Is it safe to run a CPU Air Cooler without a fan?

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Elf_Knight

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Nov 9, 2013
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So I have seen some YouTubers build and use PC's where they have the CPU cooler running with no fans. The CPU I would use is the i5 7500 or the i5 6500. I would get a really large heatsink like a Noctua one for example and would not do any overclocking. My monitor is only 1080p and I want to have the least amount of fans possible for as much quiet computing as possible.

The idea is to use a mini-itx GTX 1060 or even a fanless GPU for an overall quiet build and only have one fan as intake and passive exhaust. This is for a mini-itx DIY system that would mainly be used for word processing and such tasks as well as light gaming or streaming of games from a higher end system. It would be for a living room or LAN parties where loud computers can cause issues. My question is how safe would the PC be if I did not use a fan and just used the heatsink? I had an idea to copy some silent fanless computer cases and mount the heatsink so that it is joined to the top of the computer case lid which would be made from either metal or most likely aluminium which is lighter I believe.

The rest of the case would be made from wood with a metal frame and standoffs for the motherboard and PSU and a couple other components. I might borrow a drive mounting system from an old Fractal Design case if it fits. Any thoughts on this system? For graphics I will use a small form factor (single fan) GTX 1060 or 1050Ti or possibly a fanless GPU all together. PSU will be the SilverStone 300 watt mini PSU. There will be a 525gb SSD with possibly an M.2 SSD for the boot drive if I go for the i5 7500 CPU.

What do you guys think of this overall project? I want utter silence and minimalist design as well as portability. Would it be a good idea or not so much? I know there are cheap mini-itx systems out there but none that meet my requirements. Also I want a project to work on in the upcoming holidays so I think this could be it. That will also give me time to save up for the components.

Many thanks in advance!
 
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It's doable, but puts __significantly__ higher requirements on planning and calculating.

It's not just cpu that needs cooling down in your computer.

When you remove fan from CPU, you need to take care for RAM cooling as it is depending on CPU fan generated air flow being present. Just an example.

And what works fine during cold months in winter will stop being fine when ambient temperatures rise during summer.

Honestly, with decent noise dampening case and semi-passive PSU, i5-7500 Intel's fan is almost inaudible and it's far from elite. Removing fan for acustic noise reasons sounds like a chase for the holy decibell. It's not Northwood/8800GTX days anymore when running computer sounded like angry vacuum cleaner.
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Elf_Knight

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Nov 9, 2013
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What about an i5 6500? I would not be doing any demanding tasks. I realise that for Kaby Lake CPU's that would be a bit laughable to use a heatsink without a fan. Chalk it up to wishful thinking! An i5 6500 though might be possible or what about a lower end Intel Pentium G3258 CPU?
 
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nzalog

nzalog

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Jan 2, 2017
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I've used noctua's without fans directly on the heatsink on 4 different builds already including a server build.

One thing to keep in mind if you probably want at least one fan on the system. And I recommend it be whereever the highest fan can go on the case, you also want that fan pulling air out. The idea here is hot air rises, and you're just assisting to evacuate that hot air. This fan does not need to be fast (quiet mode in bios can be used) and I usually attach it to the CPU fan pins so that it can spin faster if temps rise too much.

The fanless gpu is a bit more of a challenge especially in an itx build. The best I could do was put a smaller noctua fan on my itx sized gtx1070, that fan was quieter than the stock blowing on the heatsink at a fixed speed. This worked but I was mainly relying on the GPU to throttle itself down to prevent temps from becoming ridiculous. The slow speed of the fan was not enough to prevent throttling.

The other issue I ran into with the ITX card was coil whine. No matter how quiet I got my system coil whine kind of ruined all the work.

300W PSU may be pushing it a bit... but should be ok, I'm running a 430w seasonic fanless and it works well. The system doesn't pull over 200w from the wall.

If I were to build my system over I'd buy an ITX chassis that takes longer GPU and not just the mini type. Those system can be very small too but have awesome flexibility with cards (there are a few cases like this, don't remember which right now). Having a full size card would make cooling it much easier.

Good luck with your build...
 
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Elf_Knight

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Nov 9, 2013
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How much would a Celeron use? I found a cheap dual core Celeron which would handle the games and workload I run. For graphics I will probably go for the GT 730 which is already a pretty quiet card. I know I need at least one fan so I was thinking of having a Noctua fan as exhaust since it would match with the wood that I am going for possibly on the back of the case or something. I might have one fan on either side of the case and then just use the stock Intel CPU Cooler. I don't know what the CPU load would be but surely it can't be that high if I am only doing Internet usage, word processing, and very light gaming? Also I found a CPU Cooler by Zalman that claim to be silent and do not use any fans. There is no place to mount a fan on that cooler and it is designed differently then traditional Air coolers are. What are your thoughts on this idea? Would 2 fans (one intake, and one exhaust) + stock cooler be enough? I know stock coolers aren't usually good enough but it's just a dual core CPU so shouldn't be a problem. I might save up and wait for the Kaby Lake version of the Pentium since that has hyperthreading and a higher boost clock out of the box then an old-gen Pentium or Celeron.
 
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J

Jan_26

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Jun 30, 2016
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It's doable, but puts __significantly__ higher requirements on planning and calculating.

It's not just cpu that needs cooling down in your computer.

When you remove fan from CPU, you need to take care for RAM cooling as it is depending on CPU fan generated air flow being present. Just an example.

And what works fine during cold months in winter will stop being fine when ambient temperatures rise during summer.

Honestly, with decent noise dampening case and semi-passive PSU, i5-7500 Intel's fan is almost inaudible and it's far from elite. Removing fan for acustic noise reasons sounds like a chase for the holy decibell. It's not Northwood/8800GTX days anymore when running computer sounded like angry vacuum cleaner.
 
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