(water splashing)
- Oh!
Seriously?
Did they ever try this thing?
In the old days,
we could cram top-of-the-line components
into the tiniest of cases
and still manage to cool them.
But sadly,
that is no longer the case
because the PC industry
has gone utterly bonkers
to the point where you simply cannot fit
a new GPU into a small form factor chassis,
let alone cool it.
That is until now,
hailing from Japan,
this is the Bykski 1080 External Cooler,
an absolutely massive radiator
that goes beside your computer,
not inside it.
And Bykski says that it can cool
2000 watts worth of computer, which-
Here, here, there we go.
You know that we are going to be testing.
Just like we're gonna test your patience
for my terrible segues to our sponsor.
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I'm not sure where I got the idea
but I thought it would be smaller.
While I've never seen one like this though,
the idea of an external water cooling system
is nothing new.
And in fact,
back in the early 2000s,
external water coolers were more common
than sticking radiators inside your case.
And most cases
that had a "water cooling capable"
sticker on the box,
simply had a couple of holes
punched in the back with grommets
that you could run tubes through.
By contrast, modern cases are designed
so that pretty much anywhere
they leave space for a fan,
they also try to leave space
for a radiator because, well,
what else were they gonna take up that room with?
Three and a half inch hard drives?
So then you're probably asking yourself,
why, in the modern era,
are we looking at an external water cooler?
And the answer is,
since Nvidia's 3000 series,
we haven't really been able
to pack the same tier of hardware
into our small form factor PCs.
That amount of heat just, I mean,
even if we could stick it in there,
isn't practical.
Because even if we can keep
temperatures under control,
it's gonna be super loud.
Like, sure,
the water block on this RTX 4090
does make it a lot smaller
than it was out of the box,
but these things are so darn tall
that in a lot of smaller cases
it ends up interfering with the fans.
And I mean, that's before
we even stick a radiator on the thing,
meaning it's basically impossible.
Until you have one of these.
By using an external cooler,
we can still have a nice compact PC
sitting on our desk
while the heat and noise
get chucked somewhere else.
So let's take a closer look at it.
Bykski is one of those brands
that I've heard of before
but only in the context
of super cheapo budget stuff
on AliExpress.
So I've never really had a reason
or an opportunity
to look more closely at their products.
Overall though,
I gotta say my first impressions are pretty good.
It's using what appears to be anodized aluminum,
pretty much anywhere.
It's got a very,
kind of industrial vibe to it,
but I like that function over form
kind of design, right?
Like, this grill
is gonna keep your fingers out, sure.
(fan spinning)
But it is not gonna interfere with airflow.
Around front
I've got what seems to be
some kind of integrated
flow distribution thing,
though it doesn't distribute water anywhere.
- [Alex] It's a fill line.
- In-out and I guess this is presumably fill?
- [Alex] Yup.
- Now you were saying you wanted to do
a leak test on it before we take it open.
I don't think that sounds very exciting
but I can also see where you're coming from,
so why don't we do that real quick.
(suspenseful music)
For the uninitiated,
we are pressurizing the system
because if air can get out,
then probably water can also get out.
This looks really expensive.
Ah-ooh!
This has a very hand-built vibe to it,
doesn't it?
On the one hand,
obviously these are all mass produced parts.
I think I'm looking at a DDC pump over here
with a custom top
that's integrated
into this distribution plate.
We've got what appear to be just
off-the-shelf Bykski RGB controllers.
These are clearly fans
that are generally available
outside of this system,
but the actual integration
of all of these components
looks very hand-done.
And all of the individual parts of the enclosure
are just either sheet aluminum or extrusion,
meaning that it's probably
a pretty low volume product.
Goes in here,
pumps out to...
Here, the bottom of the radiator, right?
That makes sense
for bleeding the air bubbles out.
You wanna push the water into the bottom
so that the air...
Duh duh duh duh...
Comes out the top.
That goes way down to here
and then up here
and then out.
