The Experiment: Cooling a Laptop to Absolute Zero

As we begin this experiment, we're dealing with an incredibly powerful and compact system - an 8-core processor with a full GPU on board, all crammed into a laptop that's roughly the size of a fingernail. Our goal is to leave this tiny powerhouse completely open to the air and see how it performs without any cooling whatsoever.

We start by hooking up the laptop to a mouse, keyboard, and external monitor, and to our surprise, it's working - literally with nothing to cool it at all. The processor is ticking along at 2 gigahertz, which isn't terrible considering there's no cooling system in place. We try opening up a video, and while it's stuttery, the laptop is still managing to display the content.

Next, we're going to get out our trusty thermal camera and start running some benchmarks to see exactly how this system is performing without any cooling. The camera reveals that the processor is running at an astonishing 36 degrees Celsius on one side of the laptop - not bad for a tiny heat source. However, when we zoom in on the chip itself, we notice it's running even hotter at around 56 degrees Celsius. But here's the thing: because the thermal camera is reflecting off the surface of the chip, we can't get an accurate reading.

We fire up Cinebench to see how this tiny laptop holds up under load, and while it does throttle down to a paltry 0.38 gigahertz, it doesn't crash - which is more than we could have hoped for. This suggests that there's something about the way this system is cooling itself that's allowing it to perform surprisingly well.

But how is this possible? The answer lies in the fact that this laptop isn't really doing any actual cooling - it's just relying on the air to dissipate heat away from the processor and GPU. We compare this to a similar-looking laptop with a full cooling system attached, which is literally blowing hot air directly onto the back of the device.

When we attach our thermal camera to the fan-equipped laptop, we notice that temperatures are actually warmer than they were before - but still not catastrophic. Meanwhile, our bare-laptop is running smoothly at 2.7 to 2.9 gigahertz on one core, which is an astonishing improvement over its previous performance.

The most surprising result comes when we try playing Crysis without any CPU or GPU cooling whatsoever. We crank down all the settings to minimum and turn up the graphics quality as high as possible - but still manage to scrape together a decent 20 FPS frame rate. While it's not exactly a great gaming experience, it's clear that this laptop can handle far more demanding tasks than we ever thought possible.

In conclusion, our experiment has shown us just how impressive this tiny laptop is when left to its own devices. By removing the cooling system and relying on air convection alone, we've managed to unlock an incredible level of performance from a device that would have struggled in even slightly more demanding conditions with traditional cooling systems in place.

