Modder uses a trash 4-kW air conditioner radiator for his test bench to see how well it can cool a PC
- ID
- 41509
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 31 Oct 2026, 7:20 PM
- Fetched
- 31 Oct 2026, 7:54 PM
- Provider
- Tom's Hardware
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/liquid-cooling/trashbench-repurposes-a-trash-4-kw-air-conditioner-radiator-for-his-test-bench-to-see-how-well-it-can-cool-a-pc-achieves-a-shocking-28c-on-an-nvidia-rtx-3080
- Source URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/feeds/all
Summary
- Score
- 2.5
- Created
- 31 Oct 2026, 7:54 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersvibe_coders
What happened
A modder going by the project name TrashBench repurposed a discarded 4-kW air-conditioner radiator as the cooling loop for a PC test bench. Tom's Hardware reports the setup held an Nvidia RTX 3080 at 28C. The supplied text is mostly subscription/paywall boilerplate, so details on ambient temperature, load conditions, coolant, pump, or noise levels are not available.
Why it matters
Not much for most builders: the one usable data point is a single 28C GPU reading with no stated ambient, workload, or noise measurement, so it is not a comparison you can act on when sizing your own cooling. If you salvage HVAC radiators for bench rigs, treat this as an anecdote to replicate, not a spec — the missing numbers are exactly the ones that decide whether it is practical.
Discussion angle
What numbers would you need before trusting a 28C claim — ambient room temp, sustained load duration, fan noise, and pump power — and is scavenging an AC radiator ever worth it versus a used AIO?