- [Alex] I feel like there could have been
a more elegant way to do that.
- Me too.
One thing I really like about the design
is that this radiator is designed
with an extremely low density fin structure.
What that means is that
it should perform very well with low RPM fans,
meaning I expect this to be extremely quiet.
We've got a simple adapter
from 12V and 5V Molex,
so it appears they expect you
to simply run this
inside your computer somehow
to this 4 pin bad boy right here
that screws on a little something like that.
It's great that they have this high security,
can't be accidentally unplugged connector here,
but if you were to trip over the cord,
nothing would prevent this from:
(A) pulling out,
and (B)
yanking your computer off the desk.
My enthusiasm is a little dampened.
But if the performance is outstanding
then I think I can get over it.
Let's move on.
(screwdriver whirring)
Nice.
Now let's take a look
at the challenges we ran into
trying to build a small form factor system
with modern hardware.
Will the 4090 fit this way?
No.
Not only can we not fit a radiator
up in the top,
we can't even fit fans.
And if we took the fans out of here
and we just put fans
on a radiator on the bottom,
there is absolutely no way
that that would handle the heat load
of a 4090 and our CPU,
which I'm assuming is crap.
I don't actually know.
I think there's a spec list on here.
Wait, also on the prompter,
Bykski only accepts defects
within 10 days of delivery?
- [Alex] Yep, that's cool.
- A 10 day warranty?
Anyhoo, it's an i9-13900K in here
with a Strix Z690-i motherboard
and 8TB Sabrent Rocket PCIe Gen4 drive,
EK Velocity2 CPU and GPU blocks,
and an 850 watt Silverstone
modular power supply.
This is a top-of-the-line rig,
and we're gonna have links
to all of these parts down below.
Alex, I guess we're go-
Ooh.
I guess we're gonna have to
just remove these fans then-
- [Alex] Yeah, they cannot live.
- Okay.
See you later, fans.
- [Alex] GPU out for a second.
- I just-
What the heck?
(Alex laughs)
I mean, how is it even gonna close
with the fans removed, Alex?
- [Alex] It's very close.
- I see.
- The power switch has not really been working,
so we want to plug that in.
- Okay, so first of all,
the motherboard,
things come on little,
little daughter riser things.
So we're looking at that.
You know,
the external water cooling paradigm
might feel inelegant
compared to what people do these days,
but it's actually kind of smart,
like, yeah,
you have to pay extra
for the chassis for it,
but that's a one-time thing,
and it's the sort of thing that
no matter how many times you change your CPU,
or GPU or your blocks here,
or even your case,
you can continue to use.
I can't say this makes me very comfortable.
Do you see the angle
this GPU is sitting at right now?
- [Alex] You can see the whole back
of the chassis move.
- [Linus] Oh wow.
We're just taking all that flex from the back
and putting it on the bottom.
Aah, okay.
- [Alex] You said we could put fans in there,
but I want art.
- [Linus] I see.
What? Really?
- [David] It'll look...
Yeah.
- [Alex] I don't wanna be responsible
for this, David.
- What? No! Hold on.
Wait, what are you doing?
You're just gonna...
Oh my God!
(babies crying sound)
- [David] Thank you so much
for allowing me that pleasure.
- This is optional
but I would strongly recommend
using quick disconnects
with any kind of external water cooling system,
just because it means
that moving the system around
is gonna be a lot easier.
Can he do it?
Oh, what, seriously?
If we just power it up,
that might do it.
We're just gonna power it on
and power pour.
- The worst part is,
I was about to suggest that too, so.
- [David] Oh no.
- I wonder if the power button works now.
That would be cool.
- You closed up the side panels
without testing it.
- Yeah.
- Bad GBs.
Okay.
How much you wanna bet
I can plug in that thing behind the GPU?
I made the problem worse.
- Just pull it out.
- I think I pulled the daughterboard out.
- Oh geez.
(crew laughs)
This is gonna be very difficult.
