I want a passively cooled desktop/cpu/gpu by 2016, power supply may have fan.

[Skybuck Flying]

Hello,

I play to buy a new computer by 2016, currently I am concerned that the
computer I want is not for sale/possible.

So far intel and/or amd is not selling passively cooleable CPUs for desktops
?! Could this explain the decrease in PC sales ? People diverting to
noiseless tablets ?

Amazing that no passively cooleable cpus seem to be for sale ?

With passively cooleable cpu I consider:

1. CPU + heatsink with fins smallist, no fan, no other things, except maybe
thermal paste interface material between cpu and heatsink.

So two questions:

1. Which desktop cpu by 2016 will be passively cooleable ?

2. How many watts are passively cooleable with a small heatsink/fins, like
gt 520 from asus is a good example.

(Also the motherboard must be passively cooled as well as all other
components except perhaps power supply, though if a modest power supply is
needed might be passively cooled too, but a little bit of airflow seems
wise... though would be cool if it wasnt needed at all, than no dust in pc
which would be excellent.)

Bye,
Skybuck.

 

[Skybuck Flying]

This website mentions 10 watt idle and 29 watt active for gt 520 which is a
good example of a chip being passively cooled, though power supply does suck
some heat from it probably:

"
Power consumption should also be similar; NVIDIA gives the GT 520 a TDP of
29W, while we’d expect the idle TDP to be around 10W.
"

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4268/nvidia-releases-geforce-gt-520

So 25 watts seems to be on the safe side.

Bye,
Skybuck.

 

[Skybuck Flying]

* and laptops

"Skybuck Flying" wrote in message

Hello,

I play to buy a new computer by 2016, currently I am concerned that the
computer I want is not for sale/possible.

So far intel and/or amd is not selling passively cooleable CPUs for desktops
?! Could this explain the decrease in PC sales ? People diverting to
noiseless tablets ? *

Amazing that no passively cooleable cpus seem to be for sale ?

With passively cooleable cpu I consider:

1. CPU + heatsink with fins smallist, no fan, no other things, except maybe
thermal paste interface material between cpu and heatsink.

So two questions:

1. Which desktop cpu by 2016 will be passively cooleable ?

2. How many watts are passively cooleable with a small heatsink/fins, like
gt 520 from asus is a good example.

(Also the motherboard must be passively cooled as well as all other
components except perhaps power supply, though if a modest power supply is
needed might be passively cooled too, but a little bit of airflow seems
wise... though would be cool if it wasnt needed at all, than no dust in pc
which would be excellent.)

Bye,
Skybuck.

 

[Paul]

Hello,

I play to buy a new computer by 2016, currently I am concerned that the
computer I want is not for sale/possible.

So far intel and/or amd is not selling passively cooleable CPUs for
desktops ?! Could this explain the decrease in PC sales ? People
diverting to noiseless tablets ?

Amazing that no passively cooleable cpus seem to be for sale ?

With passively cooleable cpu I consider:

1. CPU + heatsink with fins smallist, no fan, no other things, except
maybe thermal paste interface material between cpu and heatsink.

So two questions:

1. Which desktop cpu by 2016 will be passively cooleable ?

2. How many watts are passively cooleable with a small heatsink/fins,
like gt 520 from asus is a good example.

(Also the motherboard must be passively cooled as well as all other
components except perhaps power supply, though if a modest power supply
is needed might be passively cooled too, but a little bit of airflow
seems wise... though would be cool if it wasnt needed at all, than no
dust in pc which would be excellent.)

Bye,
Skybuck.

It's possible to passively cool a CPU today. This computer
case cost around $1000 or so. It would be used in
recording studios.

http://www.quietpc.com/tnn500af

In this picture, is the heatpipe cooler for the CPU.
The side of the PC becomes warm.

http://www.quietpc.com/images/products/tnn500af_cpu.jpg

That computer case is no longer manufactured, but
it does demonstrate it was possible to make a passively
cooled PC. There is a limit to how much heat can be
dissipated that way. And the power supply might have
been limited to around 400W or so.

*******

There are currently seven ATX power supplies on Newegg
which are fanless.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151099

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/17-151-099-Z04?$S640W$

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/17-151-099-Z05?$S640W$

No fan.

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/3962/intverbest_575px.png

http://www.anandtech.com/print/3962

Paul

 

[Flasherly]

Hello,

I play to buy a new computer by 2016, currently I am concerned that the
computer I want is not for sale/possible.

