First Water Cooled Mac Studio
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Thanks to MANSCAPED for sponsoring the video! Get 20% OFF + Free Shipping at manscaped.com You can learn more about GCore's Graphcore IPU at the link here: lmg.gg How good of a job did Apple do with the cooling on the Mac Studio?? Well it definitely isn't as good as our custom water cooling solution, I can tell you that much. Discuss on the forum: linustechtips.com Buy an Apple Mac Studio Max: lmg.gg Buy a Corsair iCUE Commander Core: geni.us Buy a Corsair Hydro X XC7 RGB: geni.us Buy a Corsair Hydro X XD5 Pump/Reservoir Combo: geni.us Buy a EK CoolStream PE 120: geni.us Buy some Go Chiller Pre-Mix: lmg.gg Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group. ► GET MERCH: lttstore.com ► SUPPORT US ON FLOATPLANE: floatplane.com ► AFFILIATES, SPONSORS & REFERRALS: lmg.gg ► PODCAST GEAR: lmg.gg FOLLOW US --------------------------------------------------- Twitter: twitter.com Facebook: @LinusTech Instagram: @linustech TikTok: @linustech Twitch: twitch.tv MUSIC CREDIT --------------------------------------------------- Intro: Laszlo - Supernova Video Link: youtube.com iTunes Download Link: itunes.apple.com Artist Link: soundcloud.com Outro: Approaching Nirvana - Sugar High Video Link: youtube.com Listen on Spotify: spoti.fi Artist Link: youtube.com Intro animation by MBarek Abdelwassaa @mbarek_abdel Monitor And Keyboard by vadimmihalkevich / CC BY 4.0 geni.us Mechanical RGB Keyboard by BigBrotherECE / CC BY 4.0 geni.us Mouse Gamer free Model By Oscar Creativo / CC BY 4.0 geni.us CHAPTERS --------------------------------------------------- 0:00 - The Drag Race of the Century 0:39 - GCore! 0:51 - LTT Intro 1:01 - Weird Fans? 2:11 - Internal Cooling Plan 4:01 - Heatsink Destruction 6:03 - External Cooling Plan 8:20 - Finding PSU Polarity 9:16 - Cooling Assembly 12:40 - Filling the Loop feat. Problems 14:15 - Filling the Loop feat. It Working 15:05 - Linus Reaction & Results 16:42 - Manscaped! 17:17 - Outro
The video opens with a dramatic framing of a head-to-head comparison: a stock Apple Mac Studio on the left and a heavily customized water-cooled Mac Studio on the right. The host quickly frames the challenge, noting that Apple Silicon can dynamically scale depending on cooling, and questions whether Apple’s cooling is up to the task. The discussion then pivots to the internal cooling plan, highlighting the Mac Studio’s already enormous heat sink as an opportunity for a larger external radiator. Early work focuses on bypassing Apple’s proprietary fan connections and clearing space for a water cooling loop without interfering with critical components like memory chips around the Apple logo. The team experiments with various approaches, including milling and modifying heatsinks, and considers both internal and external mounting strategies, weighing complexity against performance benefits. Throughout, the goal is clear: maximize cooling efficiency while preserving the Mac Studio’s form factor and showcasing a visually striking build. By the end of this segment, the plan evolves from a fully internal solution to a hybrid approach that leverages a top-mounted radiator and a compact water block tailored to the Mac’s geometry, setting the stage for testing and refinement.
Topics · technology · hardware · modding · pc_build · sci_tech
Questions answered
- How effective was the water cooled Mac Studio compared to the stock cooling solution?
- The water cooled Mac Studio showed significant temperature reductions in testing, with Cinebench results indicating cooler operation and quieter fans, though the performance uplift varied and depended on the cooling setup and heat transfer limitations.
- What was the biggest challenge in adapting the Mac Studio for water cooling?
- The biggest challenges were navigating Apple's proprietary cooling and mounting design, fitting a water block and radiator within a compact space, and dealing with unpredictable polarity and wiring for auxiliary RGB and pump controllers.