- Yeah.
- I think we might have to pull the GPU.
- Nope, nope.
I've got it, I've got it.
- Oh, we should probably
turn on the power supply.
- Are you (beep) kidding me?
(Alex laughs)
Alex!
Okay.
- Oh geez.
- Okay.
Oh, shoot.
There you go.
Just never turn it off again.
- Why is it still spewing?
- Well, remember how I was saying
I didn't really understand
their reservoir design?
- Yeah.
- I still don't.
- [Alex] This is very wet.
- [Linus] I have no water in the system, sir.
- What?
- [Linus] No water.
(fans whirring)
That pump sounds so unhappy.
I'm sorry, pumpy.
I'm trying.
We are not getting any water to the system yet.
- Yeah, this thing's bone dry right now.
- I'm working on it.
I can feel water on my sandals toe.
We're gonna try something bold.
We're gonna crack a fitting.
- Oh, there we go.
- Whoa-whoa.
Hey, oh, how you doing?
- Hey, your computer might get water soon.
- [Linus] Okay, so there's water
making it to the computer now?
- [Alex] Um, I don't see any yet.
- Aah.
For how much they're charging for this thing,
I can't say I'm especially impressed.
- Oh, the computer shut off.
Excellent.
- Oh crap.
Oh...
- Now it's on?
- Okay. The power button works.
I'm going, I'm going!
(crew laughs)
It's for testing.
Come on, come on.
- [David] Oh, water! Water!
- Do we have water?
- [David] Yeah, water's in the GPU.
- Oh, heck yeah.
- [Linus] Yeah, boys!
- GPU is going to be so much happier now.
- [David] Do you think it needs more water?
- Look, David,
I am working on the additional water.
- Oh, it posted.
- Yes!
Yes, we successfully computer build.
Okay, power down.
This actually seems to be pretty effective.
- [David] Where is all the water going?
(Alex laughs)
- Where is all the water going, David?
- [Linus] Okay.
Whoa!
All right.
Okay, hit it again.
Nevermind.
Did I lose more
than I actually put in that time?
- [Alex] Almost definitely.
- What on earth?
Oh, the babies.
(crew laughs)
Oh seriously?
- Ugh!
- All that progress un-progressed!
- I'm legitimately concerned
we're going to kill this
with how much water is going out of this
and into all of the electronics.
- [Linus] It had it coming, Alex.
You know, it is a question
that we used to find ourselves asking
more than we do now,
but it still comes up.
Did they ever try this thing?
- And like your fill indicator
will always be full
because the pump's pumping the water
through it and out.
- Trying to use my thumb
to kind of control the acid reflux
this poor computer is suffering from.
- [Alex] This deserves some babies too.
- I'm changing the description of our channel
to "We Build Bad Computers
So You Don't Have To".
Wait are you stuffing babies in there?
Why are you doing that?
Stop!
- [Alex] I wanna get one in the fan.
- [Linus] No!
- Or I can just...
Whoa!
- No, you can't do that.
Okay, recently I said
there's no such thing
as a bad product,
just a bad price.
I stand entirely corrected.
Okay.
Stop putting babies in the computer!
Okay, we've got a bubble here,
but the trick is that we need to fill it.
Like it's pretty clear
that this is a do not buy.
Bykski, you aren't making
a great first impression here.
I gotta say.
Okay, good.
Now lower that,
and I'll get this above you.
Come on, bubbles.
- [David] Oh yeah.
- [Alex] That's working?
- The issue is that
moving the bubbles around
doesn't help us.
We have to get them replaced with water.
And we can't put more water into the system
because there's no way
to fill the reservoir directly.
This would take hours and hours and hours
to fill a system.
Fail, Bykski.
It's so freaking loud!
Meaning I expect this to be extremely quiet.
I am outraged
that I spent this much money on this thing.
From a content point of view,
I'm fine with it
because this is hilarious.
But if I bought this thing,
what is it?
700 US dollars?
- $690.
