Would this be a viable way of cooling a CPU

[Luka Rolak]

The question is simple: is it possible to cool a CPU with an glass of water under normal(average user) load? I think that if you add good thermal paste underneath it and add a water pump that would take out hot water out of the cup and put fresh one in to it the PC would run just fine. If many people get interested I might make a test with one of my old CPU-s

[ARikozuM]

Should probably use a metal cup and some sort of passive return system for circulation.

[Cyracus]

the answer is simple: no

[Stardar1]

2 minutes ago, BlaBlaBla said:

The question is simple: is it possible to cool a CPU with an glass of water under normal(average user) load? I think that if you add good thermal paste underneath it and add a water pump that would take out hot water out of the cup and put fresh one in to it the PC would run just fine. If many people get interested I might make a test with one of my old CPU-s

Yes and no:

 

Yes the water would be a great way to retain the heat, as it has a high heat capacity.

But, condensation from the cup could easily kill your components, and the CPU will generate heat faster than the water can dissipate it without a radiator, so it would eventually reach the same temperature as the CPU, and stop cooling it. 

 

it makes sense in theory., but it is not a good idea. 

[laminutederire]

The issue lies in cooling the water more than cooling the components. If you want it to work properly like you cup of water, you'd need a lot more water so that it acts like a thermostat. But that would become not practical at all

[Stardar1]

3 minutes ago, Stardar1 said:

Yes and no:

 

Yes the water would be a great way to retain the heat, as it has a high heat capacity.

But, condensation from the cup could easily kill your components, and the CPU will generate heat faster than the water can dissipate it without a radiator, so it would eventually reach the same temperature as the CPU, and stop cooling it. 

 

it makes sense in theory., but it is not a good idea. 

This is basically the reason why water coolers are not THAT amazing. 

 

The liquid is great at conducting heat and moving it to a radiator, but in the end, you still use fans to cool it. Liquid coolers are great for increasing radiator surface area (a kraken x61 can have 4 140mm fans in push/pull) which does increase cooling potential, but a cooler such as the corsair H60 won't be much more effective at cooling the CPU than a 212 EVO. it will keep the CPU cool until the liquid gets hotter, at which point it is no more effective than an air cooler. 

 

Now, this takes a lot of time, and I am not saying that these products are bad, it is just kind of interesting. 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

27 minutes ago, BlaBlaBla said:

The question is simple: is it possible to cool a CPU with an glass of water under normal(average user) load? I think that if you add good thermal paste underneath it and add a water pump that would take out hot water out of the cup and put fresh one in to it the PC would run just fine.

 

If you replace the plastic cup with a copper cup, and seal it to avoid steam getting to your components, then you are basically describing a water cooling loop. Typical setups are closed loops, so the water has to be cooled in a radiator or something before it can return to the cup (a.k.a. waterblock) at (hopefully) ambient temps. But you could have an open loop in which the warm water is discarded and new fresh water is taken from a faucet or other source. You could even have an office-like dispenser providing chilled water at sub-ambient temperatures, as long as the difference isn't large enough to induce condensation near the waterblock. Such open loop would perform equal or better than closed loops, as water will always reach the waterblock at the desired temperature. Greenpeace, on the other hand, would put a price on your head