1080p in prior.

 

I think what happened here is that the BeQuiet AIO pump was too weak to overcome the head pressure when I had the radiator set up remotely before (as this remote XMG Oasis design was V1). Because of this, when I shortened the hoses to make the radiator into a stand the now less complex loop gave the illusion of the stand being a better design, when really it was that the pump was finally able to move more water. 

 

Anyways, here is the V4 bracket I am now printing out to have as a mounting frame for the radiator. I still need to implement a hook to hold the hoses and plug as well as make holes for bulkhead fittings in the front, but this will be the setup. Fans will be uses as intake still with the pump and res below the radiator. Extra space was cut out to ensure there being space for noise deadening foam around the pump to keep things quiet. The voltage controller will be mounted sideways on the front above where the bulkhead fittings will be placed. The only downside of this is that the backing plate will be too big to print on my measly Ender 3 Pro, so it will be made into 4 parts and I have to hope for the best on my measurements and the power of glue.

[Orion_]

Got the case printed out and 60 hours later I have come to find that no mater how much foam I place between the pump and the frame I can't get it to quiet down the vibration. Liked the look but didn't get passed the first stage of laying parts out. It worked, it was sturdy, and it looked decent for a first draft, but it wasn't silent.

 

 

Im now going for a hybrid of the metal stand from before and a printed base to hold the plate vertically. It doesn't look as good for now but hopefully Ill get some days off to trim the fat off the metal plate. For now, all this is being done in the 2 hours or so I have between shifts.

 

 

 

Also, now that Im creeping up on having the radiator setup in a.... a spot to leave it for now... Im working on a cover for the bottom laptop case. Until now I have been running a cover that I cut out of 1/8th" PLA plate. Now that Ive found out how much easier it is to use Fusion 360 than Blender to make practical stuff I can take a crack at a proper cover. Torn on if I want to make it symmetrical, because Ill have to cut more of the OEM case, but it would certainly look better.... The bracket on the back will hold the female ends of the QDC. Given that the rad is remote again I finally have motivation to have a home for the hoses on the laptop side.

 

[RevGAM]

I don't know if you'll find this info useful. Hopefully, you will.

Beginner resources

Tinkercad is an online CAD (computer-aided design) software for beginning users. You can use Tinkercad to create your own 3D designs from scratch. The site includes lots of tutorials to get you started. Since Tinkercad is cloud-based, you can work on your designs anywhere you have internet access.

Thingiverse is a free, community-driven website with thousands of ready-to-print 3D designs made by creators around the world. You can search or browse for files that will allow you to print items on a broad range of topics from education, to tools, to entertainment. You also can modify files downloaded from Thingiverse, using them as a launchpad for making your own creations.

 

Intermediate resources

Fusion360 is an enthusiast CAD software for users looking for a more traditional design experience. This is free to hobbyists for personal use.

Meshmixer is a modeling tool for separating files. This software is how some 3D printers print in multiple colors.

SketchUp is a traditional CAD system designed primarily with architecture in mind. This is a resource for designing to scale and larger projects.

Sculptris is an organic clay-like modeling program for creating designs with sculpting commands such as push, pull, and pinching.

[Orion_]

Ive been bouncing between Fusion 360 to actually design things and then Blender for clean up. I started figuring out 360 around when I made my first post and have been enjoying it a lot. Blender has been helpful to keep a hold of for moving vertices and small tweaks before going to print. If I have some free time Ill probably check out the others just to see which I like more. Tinkercad just didn't click for me at first how 360 has.

[RevGAM]

1 hour ago, Orion_ said:

Ive been bouncing between Fusion 360 to actually design things and then Blender for clean up. I started figuring out 360 around when I made my first post and have been enjoying it a lot. Blender has been helpful to keep a hold of for moving vertices and small tweaks before going to print. If I have some free time Ill probably check out the others just to see which I like more. Tinkercad just didn't click for me at first how 360 has.

Please keep us updated, and tell us what you think of the other resources I listed when you get a chance. I'm hoping to find something for a complete novice. Not me, of course.

[Orion_]

Busy day with another trip to Micro Center. Got an EK radiator to replace the PureLoop radiator I've been using. When I started this, not only did I not know that you could just get a radiator and pump for the same price as an AIO, I also didn't know that the Be Quiet radiator was ALUMINUM... Been putting off getting a copper/brass rad but the fact that the heatsink is a one off and took 2 weeks to nail I figured it was time.

 

 

I also got the new case cover cover printed, cut down the frame, and got new coolant. The coolant was supposed to be purple but I guess the bottle got labeled wrong at the factory by Corsair. Not totally sure if I need to reach out to them or MC, but it looks sick. Not sure if the rad performs better, the same, or worse than the BeQuiet and wont for a while as summer is finally setting in where I live. My previous testing was done when it was still in the 70* but it has been a firm 80-90* all week for us.

 

 

[RevGAM]

8 hours ago, Orion_ said:

Busy day with another trip to Micro Center. Got an EK radiator to replace the PureLoop radiator I've been using. When I started this, not only did I not know that you could just get a radiator and pump for the same price as an AIO, I also didn't know that the Be Quiet radiator was ALUMINUM... Been putting off getting a copper/brass rad but the fact that the heatsink is a one off and took 2 weeks to nail I figured it was time.

 

 

I also got the new case cover cover printed, cut down the frame, and got new coolant. The coolant was supposed to be purple but I guess the bottle got labeled wrong at the factory by Corsair. Not totally sure if I need to reach out to them or MS, but it looks sick. Not sure if the rad performs better, the same, or worse than the BeQuiet and wont for a while as summer is finally setting in where I live. My previous testing was done when it was still in the 70* but it has been a firm 80-90* all week for us.

 

Definitely contact Corsair. 

[Orion_]

Not quite a cooling thing anymore, but the adventure continues!

 

Swapped out the 300 nit 1080p 240hz screen for a 400 nit 1440p 240hz screen!

 

 

[Orion_]

On 7/20/2023 at 3:41 AM, RevGAM said:

Definitely contact Corsair. 

Hit them up on Monday and had purple coolant delivered yesterday. No questions asked, killer support on their part! I thought for sure they would want me to somehow prove it was wrong in the bottle but they got it taken care of.

[RevGAM]

7 hours ago, Orion_ said:

Hit them up on Monday and had purple coolant delivered yesterday. No questions asked, killer support on their part! I thought for sure they would want me to somehow prove it was wrong in the bottle but they got it taken care of.

I figured they'd come through, and I'm glad I was right.

[Orion_]

The grand finale following a GPU shunt mod and learning to overclock the RAM. 3080 laptop pushing 3070ti Time Spy scores!