- [David] Ooh, no!
- I bet Alex and I
could design a better this,
in like, an afternoon.
- Yeah, we would try it once
and be like, "Wow,
that was the worst water cooling experience
we've had in weeks, at least."
- We wouldn't need to
because we'd put a reservoir
in the bloody thing!
So let's have a look at the flow path in here
and figure out why this isn't working.
So here's where we're filling.
This goes into the reservoir, right?
But you can see,
see this coagulation effect here?
I think the issue
is that there's not enough room
for the air to travel up this.
If this was like a big fat,
like three quarter inch tube
or something like that,
it might be all right.
But this right angle fitting here
is absolutely killing it.
You can see here
that even though the reservoir
theoretically keeps bubbles
from getting to the inlet of the pump, right?
They should all rise to the top
and then be replaced by this fill here.
Theoretically-
- [Alex] Oh yeah,
I see what's going on.
- But in practice,
it's not able to clear the bubbles
from the impeller.
So it's creating this like,
pressure on the other side of the pump
that then shoots this water
back up the fill port.
Also, the inlet for the reservoir
is so close to the inlet for the pump,
that it actually sucks the bubbles,
even though they should float.
- [Alex] Yeah.
- Should we try to fix their design?
- [Alex] Yeah.
- Alex, you got any stop fittings?
- Uh, yes.
- [David] What's up, Tynan?
- Hi.
(David laughs)
- Don't worry.
What we're doing is fine.
- [Tynan] I've seen worse.
Although, the babies
are marginally concerning.
(David laughs)
- Where does this go?
- It goes where Tynan's finger is,
'cause there's nothing gonna be in there.
- [Alex] Okay.
(crew laughs)
- So you cut it, like,
I'm thinking, like, here.
Okay, don't cut my finger,
and then I'm gonna get in there immediately.
Oh, okay.
And this goes on here,
and this goes on here.
Oh my God,
this plate goes back there.
Okay.
How's our CPU temps doing, Alex?
- 79 degrees.
- [Linus] 79 degrees.
Okay, wait for it.
I can fix that.
- [David] Watch out for the baby!
- No, I'm not watching out for the baby.
They didn't even put any lock tight
on these stupid pass throughs.
So they just spin freely
as you're trying to tighten things.
Okay, I'm powering up the pump.
Okay.
So now,
our bubbles...
- [Alex] Go to the fill port!
- [Linus] Go to the fill port!
(Alex laughs)
You're welcome, Bykski.
The fact that that's what it took
to fix their design,
that's not on us.
That's on them.
The reason I could think
that they would use that
is because I don't know
if we're gonna be able
to close this panel,
now that we've moved it to the right spot.
That's a really tight run there.
- [Alex] Oh yeah, we can't.
- Oh, yeah.
How are we doing?
Does it work?
- It's 31 degrees right now.
- Nice!
- Great.
- Nice!
Also, Alex,
your concerns about not having fan control?
Very valid.
These are spinning at like 3000 RPM.
(fans whirring)
Maybe more.
(fans whirring)
- It looks like something we would've made.
- No, you take that back.
We would've made it better than this.
- We're able to dispel 313 watts.
Cool.
You can do that with a 360 Rad.
- [David] Yeah.
- [Alex] Oh, almost 40K in Cinebench.
That's pretty good.
- Yeah.
I mean, it's gonna keep your water temps
down near ambient.
- Once you fill it,
it should work.
You just can't ever put it back together again.
- Just like this segue to our sponsor.
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- If you guys enjoyed this video...
- What did I want to throw to?
I want to throw to the fastest Xbox.
A small form factor build that was actually good.
- And self-contained.
- Yes.
- All right, sure,
they can watch that.
But also watch the car radiator one.
It has the same chaotic energy.
This is great.
This is all the additional equipment
Alex was expecting to use
while we tested the 2000 watt capacity claims.
Won't be needing that.
I wouldn't hook that thing up to anything.