These days, you can’t really get away with having a desktop PC without fans. Sure it’s possible if your CPU’s TDP is low enough, but desktops generally still need some kind of airflow. So, how about this: Instead of using spinning fans to move air through your PC, you spin the PC itself? That’s exactly what Sodabaka did over at their Bilibili channel (via Tom’s Hardware), with some funny results.
Sodabaka began by testing an older Sandy Bridge era i5 2500K Mini-ITX system with an atypical tower heatsink. They placed it into a centrifuge that caused the entire PC to spin. I could not tell how fast exactly, but it looked to be around three revolutions per second.
A PC needs wires connected to provide power and a display output, but Sodabaka got around this by cleverly rigging up some wires so they don’t get all twisted up after half a revolution.
This PC ended up being a bit too hot for comfort, reaching temperatures in the 100 degrees Celsius range, leading to throttling. So, it’s not exactly a viable PC cooling solution. Not that I expected anything different! Not to be deterred, Sodabaka went on to equip a much larger Noctua NH-P1 passive cooler with and without a small fan attached to the top of the cooler. It performed better, but it still hit 100 degrees.
Sodabaka then gets really creative, by 3D-printing some large fan blades that were attached to the motherboard tray. The system with the Noctua cooler was installed and the RPM was cranked up. However, the presence of a full face mask and protective riot shield gave us all the information we needed that isn’t a cooling option that can be seriously considered.
In the end, centrifugal force wins out. The NH-P1 weighs over a kilogram and it eventually got flung off, effectively destroying the PC.
It’s all in good fun, and really shouldn’t be taken as any kind of effective cooling advice. Sodabaka goes above and beyond in their video to prove that the humble fan is not going anywhere. And, they don’t even need the user to hide behind riot shields to operate.