can/could we ever have fanless PC?

[litleboy]

can/could we ever have fanless PC? I found my old cyrix processor, "fan required" before that processor I thing there where no fan on processors right?

 

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[RyderSK]

Nice one :- ).

 

Fanless pc is my dream. I try to keep my workstations very quite by using isolated cases and high-end fans, passive graphic cards and SSDs only, yet it's still noticable.

[AJLynn]

I don't see it, given the power consumption these days. Last time I had a CPU without a fan it was in a computer with a 150W power supply and it was 1993. I did notice, with one of Intel's recent lower power offerings, that with a large heatsink sized for a 120mm fan I could get away with turning the fan off, but the heatsink was by a case fan.

 

This isn't to say you can't make a PC that's very, very quiet...

[Justin Hunt]

Steve Jobs insisted that the Macbooks were not to have fans, luckily the engineers ignored this request. Even so there were complaints that they got too hot to sit on your lap :0

[Slinger]

yes you can have fanless computers, it is called watercooling, and yes you can watercool without fans cooling the radiators, you just have to rig up a cooler to chill the water first.

[Dimitris Tolios]

yes you can have fanless computers, it is called watercooling, and yes you can watercool without fans cooling the radiators, you just have to rig up a cooler to chill the water first.

 

If you are happy with the performance iPads, cell phones and ARM/Atom based computers have, sure.

There are also a few mITX/mATX cases designed to work in confined bases (automotive applications etc) were the case itself acts as a big heat-sink. It's not something you want to have on your lap when it's stressing tho, exactly like the MBP and other metal framed laptops.

 

In general the heat intensity most modern computer components produce (mainly CPU / GPU and secondary chipsets and RAM chips) is pretty intense. That means that without forced air or water flow, heat cannot be conducted fast enough and dissipated away from the heat source.

 

As mensioned above, some huge 120/140mm cpu coolers, weighing in the range of 2lb/800gr + have enough fin area to cool passively modern mainstream CPUs. Hi-end GPUs usually do not have that option, as there isn't enough strength on these boards to hang such beast coolers on safely. You can DIY something with modding a CPU cooler, but I would not recommend it without finding a way to attach it on the case too. You will still need proper airflow, aka a pretty open case, and then you will find out that low speed 120 or 140mm fans are so noise efficient that it's pointless to try to eliminate them for the average desktop application.

 

All-in-all, just go net-top or tablet, or leave with the "less than HDD" noisy components that are readily available and pretty affordable already, without sacrificing any performance.

Edited May 15, 2012 by dtolios

[Frosty]

AJ, I remember reading about some crazy quiet case a few years ago. The entire case was a giant heat sink, very heavy and very expensive. Remember what that was?

[AJLynn]

Steve, I don't know which one you're thinking of but there are a few lines of "quiet" PC cases - this is a popular option. My old roommate (who's on here sometimes) used an older model from that series when he used to record music.

 

My other comments are, 120mm fans on the CPU cooler are usually quieter than smaller ones. They don't have to spin as fast. I have one in my living room PC, Scythe brand with fluid bearings, very quiet. Also, the less power your system uses, the quiter it will tend to be, all other things being equal. These days, case fan speed controls based on temperature are pretty common. Wattage goes inevitably to heat generation, laws of entropy etc.

[kenanavci]

yes you can have fanless computers, it is called watercooling, and yes you can watercool without fans cooling the radiators, you just have to rig up a cooler to chill the water first.

 

That would not be an efficient way in my opinion. I saw a couple of people trying to run their computers on mini refrigirators, huge industrial radiators and such but none of them seems efficient. I don't know if there are any other ways that makes sense. Cause i'd fill the hell out of it with beers if i had a mini ref in my study room! Feels like a million light years to kitchen when working. lol

 

can/could we ever have fanless PC? I found my old cyrix processor, "fan required" before that processor I thing there where no fan on processors right?

 

Well, with water cooling, you can have big, good quality cooling blocks and radiatiors with silence fans and a good isolation for noise and vibration. That'd minimise the noise, i saw people make external boxes to isolate the sound of the radiator fans even more.

 

Or you can go with air cooling and spend money on less knowledge requiring super silent cases. Lian Li makes high quality silent cases, Silverstone has them as well, you even can have custom ones on internet you'd need get a few more silent(need to be good quality, like Noctua or Thermalright) fans for better cooling and you'd get a decent cooling. At the end you can spoil your ears by buying some in-case isolation equipment like rubber pads, plastic screws, silicon gaskets and such. The results would be satisfying i assure you. That'd be my way to go but i love my tractor.

 

I feel too lazy to search today but i'm sure you can find a case noise level benchmark database somewhere on cyberspace.

[Dimitris Tolios]

Hate to repeat myself, but PCs are heat producing devices - just like vehicle engines.

The only reason to want a fanless PC, is because the application does not allow for proper airflow, as there are numerous fan solutions out there that are in-audible.

 

In order for heat to be dissipated in such heat intensive applcations (lots of heat produced around a small area) there is only one way: direct conductivity - something colder than the PC component has to come in contact with it, so that it captures part of the heat generated. This conductive medium has to have a large enough thermal capacity and enough thermal conductivity to stabilize the heat exchange at a reasonable operating temperature for the device. The smaller the temperature difference between the heat source and the heat dissipating medium, the less efficient the thermal conductivity gets = the bigger the heat sink thermal capacity has to be. Try to contain a heat intensive computation device in a case with improper airflow, and you will overheat it in minutes as the rising air temperature inside the case will saturate the dissipating efficiency of the heatsink. The same with a closed loop watercooling or any kind of "closed" system. Establishing enough air or water (or any short of conductive medium) flow in order to effectively "open" the system and route heat to the effectively "limitless" environment is imperative.

 

Modern high performance Heatsings like the Noctua ND14 or the Thermalright Silver Arrow can passively cool powerful quad core CPUs @ stock speeds.

Having only an SSD as a storage device and and limiting your GPU and PSU needs to fan-less solutions can make a proper fanless system, given you don't contain it in a limited airflow PC case. An open, test bed solution would be ideal (virtually nothing around the CPU heat-sink).

 

Contemporary CPUs do produce insanely more per Watt in comparison to what you 686 cyrix did, still they need more watts = more heat.

I would also bet money that the HDD you had paired with the 686 was pretty noisy, just like the CD-Rom drive and maybe your PSU - modern system builders and component designers do take a lot more care in producing silent components - exactly because the past proved that it could easily get out of hand. Fanless designs come with compromises few people are willing to make, especially with the high performance inaudible fans available.

Edited June 19, 2012 by dtolios

[davidchristie]

So much heat generated inside a computer case these days that ventilation and fans are just a way of life, unless some new technology comes along

[alansecker]

My last workstation was pretty much fanless

 

Specs:

 

Q6600 OC 3GHz

P35 motherboard

8Gb DDR2

Nvidia Quadro FX 3450

Silverstone fanless PSU

 

Both the CPU and GPU were watercooled, and all fans controlled by PWM off the motherboard. Airflow in my case allowed for really good convection cooling so the fans never really came on, and when they did it was a minimal effort.

 

One thing I noticed after the build was the high pitched whine from the inverter in my screens. (Really wanted to scream when I heard that)

 

My current i7 930 build isn't silent but the cooling is doing a decent job, so I would go as far to say the modern Intel CPU's should make nice quiet builds as they put out sod all heat at stock clock speeds.