This external cooler is as big as a PC

Bykski B-1080-CEC-X
(Image credit: Bykski)

Having an absolute beast of a PC is all well and good, until you need to keep it cool. There's a price to pay for all that power, and often that price comes in the form of heat. In fact, power and heat are synonymous thanks to the laws of physics, and this will unfortunately always be the downfall of overclocking enthusiasts. As much as they like to produce heat, the sensitive components in your PC can only handle so much of it. Keeping a PC cool is serious business for the health and longevity of any machine, and that's why I can't help but appreciate this incredibly serious effort from Bykski.

Prolific Twitter source Momomo_ US spotted the new Bykski external water cooled unit (via Tom's Hardware) for sale in Japan going for the equivalent of $525 USD. That price seemed about right as it's now up for preorder on the Bykski website for $559.99 USD. Given the price ticket, you'd be hoping for some very impressive cooling unlike some other coolers we've heard about recently, and given this cooler may well be bigger than your PC, it might just manage it. 

Rather than fit the cooling unit inside the case with the rest of the components this unit sits outside of the main case, potentially eclipsing it as it pulls heat away from your PC into its own cooling setup. The case measures 419 mm high, so it's not that huge for a  tall PC case but it is on the taller side of a middie which is pretty large when it's only cooling.

Despite looking pretty intimidating, the Bykski B-1080-CEC-X shouldn't be too difficult to set up. It's rocking three easy plumb-and-go G1/4 fittings that should attach to most liquid cooling loops that you'd use with your PC. From there it uses an integrated pump, radiator and reservoir system, complete with 120mm fans in a 3x3 configuration all packed into a  419 (H) x 488 (D) x 138mm (W) case. Yes, this is absolutely overkill, and I really want one.

Cooling off

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The unit claims to be capable of dealing with up to 2,000W of generated heat and when you consider even high-end modern gaming units aren't even pushing out 1,000W, this puppy is clearly built for bigger things. But that doesn't mean it has to be used for them.

The Bykski B-1080-CEC-X would be right at home in a server situation, keeping all those drives nice and icy under pressure. Alternatively, if you have a few different machines in reach you could likely divert your cooling for all of them to the one box. It's also just a nice way of potentially separating your kit. Allowing for what would look like an incredibly sleek mini build by keeping all that beautifully excessive cooling in a separate case. 

Again, this epic cooling station isn't going to be for everyone, and we have plenty of suggestions to keep your situation nice and chilly that won't break the bank quite like this monolith. But if you do have a use case that requires some serious cooling, this could be just what you're hot mess of a situation is looking for. 

Hope Corrigan
Hardware Writer

Hope’s been writing about games for about a decade, starting out way back when on the Australian Nintendo fan site Vooks.net. Since then, she’s talked far too much about games and tech for publications such as Techlife, Byteside, IGN, and GameSpot. Of course there’s also here at PC Gamer, where she gets to indulge her inner hardware nerd with news and reviews. You can usually find Hope fawning over some art, tech, or likely a wonderful combination of them both and where relevant she’ll share them with you here. When she’s not writing about the amazing creations of others, she’s working on what she hopes will one day be her own. You can find her fictional chill out ambient far future sci-fi radio show/album/listening experience podcast right here.

No, she’s not kidding.