We build the PUMP-1 for automating plant watering, topping off fish tanks, and filling robot mop reservoirs. Water cooling an Apple laptop to set a benchmark world record? That was not on our product roadmap. But here we are, and we couldn't be more excited about it.
Tech YouTuber Jakkuh - known for ambitious builds like his titanium liquid-cooled RTX 5090 gaming PC - teamed up with Alex and Andy from Zip Tie Tuning to tackle a problem that every MacBook Neo owner has noticed: Apple's $599 laptop runs its A18 Pro chip at a toasty 105°C under almost any sustained workload. The Neo ships without a fan and relies on a thin graphene pad for cooling, which means the chip thermally throttles well before it reaches its actual performance ceiling.
Their solution? A full custom water cooling loop, powered by an Apollo Automation PUMP-1.
How They Built It
The project started with a 3D-printed copper contact plate designed to sit directly on the A18 Pro chip. Jakkuh and the Zip Tie Tuning crew then CNC-milled an acrylic water block to replace the initial 3D print, complete with precision-threaded fittings. A copper plate with machined fins was fabricated to maximize thermal transfer from the chip to the cooling loop.
For the radiator, they repurposed a Hayden Automotive 1011 power steering oil cooler - because when you're water cooling a MacBook, you might as well borrow parts from a car.
And for the pump driving the entire loop? That's where the PUMP-1 came in. Our ESP32-C6-powered smart pump, originally designed for food-safe fluid automation in smart homes, turned out to be the perfect fit for a compact water cooling setup. With flow rates up to 900 ml/min, USB-C power, and Wi-Fi connectivity through ESPHome, the PUMP-1 gave them precise flow control without needing a bulky traditional PC water cooling pump.
The final assembly mounted the pump and water block onto a tilted laptop stand, with tubing running from the block through the PUMP-1 and out to the automotive radiator. Not exactly a sleek daily driver setup, but this was never about aesthetics - it was about pushing the A18 Pro to its limits.
The Results: A New 3DMark World Record
The performance gains were significant across every benchmark they ran.
The headline result: Jakkuh's water-cooled MacBook Neo scored 447 on 3DMark Steel Nomad, claiming the #1 spot on the global leaderboard for the MacBook Neo's A18 Pro 5-core GPU. The average MacBook Neo scores 378 on the same benchmark, meaning the water-cooled setup delivered an 18% performance boost over a typical Neo - entirely by removing the thermal bottleneck. The next closest score on the leaderboard is 443, and most stock Neos cluster between 360 and 385.
You can see the full leaderboard here: 3DMark Steel Nomad - MacBook Neo Results
Cinebench multi-core results were equally impressive. The water-cooled Neo hit 1,938, compared to 1,567 for the stock laptop and 1,819 with just a thermal pad swap. For context, that score also beats the MacBook Air M1's Cinebench multi-core result of 1,836. A $599 laptop with a smartphone chip, outperforming a MacBook Air, simply because the cooling was no longer the bottleneck.
Even a basic thermal pad swap - replacing the stock graphene pad with an M.2 thermal pad before adding water cooling - showed meaningful gains across benchmarks, proving just how thermally constrained the Neo is out of the box.
Watch the Full Build
Jakkuh documented the entire process, from initial teardown to final benchmark runs, in a video on his YouTube channel. Alex and Andy from Zip Tie Tuning brought their signature hands-on fabrication skills to the project, handling CNC work and contributing to the overall build design. Both channels have roots at Linus Tech Tips, and their combined experience shows in the quality of the engineering and the video itself.
Watch the full build video here: Water Cooling the MacBook Neo - Jakkuh on YouTube
If you're not already subscribed to both channels, do yourself a favor:
Why the PUMP-1 Worked for This Build
The PUMP-1 was designed to be a versatile, food-safe smart pump for home automation tasks. But the features that make it great for plant watering and aquarium management are the same features that made it a good fit for this unconventional cooling project:
- Up to 900 ml/min flow rate - enough to move coolant through a water block and radiator loop efficiently
- Compact form factor - small enough to mount on a laptop stand without taking over the entire desk
- USB-C powered - no need for a separate power supply or SATA adapter like traditional PC water cooling pumps
- ESPHome and Home Assistant integration - Jakkuh could monitor pump status, adjust flow, and integrate it into his smart home setup
- Dual ultrasonic fluid sensors - automatic shutoff if the reservoir runs dry, protecting both the pump and the laptop
- Food-safe materials - safe for any liquid, including the distilled water used in cooling loops
We obviously don't recommend voiding your MacBook warranty with a custom water cooling loop (and neither does Jakkuh). But it's incredibly cool to see the community finding creative new uses for our products that we never anticipated.
What This Means for Open-Source Hardware
This project is a great example of what happens when open-source, locally-controlled hardware meets a community of creative builders. The PUMP-1 isn't locked into a single use case by proprietary firmware or a cloud service. It runs ESPHome, it's fully configurable, and it's designed to be adapted to whatever project you can dream up - whether that's watering your tomatoes, refilling your cat's water bowl, or setting world records with a water-cooled MacBook.
If you want to pick up a PUMP-1 for your own projects (water cooling or otherwise), you can find it in our shop: Apollo Automation PUMP-1
And if you build something wild with it, we want to hear about it. Tag us on social media or drop by our Discord - we love seeing what the community creates.
Apollo Automation builds high-performance, open-source smart home sensors and tools in Versailles, Kentucky. All Apollo products run ESPHome firmware and integrate locally with Home Assistant - no cloud required. Learn more at apolloautomation.com.
