Passive Cooling

[J. VerSchave]

Greetings,

I would like to run a Linux server from my apartment... my one catch,
I want it to be COOLED COMPLETELY PASSIVELY. My apartment is small
and I do not want to constantly be hearing the fans whirring. The box
doesnt have to be super fast. I just need something ~1 Ghz that
supports the 586 instruction set where I can install Linux. I am
looking for a box where the power supply and the CPU can be adaquately
cooled by passive means. Are there any passively cooled power
supplies? What are the most effective heat sinks for CPUs? I am not
even sure I want an AMD or Intel chip, as I believe that there are
other chips that run cooler with less power. Thoughts? URLs?
Thanks.

-j

 

[Gareth Church]

Greetings,

I would like to run a Linux server from my apartment... my one catch,
I want it to be COOLED COMPLETELY PASSIVELY. My apartment is small
and I do not want to constantly be hearing the fans whirring. The box
doesnt have to be super fast. I just need something ~1 Ghz that
supports the 586 instruction set where I can install Linux. I am
looking for a box where the power supply and the CPU can be adaquately
cooled by passive means. Are there any passively cooled power
supplies? What are the most effective heat sinks for CPUs? I am not
even sure I want an AMD or Intel chip, as I believe that there are
other chips that run cooler with less power. Thoughts? URLs?
Thanks.

-j

You want a Via C3. Actually, you probably don't, but that's about the only
choice for your requirements. They have a 1Ghz chip, but unfortunately it
runs about as fast as a celeron 450:
http://www.dansdata.com/c3.htm
http://www.dansdata.com/m10000.htm

Here's one heatsink:
http://www.dansdata.com/coolercomp_p8.htm#c3

It didn't work very well. As for power supply, check out a store like PC
power and cooling. You should have no trouble finding quiet PSUs. Check out
online reviews from users before you buy.

Gareth

 

[Ken]

I would like to run a Linux server from my apartment... my one catch,
I want it to be COOLED COMPLETELY PASSIVELY. My apartment is small
and I do not want to constantly be hearing the fans whirring. The box
doesnt have to be super fast. I just need something ~1 Ghz that
supports the 586 instruction set where I can install Linux. I am
looking for a box where the power supply and the CPU can be adaquately
cooled by passive means. Are there any passively cooled power
supplies? What are the most effective heat sinks for CPUs? I am not
even sure I want an AMD or Intel chip, as I believe that there are
other chips that run cooler with less power. Thoughts? URLs?
Thanks.

http://mini-itx.com/

 

[spodosaurus]

Greetings,

I would like to run a Linux server from my apartment... my one catch,
I want it to be COOLED COMPLETELY PASSIVELY. My apartment is small
and I do not want to constantly be hearing the fans whirring. The box
doesnt have to be super fast. I just need something ~1 Ghz that
supports the 586 instruction set where I can install Linux. I am
looking for a box where the power supply and the CPU can be adaquately
cooled by passive means. Are there any passively cooled power
supplies? What are the most effective heat sinks for CPUs? I am not
even sure I want an AMD or Intel chip, as I believe that there are
other chips that run cooler with less power. Thoughts? URLs?
Thanks.

-j

Thoughts: power supplies from Zalman or the Vantec Stealth range might
be to your liking. If you really want a completely fanless setup then
you're going to have to do a lot of work and research, as these are
extremely hard to get working effectively. However, if you are willing
to do the research, you can get a partially fanless design going fairly
easilly. Heck, I'm upgrading an old Dell for some friends right now and
it doesn't have a CPU fan on it's slot 1 266mhz P2 CPU, just a massive
heatsink and 1 case and 1 power supply fan. You may even want to look
into water cooling...

--

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[Al Dykes]

Thoughts: power supplies from Zalman or the Vantec Stealth range might
be to your liking. If you really want a completely fanless setup then
you're going to have to do a lot of work and research, as these are
extremely hard to get working effectively. However, if you are willing
to do the research, you can get a partially fanless design going fairly
easilly. Heck, I'm upgrading an old Dell for some friends right now and
it doesn't have a CPU fan on it's slot 1 266mhz P2 CPU, just a massive
heatsink and 1 case and 1 power supply fan. You may even want to look
into water cooling...

--

Mini-ITX mobo-ased systems are low power, tiny, and can be completely
fan-free, depending on which model you use. See;

http://www6.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20030326/index.html

Cyberguys has a couple models with prices.

http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/SearchAll.asp

One of the advantages of these systems is a lower electric bill,
for a server that is always on.

 

[Biff]

A good source for information on quiet computing:
www.silentpcreview.com

The site is down as I write this response; if it is still down when you
try the link, try again later.

 

[jaster]

Greetings,

I would like to run a Linux server from my apartment... my one catch,
I want it to be COOLED COMPLETELY PASSIVELY. My apartment is small
and I do not want to constantly be hearing the fans whirring. The box
doesnt have to be super fast. I just need something ~1 Ghz that
supports the 586 instruction set where I can install Linux. I am
looking for a box where the power supply and the CPU can be adaquately
cooled by passive means. Are there any passively cooled power
supplies? What are the most effective heat sinks for CPUs? I am not
even sure I want an AMD or Intel chip, as I believe that there are
other chips that run cooler with less power. Thoughts? URLs?
Thanks.

-j

Linux might be picky about the cpu you choose. Forewarned the Via 1Gz is
cheap, low powered and a passively cooled with performance around 450. If
you are truly running a server, ie, no need for high speed GUI then the Via
chips will work. I had a Cel 333 -> Cel 633 Linux RH8.0 server running
everything fairly quiet (case fan louder than cpu fan) just a bit slow with
Gnome and real slow with Xine. You should look for a quiet psu to
complement the cpu. I'd recommend Via Cx, Intel Cels 333-700 for quiet,
cooler, low power cpus where performance is not an issue.

 

[Spajky]

I would like to run a Linux server from my apartment... my one catch,
I want it to be COOLED COMPLETELY PASSIVELY. My apartment is small
and I do not want to constantly be hearing the fans whirring. The box
doesnt have to be super fast. I just need something ~1 Ghz that
supports the 586 instruction set where I can install Linux.

there is no need to search for totally fanless stuff;
if you put on fans on 5V, surely you won´t hear them; you will hear
more HD spin than fans IMHO...

-- Regards, SPAJKY
- http://freeweb.siol.net/jerman55/HP/Spajky.htm
Celly-III OC-ed,"Tualatin on BX-Slot1-MoBo!"
E-mail AntiSpam: remove ##

 

[Silence Seeker]

You want a Via C3. Actually, you probably don't, but that's about the only

I actually purchased one recently - a Nehemiah M10000. But I am
disappointed at the CPU fan's noise. Do you happen to know where I can
purchase a PASSIVE heatsink that can replace the heatsink+fan provided
with the motherboard?

The following http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/cnps6100alcu.htm
seemed promising, but then the mini-ITX web site
(http://www.mini-itx.com/hardware.asp) claims it won't fit... (and the
Zalman web site says "coming soon", so even if it fits, where do I buy
it?)

Thanks,
Sam