Asus China has released a new video demonstrating the power of passive CPU cooling. While showing off the new ProArt PC cases, Tony Yu, Asus China’s general manager showed that even when outputting 220W of heat, the PC’s 16-core AMD Ryzen 9950X CPU stayed at around 95°C.
This is an impressive feat from Asus, as most of the best CPU cooler designs on the market today feature fans or some sort of water cooling. It’s all thanks to a massive Noctua NH-P1 cooler, a massive fanless heatsink that relies on case fans to expel the heat.
What makes the build interesting is that outside the fans on the case itself, there’s no active cooling on top of the CPU. Instead, it manages to hold its own while running one of the hottest-running processors available.
The AMD Ryzen 9950X has a thermal target of 95°C, which essentially means that the AMD CPU will keep boosting power and performance until it has to throttle at the target. With only the Noctua heatsink equipped, the generally hot-running AMD chip stays just around that target on average.
Asus’ demo saw the CPU package reach 225w of power before it couldn’t go any further. While playing Black Myth: Wukong, the CPU temperature was just shy of 70°C, but under heavier loads such as video editing or stress tests, it begins to rise even further.
However, despite showing off its capabilities, Yu does state that it isn’t recommended. The PC might have stayed relatively cool throughout the demonstration, but no one recommends using a heatsink to cool such a high-end system on its own. It’s also notable that all the tests were conducted with the case’s side panel removed.
While we don’t recommend passively cooling a Ryzen 9 9950X, you can still build a surprisingly quiet PC if you kit out your case with large fans that can shift a decent amount of air without spinning up to high speeds. Check out out guide to the best PC case to find the right model for you.
