The ‘world’s first’ water-cooled Steam Machine is a Frankenstein’s monster of neon pink tubing and external hardware

Although I criticised the Steam Machine for its hefty price tag upon release, part of me hoped the creator community might do something interesting with it. Lo and behold, we now have the first example of a water-cooled version—and I can’t help but be impressed.

The Not-so-steamy Machine (as I shall call it) is the work of Stefan Warecka, who claim’s it’s the “world’s first” example. They’ve posted a short video on Reddit summarising some of the build process, which begins with… attacking the Steam Machine’s carboard box with an angle grinder. Good lord.

Watercooled Steam Machine Build Video
from r/PcBuild

Despite the “hack first and ask questions later” approach, the end product is a rather beautiful Steam Machine with a fan-cooled radiator strapped to the back, a custom CNC-ed water block, and lots of external tubing—which is then duly filled with a neon-pink liquid solution. It looks like a mini PC that’s spent a long night on the Pepto-Bismol. We’ve all been there, folks.

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Warecka says that APU temps have dropped by 20-30 degrees, and a full video is coming soon to their YouTube channel. In the meantime, we can only guess at the potential performance benefits. Cyberpunk 2077 is shown running in the background, so hopefully some benchmarks are on their way.

I’m also struggling to wrap my head around the concept. The standard Steam Machine runs cool and quiet with a clever air cooling design, while the neat form factor means you can tuck it easily under your TV. This one? Not so much.

Worlds first Watercooled Steam Machine
from r/PcBuild

Still, I suppose it doesn’t matter. This project seems to be focused on the fun of hacking one up for giggles, and that’s a principle I can stand behind. Techmagnet says the next step is to open it up again and work on the VRM cooling, “which is quite challenging as the MOSFETs are super tiny… and also they run quite on the limits of thermal design which sucks.”

Godspeed, you goggle-clad maestro of mayhem. Just put the angle grinder away, would you? I know a few mechanics with missing fingers that might advise you against that sort of thing. Just a thought.