Ongoing My up and comming Fanless HTPC (1 Viewer)

[evilness]

[Motherboard:] Abit Moederbord AN-M2HD
[Proc:] AMD CPU Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 65 Watt 2.20 GHz, 1000 MHz, 2x 512kB , Boxed
[-Cooler:] Scythe Ninja Plus Rev. B Aluminium
[Ram:] Kingston ValueRam 1024 MB, PC6400, 800 MHz, 5, Non-ECC
[GFX:] Club3D VGA Radeon HD 2600 Pro Passive 512 MB, PCI-e 16x
[CASE:] Point Of View M-Station Case Zwart, Zilver, Geen Voeding, Geen Case Fan's
[PSU:] SilentMaxx Voeding Fanless 400W 400 Watt , Fanless, 24-pins
[HDD:] WDC WD2000JB 200GB 7200rpm

I'm abit woried about the possible heat buildup as i have no fan's in this build, wonder if anyone has any experience with fanless HTPC's.

Also if anyone has any suggestions or anything id all input comments welcome.

 

[level20peon]

Hello evilness,

I don't think that it is possible to build a fanless version with these components. The CPU will generate lots of heat as well as the Video-adapter and the PSU. Even if you could manage to cool one of these components passively there still would be the need of an airflow through the case which would be created by fans.
Have a look onto my HTPC-specs. Even this low power mobile component based system would not work for long without ANY cooling at all.


-level20peon

 

[SpeedFreak]

I don't think that it is possible to build a fanless version with these components.

I agree.

Without a fan this system has no way of transferring the heat out of the case. Natural draft alone wont provide enough air circulation.

If you want a fanless system you should build it with a case designed for it.

 

[craigbeat]

I'm currently trying to convert my aopen box into a fanless system. I'm looking at getting a fanless external PSU as my first purchase, as this would mean that it was only my CPU left with a fan. I'll then look into getting either a better fan cooler, or some sort of water cooling system.

I think that by getting the system down to just a single fan will make a huge difference, as it's often the additive noise that causes the problem. Unfortunately, wooden floors look nice, but they don't absorb any noise!

 

[James]

I think it is possible to go fanless, but you have to plan for it. moving the PSU outside the case is a very good idea. This removed one heat source from inside the case.

Don't expect to do it with a P4, or any older CPU. They run all way too hot. The new CPUs are however, getting cooler and cooler. Undervolting is a good option.

See my post here: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/silent_cooling-t30727.html. I can highly recommend this heat sink.

 

[level20peon]

Bottomline is: You have to get the heat outside the case. This can be accomplished by moving heat dissipating components out of the case. But I cannot think about one component exept the PSU to be moved outside. So there are always some components left inside the case. You could of course use watercooling but to think this is total noiseless is wrong. There is a waterpump and a FAN after all which is dissipating all the heat off an external heatsink.
So the other way would be to "lead" the heat outside passively. In other words you have to mount heatpipes to external heatsinks. I cannot think of a single solution which would not look awfull. You would have to mount giant heatsinks outside of your case which, homemade, just cannot look good, given the fact that you still would have to use the heatsinks which are sold by the industry. You would have to make the case itself a giant heatsink like mCubed did with this case for example:

In MY opinion you should go for such a out-of-the-box solution if you don't want to look the whole project like a giant construction of just heatsinks looking out everywhere of your (previously) beautiful case.


-level20peon

 

[revs]

While a fanless sytem is not very easy to do, it is possible to make a system so quiet that youc acnnot tell there is a fan.

My system has a AMD64 X2 3800 CPU, fanless Gigabyte Gfx card.

I have a seasonic S12 PSU, which has a fan, but its 120mm, and pretty much silent.

I then have a Arctic Cooling fan on the CPU, which runs around 600rpm.

I then have a 120mm Noctua NF-S12 fan at the rear of the case, and I have used a salman fanmate thing to slow the fan down to a really slow rpm.


My system is dead silent. The only way to hear it over ambient noise is to put your head against the case.

The only sound you hear is the Hard Drive. Other than sticking it in a load of silencing material, theres not much i can do to silence the HD any more!


SO, not fanless, but quiet. dead quiet. (Cool too!)

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Most PVR's that are sold have fans with them, to extract the heat produced in such a confined space.

Must admit noisiest thing on my pc is the chipset fan which is going, being replaced with a thermalright passive heatsink (may fit 70cm fan if not sufficient).

Here's hoping.

 

[level20peon]

The only sound you hear is the Hard Drive. Other than sticking it in a load of silencing material, theres not much i can do to silence the HD any more!

Depending on the HDD you use you could use an AAM (automatic acoustic management) equivalent like there is for Samsung drives. I applied it to my HDD and greatly reduced the "nagging" seeking sounds by that, even though Samsung drives are very silent out-of-the-box. I think the only thing I can hear out of my HTPC is the spinning sound of the HDD, which again is very silent out-of-the-box because of the Samsung Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) motor technology (You have to hold your breath to hear anything). I have a Papst 120mm fan and another 80mm fan for sucking the air out of the case. They both are not noticable.


-level20peon

 

[Pharcycle]

I got HD2400 Pro 256Mb by sapphire that was passively cooled that i thought would be perfect for my HTPC.. However it overheated in about a minute and shut my computer down. Had to mount a case fan above it to keep it cool enough to use! Could well have been faulty and i returned it but just a word of caution. Zalman make an almost silent watercooling solution (the Reserator) that has a large enough radiator so that it can dissipate the head by convection, but you need a ~1m high free standing radiator out the back of your PC. It will cool CPU and VGA out the box and you can optionally cool the N/S Bridge and ram with additional waterblocks. I have one for my main computer and it works quite well, but bear in mind its meant to be a replacement for the stock cooling rather than high performance OC.
good luck