How to cool a MacBook Pro (Intel) with water to eliminate noise and improve performance

A user on the MacRumors forums has successfully installed a water cooling system on his 15-inch MacBook Pro with an Intel chip, thereby eliminating fan noise and increasing performance.

While it may seem like a novelty, liquid cooling systems are one of the “do-it-yourself” projects that have been in the works for a lifetime, in both desktop computers and laptops.

In addition to the benefits already mentioned, there is one issue that is important to consider: any fluid leak or circuit breakage has the potential to completely disable the computer.

MacRumors forum member “theodric” says MacBook Pro fan sound had become an issue during business conferences, so as the MacBook Air with M1 arrived he decided to add a water cooling system to your machine.

Theodric used affordable parts like the Bitcoin ASIC mining blocks he bought from AliExpress, an Aquastream XT Ultra water pump, and a 2005 Zalman radiator and tank to create the system.

It also added high-transmission thermal pads between the case and the different motherboard components to conduct heat from the MacBook Pro to the cooling system. He also removed the heat shielding from the labs and legs, to ensure full contact with the new cooling plates. The pump, which requires Windows software to run, is used via a virtual machine and uses a Raspberry Pi to monitor the system.

theodric states that “it has practically never heard the fan since it started using the liquid cooling system” and that it has greatly improved performance using this system.  

Here you have Theodric's full post with all the information.

Despite everything, the arrival of Macs with Apple silicon, which generate far less heat than those with Intel chips, it is unlikely that Mac cooling kits will continue to be developed, although there are still some announced such as the one intended for the. 14-inch MacBook Pro.