MonsterLabo releases The Heart, a passive combined CPU/GPU cooler

MonsterLabo has released a cooler known as The Heart which is designed to cool powerful CPUs and GPUs - at the same time - entirely passively, but it doesn't come without drawbacks.

The four-person team that began by designing a case and cooling system called 'The First' in February 2018 is now also selling separately the passive heatsink from within and labelling it 'The Heart', a fanless cooler that is capable of keeping up to 275W cool - at least if reports from HardwareLuxx are to be believed. To put that into perspective, it can in theory keep the combined output of both an Intel Core i7-8700K (95W) and Nvidia GTX 1080 (180W) cool while remaining silent due to its passive nature, though TDP calculations of this sort should be taken very much with a pinch of salt, and we've reason to be suspicious of these claims.

Before we get to that, the first obvious downside to this considerable cooling capability is that The Heart is absolutely massive. It weighs a mighty 3KG (!) and measures almost a foot tall (over 300mm). Clearly, then, this isn't a cooler designed for standard cases to withstand; MonsterLabo is presumably making this available for those with an eye to developing their own custom cases, which we fully encourage. It's also the world's largest CPU cooler - except it's also specifically designed to cool your GPU at the same time. To do this, it has a secondary contact plate which feeds heat pipes that wrap around your card, the PCB of which cannot exceed 270mm. It therefore is only going to be compatible with a specific set of graphics cards whose GPUs are aligned properly with the contact plate - MonsterLabo sadly does not clarify which cards, but recent reference Nvidia cards are the likely target.

Suspiciously, the official product page provides scant information when it comes to the cooler's thermal dissipation power. However, since The Heart cooler was originally sold as part of The First case, we can gain a little insight there. The cooling power of The First is rated at a maximum 100W CPU load and a 120W GPU (combined 220W). The general consensus is that adding a 500-RPM 140mm fan will bump those numbers up to 140W and 160W respectively (300W combined), and neither CPU nor GPU should exceed 180W-190W to avoid overloading one part of the cooler. These figures are what make the 275W figure from above questionable, at least when dealing with the cooler in passive mode.

The Heart clearly isn't for everyone given its hefty size requirements and the fact it's likely to have very limited compatibility. However, as a neat example of what can be accomplished in the cooler world, it's rather special and a good example of something different. It could be useful in work scenarios that require absolute silence too.  

It's possible to buy your very own The Heart for $200 or €180 from MonsterLabo directly. It's available in either black or white finishes, depending on your preference. Cool in many ways if you fancy something a little different for your next build, but we won't blame you if you give it a miss, especially until MonsterLabo gives the official word on the compatibility and cooling thresholds.