So far intel and/or amd is not selling passively cooleable CPUs for desktops
?! Could this explain the decrease in PC sales ? People diverting to
noiseless tablets ?

Amazing that no passively cooleable cpus seem to be for sale ?

With passively cooleable cpu I consider:

1. CPU + heatsink with fins smallist, no fan, no other things, except maybe
thermal paste interface material between cpu and heatsink.

So two questions:

1. Which desktop cpu by 2016 will be passively cooleable ?

2. How many watts are passively cooleable with a small heatsink/fins, like
gt 520 from asus is a good example.

(Also the motherboard must be passively cooled as well as all other
components except perhaps power supply, though if a modest power supply is
needed might be passively cooled too, but a little bit of airflow seems
wise... though would be cool if it wasnt needed at all, than no dust in pc
which would be excellent.)

Bye,
Skybuck.

You thought of the MB. That's good - not everyone would monitor all
temperatures sensors, besides the CPU, mounted to MB chipsets.

I've a couple supportive chipsets offhand that are verge hotter-'n-
hell territory.

Filth, the big cakes of encased black striations from airborne
impurities, every so often that one slams up against with a snow
shovel for fresher atmospheric porosity -- well, guess that's just the
nature of the beasties, fans.

CPU's - 60, 40, 30 micron technology coupled with heat pipes and
wicking, they've definitely got it down and covered. Even with draws
from a 100-watt P4, with those buggers, it's some considerable feat.

Leaves it basically down, then, to the MB chipsets, a stack of HDs in
a closely packed array impeding, and heating, airflow coming in from
their dedicated fan, with the brunt of it then left to either the PS's
2-fan in/out or how a case design incorporates optional fans.

Sure - you can get it down, way down, depending on how acceptable and
far you want to go with compromises, namely raw processing power and
storage.

No big deal to put only a SSD and a 35micron entry core from Intel/
AMD. It'll get by with a video-chipped MB for most things, we'll just
have to suppose.

Without fans, BTW, isn't a Holy Mantra. Far from it. There's some
sealed ball-bearing units with adjustable RPM controls along with a
few bay-mount control units, variously, along such lines for the gear
freaks. Stuff that's close enough to a soldering adaptability for
basic electron components. You won't hear them, mostly, if you do it
right is what I'm saying.

 

[Quadibloc]

Why shouldn't they be able to do this?

After all, look at the chips they're putting in tablets these days.
They don't need fans, and they're a lot more powerful than the 386
chips of yesteryear that didn't need fans.

So why can't you buy such a desktop computer right now?

Well, two reasons.

Microsoft doesn't sell Windows 3.1 any more. To run the operating
systems it sells now, the CPU's power has to be big and bloated like
the operating system it runs. Even laptops these days have fans.

A deskop computer costs more money than a tablet. So if you're going
to pay that extra money, you want to get somethng for it. Like the
ability to run Windows programs.

John Savard

 

[Mark Thorson]

So far intel and/or amd is not selling passively cooleable CPUs for desktops
?! Could this explain the decrease in PC sales ? People diverting to
noiseless tablets ?

Amazing that no passively cooleable cpus seem to be for sale ?

You could do this if you clocked them slow enough.
Not many people are interested in doing that on
the desktop platform. If you want something not
many other people want, it will be either unavailable
or very expensive.

 

[Stefan Monnier]

I play to buy a new computer by 2016, currently I am concerned that the

computer I want is not for sale/possible.

These things exist. They're just less powerful and/or more expensive.

My "home office" is in the living room, so my home desktop needs to be
very quiet.

For about 5 years, I've had an AMD Athlon X2 4800+ passively cooled
(with a monster heatsink), tho the whole machine still had 2 fans: one
for the power supply about which I don't know much, except that when it
got noisy I bought a new power supply; and another fan for the system,
the typical 120mm fan running at the lowest possible speed.

I retired this machine and replaced it with a mini-itx system hosting an
AMD E-350, again passively cooled. This one doesn't have a system fan,
tho I haven't bought a pico-PSU yet, so it still has a fan within the
power supply.

In the real office, I use a fit-pc2 which is fully fanless, and if
you're interested in fanless PC, I recommend you take a look at
www.fit-pc.com.


