Background information

The freezer PC: «We wanted our product to challenge the performance limits, but also to work. We succeeded.»

Kevin Hofer
13.5.2022
Translation: Eva Francis
Camera: Thomas Kunz
Cutter: Kevin Hofer

Bernhard Vetsch of ThermodynamX has built a refrigeration system into a PC. With freezer cooling, he constantly cooled the Threadripper 3970X processor beast to 35 degrees Celsius. Today, he’s looking back at how it all went.

Bernhard Vetsch contacted me just under two and a half years ago. A refrigeration expert, he wanted to build a PC with a refrigeration circuit. No sooner said than done. Today, said PC is up and running. The project is completed (for the time being).

In our final interview, Berhard talks about what it would take for such a cooling system to go into series production. Find out this and many more interesting facts in the video above. For English subtitles, click the gear icon, «Subtitles/CC» and «Auto-translate».

Here are some quotes:

Setting it up at the premises of Kälte Fischer was one of the best moments – a beautiful shared experience.
A struggle? When we found out we can’t just cool to -40 degrees Celsius because of the motherboard.
The prototype cost about 25,000 francs.
We’d do the project again in a heartbeat.

Missed an episode? No problem! Below you’ll find all the articles that have been published so far.

  • Background information

    The freezer PC: «We want to cool the CPU to a constant 20 degrees Celsius»

    by Kevin Hofer

  • Background information

    The freezer PC: how the refrigeration circuit is built

    by Kevin Hofer

  • Background information

    The freezer PC: sniffing out leaks

    by Kevin Hofer

  • Background information

    The freezer PC: our refrigeration circuit is alive!

    by Kevin Hofer

  • Background information

    The freezer PC: from 3.7 to 4.5 GHz at 35 degrees Celsius

    by Kevin Hofer

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From big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.

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