So what can we take away from this experiment? The takeaway is clear: if you want to unlock your laptop's true potential, it's time to ditch the cooling system and get back to basics. After all, as our test has shown us, sometimes the simplest approach is the best one - and who knows, maybe that's the future of mobile computing in store for us.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Today we are attempting to cookan entire gourmet meal usingnothing but a Ryzen processor.If that sounds like aterrible idea to you,then you'd be correct.This video is sponsored by Express VPNwho were kind enough towell enable this madness.So Express VPN is your one stop shopto keep your entire onlinebrowsing habits safe and secure.So definitely be sure to go checkthem out at the linkin the description, but for now,well, we have a very questionable idea.So the way this is supposedto work is very simple.So we are taking advantageof a first generation Ryzen 5and theoretically we willbe able to cook foodno problem with it.So essentially the waythis would work is insteadof using a standard like heatsyncthat you would find ona traditional processor.Instead, we're going to take all that heatand put it into cooking our baconand our eggs and otherequally terrible ideas.If we can take the heat thatis coming off of that processorusing something like theselittle copper cups which we hopeis the best way to actuallytransfer the heat over,then we should be able to getthat copper incredibly hotclose to boiling about220 degrees or so or about100 degrees Celsius which should be enoughto cook pretty mucheverything on the table.So as far as building a PC for this,we're keeping it very simple.So all I'm doing is I'mjust putting togetherthe most barebones of barebones systemsbecause all I really need to do isget a copy of Windows up and running.I'm going to max the CPUwith something like Prime 95.- I bought this with this sizein mind 'cause this is aboutthe smallest I could get without goinginto actual like full miniature size.- This feels so wrong.The thing is that I can't actually applythat much pressure to the top.So I actually want to try to get itsort of evenly spread right out the gate.Oh God, that's disgusting.- Here goes nothing.- Hopefully I get a nice even spread.Yeah, I mean, I stuck.That actually, that'skinda stuck on there.This is not what liquidcooling is all about, dude.That looks so ridiculous.- Alright, so CPU fan erroris posting in safe mode.- 91 oh wow, that's super hot.Okay, wait, hang on.Do we even need to get into, oh it's dead.It's hot.- Oh wow, yeah, you can actually feel it.- I think we should probablychange the processor though.I think first gen is probablya little bit too warm.So I need to get this Ryzen,oh come look,look how gross that is.(Austin vocalizing disgust)It looks like someonesneezed on the processor.That's so much thermal paste.I should think a little bit more.So now we've swapped outour first gen Ryzen 5with a third gen Ryzen 5.The main difference here isreally going to be in the factthat this is a much morepower efficient processorwhich hopefully meansthat it won't overheatby the time we try to actuallyget it up and running.Okay, 81 degrees already.It's not any better.That is so hot. CPU overtemperature error, CPU fan error.Now we have a CPU fan attached.Let's try that again.Dude that has legitimate air flow on the cup.I think that actuallymight fix it, this is so dumb!One good thing is actually I think our jobis a little bit simpler nowthat we know that theBIOS will get it so hot.We actually don't even needto boot into Windows, run Prime 95.Anything like that.Literally just trying to likesit on the BIOS seems likeit's enough to cause major issues.What we may have to do iseither get more cooling or theoretically,even if it's crashing,it would still work.We can just, as stupid as it sounds.We can just try to restart it untilwe get to the point wherethis actually works.So the plan right now is questionable.So we know that it is actuallygetting obviously very, very warm.That copper cup should be hot enoughto cook pretty much anything we want.So what are we gonna do right now?It's going to add a little bitof butter and by alittle bit I mean a lot.So we are currently 95 degreesand the butter's almost entirely melted.That's a good sign.Should we crack an egg and get started?- Sure, oh, that wasliterally the right amount.- Oh dude.- Look at that.- That was an expert pour.This is going to take a while, isn't it?That's a lot of egg.So the egg itself is actuallystill pretty cold on the top.But if we look at it fromthe side, we could seethat the bottom is actuallysignificantly warmer.So we've been here quite a while.Now, if we take a lookat the thermal camerawhat we see it's about 37 degrees Celsiuson top which is not terrible.Problem is, it's not enough to cook an egg.So unless we want to behere all day and slowly warmthe egg, I think we needa different strategy.So it is a new dayand we have a new plan.So yesterday when we were cooking,we were able to cook the egg.The problem was therewas too much egg to cook.So if you actually lookedon the bottom of it,it actually was fullycooked but it was only maybeabout a millimeter, two millimeters of eggwhich is obviously not enough.So today we're going tobe using the egg whites.Alright, we're at 59 degreesand climbing rapidly.Okay, so I assume it'sprobably gonna take about,well, I was gonna say fiveminutes, probably a little lessthan five minutes toactually properly heat up.So do you like to pour theegg whites or will I havethe honor pouring it allover the motherboard?- I don't trust you.- I don't trust me either.- Alright, for safety.- Oh, look at that, you're so smart.Dude, as soon as you poured that in,we actually saw CPU temperature drop.It went up to like 93 andnow it's back down to 90.It's actually properlygetting cooked there.And the nice thing is the CPUwas actually not overheatingnow it's sort of leveled off.I mean, 94 is incredibly hotbut that's good prime cooking temperature.Dude, that's almost cooked.How it's been like three, four minutes.