Stefan

 

[Michael S]

These things exist.  They're just less powerful and/or more expensive.

My "home office" is in the living room, so my home desktop needs to be
very quiet.

For about 5 years, I've had an AMD Athlon X2 4800+ passively cooled
(with a monster heatsink), tho the whole machine still had 2 fans: one
for the power supply about which I don't know much, except that when it
got noisy I bought a new power supply; and another fan for the system,
the typical 120mm fan running at the lowest possible speed.

I retired this machine and replaced it with a mini-itx system hosting an
AMD E-350, again passively cooled.  This one doesn't have a system fan,
tho I haven't bought a pico-PSU yet, so it still has a fan within the
power supply.

After 5 years of using X2 4800+, does not E-350 feel uncomfortably
slow?

In the real office, I use a fit-pc2 which is fully fanless, and if
you're interested in fanless PC, I recommend you take a look atwww.fit-pc..com.

        Stefan

Supposedly, "in the real office" your computer is just a little more
than a terminal, right?

 

[Stefan Monnier]

After 5 years of using X2 4800+, does not E-350 feel uncomfortably slow?

It's slower at recompiling Emacs, yes. But tasks that were
instantaneous still are and those that weren't instantaneous don't take
that much more time that I end up having to drink 5 coffees instead
of one.

The only real noticeable slow-down is due to the insanely costly
rendering on most web-pages nowadays. Back in the days one could just
"disable loading of images" but nowadays even the "simplest" web-pages
seem to want to open up 50 http connections to download umpteen
javascripts and whatnot. So, for this reason alone, I'll be upgrading
the E-350 as soon as a more powerful fanless mini-itx system comes
along, indeed.

Supposedly, "in the real office" your computer is just a little more
than a terminal, right?

No, it's my work machine. "Work" here means reading email, hacking
Emacs, writing LaTeX papers, and working on other projects in OCaml.


Stefan

 

[Ting Hsu]

Hello,

I play to buy a new computer by 2016, currently I am concerned that the
computer I want is not for sale/possible.

So far intel and/or amd is not selling passively cooleable CPUs for desktops
?! Could this explain the decrease in PC sales ? People diverting to
noiseless tablets ?

Amazing that no passively cooleable cpus seem to be for sale ?

With passively cooleable cpu I consider:

1. CPU + heatsink with fins smallist, no fan, no other things, except maybe
thermal paste interface material between cpu and heatsink.

So two questions:

1. Which desktop cpu by 2016 will be passively cooleable ?

2. How many watts are passively cooleable with a small heatsink/fins, like
gt 520 from asus is a good example.

(Also the motherboard must be passively cooled as well as all other
components except perhaps power supply, though if a modest power supply is
needed might be passively cooled too, but a little bit of airflow seems
wise... though would be cool if it wasnt needed at all, than no dust in pc
which would be excellent.)

Bye,
  Skybuck.

As a big proponent of silent computing, I've been slowly working
towards a completely silent PC (which implies fanless). Here's a few
of my notes.

1. Power supplies *can* be fanless; there are several on the market.
But the one I ended up using was the SeaSonic X series, which only
turns on its fan when necessary. Under normal situations (web
browsing, email, MS Word, Excel, even youtube) the fan stays off. Only
when I boot up games or photoshop does the fan turn on.

2. Heat management is key. You must have a case design meant to deal
well with heat. For example, my PSU is mounted at the bottom of my
case, so that the PSU stays as cool as possible, so that its fan runs
less often (because no internal components heat up the PSU).

3. Completely fanless cases tend to have huge built in heat sink fins
on the outside of the case, so that heat pipes from CPUs/GPUs can be
connected directly to the case, to radiate heat. Due to attaching heat
pipes to the case, it places some pretty hefty design constraints on
your internal components, as they now have to be physical compatible
with the case.

4. Hard drives make noise. In fact, in my current system, they make
*more* noise than my fans. Aka, big fans moving slowly generate less
noise than a hard drive. So if noise reduction if your objective, it
is not necessary to be completely fanless, only to be quieter than
your hard drives.

5. Water cooling can be very noisy, because water pumps are noisy (in
fact, it's actually rare to find a quiet pump). Thus, a water cooled,
fanless computer can still be noisier than a computer with fans.

 

[Piotr Wyderski]

In the real office, I use a fit-pc2 which is fully fanless, and if
you're interested in fanless PC, I recommend you take a look at
www.fit-pc.com.

