[G4] Water Cooled CPU's

Eric Smith eric-s-smith at comcast.net
Thu Apr 9 08:10:47 PDT 2009


Tony Sheeley wrote:
> I know this is a G4 group, but thought you guys would have the info I'm 
> looking for.  I'm looking at a G5 with water cooled CPUs.  I've never 
> entertained cooling systems like this and thus have no frame of reference.
> 
> In short, is there anything I should be weary of?  Anything 'out of the 
> ordinary' I would need to do to maintain such a machine?

You mean "wary of"? Yeah, water-cooled G5's. From AppleInsider,
<http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/12/02/apple_looking_into_liquid_cooled_macbooks.html> :

"In the spring of 2004, the company introduced the liquid-cooled
dual 2.5GHz PowerMac G5.

"The cooling systems were developed for Apple by Troy, Mich-based
Delphi, also known as Delphi-Harrison -- a former division of
General Motors. As such, they resembled miniature automobile
radiators and included a pump, radiator, grills, and a power
cable [visual diagrams].

"Use of the liquid cooling systems were short lived, however,
as they were prone to leaks. As the systems aged, coolant
would spill out of the pipes, damaging users' property while
also frying many of the PowerMac's internal components along
the way. In several cases, Apple determined that it was
uneconomical for them to repair the systems and instead began
replacing them outright on its own dime."

See article for diagram.

Eric S.


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