- Yeah.- Have we discoveredthe key to perfect eggs?A tiny cup and hundreds of dollars of computer hardware?- Yeah that. So I don't want to jinx it,but I think this is a perfect time.- Cheese, do you want togive it another minute?Do you just want to drop the cheese on it.- We're just going to drop it in.- Okay, so I think the keyhere is that we have heatbut we have a small amount of heat.So don't put a lot of cheese.Just add a little bit.- I think this is probably enough, right?Let me see.- Yeah, that should be fine.- Alright, sprinkle it in.Might even restrict it a little bit.Yeah, I think that'd be good.- That is not what you ever want to see.That looks ridiculously hot.But the thing is all that heatis definitely being transferred in.You can actually see the waythat sort of the edgeshave cooked through.Whereas that little bit over hereon the right is not quite as warm.So the cheese on the sideis starting to attachbut the bottom, likethe egg is almost cookedall the way through.We’ve still not killed,it's now 109.So it was super hot.So the thing is, this gives me an idea.So we know that Ryzen is actuallyreally reasonably power efficient usually.Obviously a cooler is helpfulfor any processor but I sawa video the other dayof someone on Twitterwho had taken one of the Ryzen laptops.They like open it up andthey were actually runningthe Ryzen laptop completely bare.So there was nothing on topof the processor, nocooler, no heatsync, nothing.And it was actually able to play a gameand like sort of benchmark and stuff.- Oh.- Maybe that's the followup to this.Once we're done withour ridiculous cooking.Oh, like that, we actually should tryon the laptop and see what happens.- Yeah, because if itdoesn't shut off like this,that's actually really impressive.- That's pretty good, right?- That's basically justa miniature versionof what you'd have at IHOP.- Smells like egg and cheese.Alright, let me taste it.Oh, it's very hot.Tastes like eggs and cheese.The cheese is melty though.Should we make some s'mores?- Yes.- I think we can melt some chocolate.- I would like to think so.Maybe not the marshmallowsmight be a little tough.So I've gone through the trouble nowof making a tiny s'more for ants.So I grabbed our animal crackers.I had to get it into a fine chunkthat we can use for a s’more.- Dude, it's so small.- This is literally gonnabe the smallest s'more ever.And for the sake of simplicitybecause I know this won't doit any favors or maybe itwill feel free to chime in.But should we put a top cracker?- No, I want be able to seeif it's actually melting or no.Now if you squint a little bit, this lookslike a really cool cooking show right now.You've got like the light behind you.You're there carefullycrafting your creation.- I will call that good.Oh yeah, there we go.- Those crackers are not goingto actually transfer the heat very well.So if this doesn't work,we actually need to knockthe chocolate off andthen put it back togetherwhen we pull it out.- Putting chocolate on thecup itself is really easy.So I want to see how far we can getwith making an actual s'more first.And then if not, we can just see how easyit is to melt chocolate.- So while our s'mores are cooking away,let me tell you about the sponsorof today's video, Express VPN.So I use Express VPN becausenot only do they keep me safeand secure online but alsothey do it with a high level of speed.No one wants to use the VPN ifit ends up slowing you down.So now it is a VPN likeExpress VPN, keep you safeand secure online whenyou're say on public Wifibut it even helps you with yourprivacy when you're at home.So a lot of ISPs specificallyhere in the United Statesdo a lot of data logging tosee what you're doing online.and Express VPN keeps you very much saferthan if you're just doing it by yourself.But the other aspectthat really is helpfulwith Express VPN is the abilityto sort of change your locationanywhere around the world.So say you want to watch acertain video sharing servicein a different country well guesswhat, Express VPN has you covered.And I got you covered as well.So you want to sign upfor Express VPN right nowyou can get three monthsfor free by signing upthe link in the descriptionat expressvpn.com/austin.If you want to help supportthe wonderful sponsorof ridiculous projectslike this and get yourselfsome safety and security.Go check out expressvpn.com/austin and getyour three months of free service.Thanks Express VPN.I'm going to go back to makingquestionable content nowso that you can keep all ofthe audience safe and secure.Oh yeah, the chocolate'sgetting a little bit melty.So the problem is thatthat chocolate actuallyhas like essentially thes'more on the bottom.The little Graham cracker is actuallynot allowing the heat all the way through.We may want to take the spoonand just sort of knock the extra.I can't see that at all.- I mean, you can see the chocolatekind of glazing a little bit, it's nice.- I think let's knock the chocolateand the marshmallowonto the actual copper.- Okay, I mean that ruins our s'more but.- Oh, look at that.It's melted right onto the spoon.That's pretty melty.- Not too bad, hold on, alright ready?- Alright give me that sweet taste test.- Oh it’s actually really warm.- Sorry, is it too hot?- No, marshmallow wasactually really soft.I mean, it was already softbut like the heat did a little more to it.When Ryzen 4000 seriescomes out on desktop,everyone's going to comeout with their benchmarks.Their reviews are gonna belike, can this cook a s'more?Can we cook bacon on it this time?We'll see.- You know what I think it's time for.I think it's time to gofind a Ryzen 4000 laptopand see if we can actually get it to workwith zero cooler whatsoever.- Are we gonna cook on it?- No, we already cooked,that was a bad idea.- Okay.