Very nice, but for me unfortunately there is not enough "extremely rich
IO", i.e. there are only 2 eSATA ports -- no way to connect my 4TiB
RAID5 matrix composed of 3 disks.

Best regards, Piotr

 

[Mark Thorson]

1. Power supplies *can* be fanless; there are several on the market.
But the one I ended up using was the SeaSonic X series, which only
turns on its fan when necessary. Under normal situations (web
browsing, email, MS Word, Excel, even youtube) the fan stays off. Only
when I boot up games or photoshop does the fan turn on.

No particular reason the power supply has to be
in the same room. Move it elsewhere.

4. Hard drives make noise. In fact, in my current system, they make
*more* noise than my fans. Aka, big fans moving slowly generate less
noise than a hard drive. So if noise reduction if your objective, it
is not necessary to be completely fanless, only to be quieter than
your hard drives.

Or use flash.

 

[Ting Hsu]

And use 0000 AWG cable to reduce voltage drop.

Alrighty... you realize that a typical build uses at least 46 wires
running from the PSU, right? 32 to the motherboard (a 24 pin and an 8
pin), 6 to each SATA device, and 8 to the graphics card (16 on higher
performance cards). So you are talking about running 46 wires of 0000
gauge, with shielding, several feet, from another room, probably
drilling a hole through the wall, just to keep the noise of the PSU
down? And this seems more reasonable than a fanless PSU, or a PSU
which can shut off it's fan?

 

[mike]

No particular reason the power supply has to be
in the same room. Move it elsewhere.


Or use flash.

I was gonna suggest earplugs that reduce the noise from the fans
and the drives and the clicking of the keyboard and the sliding of the mouse
and the furnace and the fridge and the cars going by and the kids playing
and the wind blowing and the rain dripping and all the other things
that must be driving him nutz.

But, then I realized that the voices in his head wouldn't be affected.
Bummer.

 

[EricP]

I was gonna suggest earplugs that reduce the noise from the fans
and the drives and the clicking of the keyboard and the sliding of the
mouse
and the furnace and the fridge and the cars going by and the kids playing
and the wind blowing and the rain dripping and all the other things
that must be driving him nutz.

You could program the microphone and speakers to emit an inverse wave
canceling out all sounds, creating a 'cone of silence' around your PC.

But, then I realized that the voices in his head wouldn't be affected.
Bummer.

Maybe just imagine an inverse wave for those.

 

[Robert Baer]

Hello,

I play to buy a new computer by 2016, currently I am concerned that the
computer I want is not for sale/possible.

So far intel and/or amd is not selling passively cooleable CPUs for
desktops ?! Could this explain the decrease in PC sales ? People
diverting to noiseless tablets ?

Amazing that no passively cooleable cpus seem to be for sale ?

With passively cooleable cpu I consider:

1. CPU + heatsink with fins smallist, no fan, no other things, except
maybe thermal paste interface material between cpu and heatsink.

So two questions:

1. Which desktop cpu by 2016 will be passively cooleable ?

2. How many watts are passively cooleable with a small heatsink/fins,
like gt 520 from asus is a good example.

(Also the motherboard must be passively cooled as well as all other
components except perhaps power supply, though if a modest power supply
is needed might be passively cooled too, but a little bit of airflow
seems wise... though would be cool if it wasnt needed at all, than no
dust in pc which would be excellent.)

Bye,
Skybuck.

Get off your fat *** and do some online searching.
Ages ago (months..) i saw a few passively cooled PCs, and they also
can be "scratch" built as well.
Concentrate on the CPU power and the cooling system that will be
attached.

 

[Jasen Betts]

No particular reason the power supply has to be
in the same room. Move it elsewhere.

move the whole computer just bring the video audio and usb cables into
the room.

 

[Mark Thorson]

I was gonna suggest earplugs that reduce the noise from the fans
and the drives and the clicking of the keyboard and the sliding of the mouse
and the furnace and the fridge and the cars going by and the kids playing
and the wind blowing and the rain dripping and all the other things
that must be driving him nutz.

But, then I realized that the voices in his head wouldn't be affected.
Bummer.

Those are the body thetans talking. He'll get rid
of those when he does his OT levels.

 

[Les Cargill]

Those are the body thetans talking. He'll get rid
of those when he does his OT levels.

There went a perfectly good keyboard.