- Before we tear apart thelaptop, I do want to sayit actually is a prettynice piece of hardware.Yes, it is quite plastic-y.But the thing is you getpretty much everythingyou're expecting at this price point.Obviously, as you'll see in a second,the performance is solid whenyou have it fully assembledbut you have a great keyboardlike most Lenovo laptops.The touch pad does feela little bit hollowsince it is so plastic-y,but you have nice featureslike of course a standardSSD and eight gigs of RAM.But importantly you dohave a fingerprint sensoras well as a little cover for the webcam.The thing here though I want to find outis where does it actuallycome in completely stock.I want to run a series ofbenchmarks and then we can beginour Frankenstein surgery to see exactlyhow much Ryzen can handle.So to begin with, I want to geta little bit of a benchmark.So I'm gonna run a fewdifferent benchmarksincluding 3DMark Time Spyto get a good sense of the graphics.I also do have Cinebenchwhich is a good CPU test.And we'll throw in a copyof Geekbench as well justto see how this guyperforms completely stock.If you've seen our video on theAsus Zephyrus G14 you'll knowthat the Ryzen fourth generation seriesfor mobile is incredibly powerful.Not only does it have someof the best GPUs out therebut having four, six and eveneight cores in such a thinand ultimately cheap form factoris incredibly impressive.So I have pretty high hopes right now.So just for reference, this is a systemwith the Ryzen 5 4500U.Ideally, I would have gotten somethingwith Ryzen 3 which isa four core processor.However, I couldn't actually get my handson any of those right now.So instead I'm actually doingthe mid range model with six cores.Alright, so I have all my benchmarks run.So I know where we're at forstock which obviously is veryimpressive since it is oneof these new Ryzen laptops.So the next step is to shutthis guy down and startthe disassembly whichI think should be easy.So we have four screwsaround the CPU socket.We have our two heat pipeswhich actually don't really seemto be particularly well stabilized.I think the back chassismostly holds them onand they have one, two,three screws around the fan.So this little die has eightcores and a full GPU on board.It's like the size of myfingernail? But now I want to leavethis completely open to the air and I wantto take some thermalsort of imagery of it.So what I'm gonna do so I'mgonna essentially hook itup with a mouse, keyboardand an external monitorand see what happens.Hey, it works.Okay, it's working right now,literally with nothingcooling the processorat all, it is working.Oh, look at that, that's not terrible.Two gigahertz.Seems to be working, can Iopen up a video?A little stuttery, butthis straight up works.I am using a Ryzen laptop.Okay, very stuttery.So my next task, I want toget the thermal camera outand start running some benchmarksand see just exactly how this is working.So to test I'm going to be usinga Seek Thermal cameraattached to the iPhone.So you can see that the camerais a toasty 36 degrees right now.But when we actually lookat the laptop, at leaston this side it's not crazy,it's seeing 36 degreeswhich is totally reasonable.So interestingly over hereseems to be sort of oneof the hotspots which Idon't even know what that is.Maybe the VRM for the chip.The chip itself, I mean 56degrees or so is definitely warm.The problem is that becauseI'm using a thermal camera,the actual chip itself youcan see in the middle is darkwhich means that because it's reflectingit's actually not showingme the true temperature.Alright, here it goes nothing.Let's fire up Cinebenchand see what happens.It literally throttlesat 0.38 gigahertz.Oh, it crashed, it wasworking so well, oh man.So a good question is why does this workand this might not?Well, the differenceis that there's reallynothing besides air.That's just sort of hitting the backof the laptop right now.Where this is directly attached.So between that thermalpaste, the copper heat pipesand this fan, it actuallycan move a fair bit of airand efficiently transfer the heatfrom the processor to well the air.So let's see if this actually works.At least it's not crashingnow, so that's good.Oh, look at that, thatis dramatically better.So right now we'resitting at 2.9 gigahertz.What are you trying to tell me?This actually works?We'll come around back here.Oh, the temperatures were actuallya little bit warmer than they were before.So we're still seeing actuallyreally solid performance,before we were stuckat like 400 megahertz.With the actual fanblowing on the laptop?We're now pretty consistently sittingat 2.7 to 2.9 gigahertz on one core.I like don't even reallyknow what to say about this.Like obviously it's very impressive.And now we're starting to throttle down tolike one gigahertz but likeit's incredibly impressivethat we've come so far to thepoint where, not that long agoa laptop like this would havea dual core processorlike two, 2.5 gigahertz.But now we have six coreswith essentially zerocooling all still running.I mean, yeah.It's throttle city, but it's not dead.Okay, so surprising noone the multi-threaddidn't actually make a big difference.So if you look at theactual score which we shouldhave gotten which is about2382 that is a big hit with.Well, no cooling but it'sstill really impressive.The real test.Can we play Crysis without any CPU coolingand GPU cooling whatsoever?So I'm turning down allof my settings to minimum.Let's see if I can actuallyget a decent frame rate here.Okay, 20, 20-ish FPS.Is this a great experience?Absolutely not.Is it super stuttery?Yeah, but I'm getting like 20 FPS.Come on.Oh, it died. It died!Look do not try this at homebut the fact that we're ableto play a game which would havestressed a laptop like thisfrom just a couple of years ago evenwith full cooling isincredibly impressive.So stay in school.Cool your processors.Don't try this at home andsubscribe to the channelfor more ridiculous nonsense like this.Now if you'll excuse me,I'm gonna go put this backtogether. I think it’s alittle, little bit much right now.(upbeat music)