Do you think it would be possible to build a system with no cooling?

[mathiasschnell]

Like, do you think it's possible with today's (or perhaps near-future's) PC components to build a PC that is so cool and uses up so little power that you could simply have it sit and be completely silent (except for moving parts like the disk drivers) with no air, water, oil, TEC or any kind of cooling whatsoever?

I don't really plan on building such a system, I just think it would be kind've cool to have a viable, decent and not too expensive system that can just sit in a room and be completely silent. Heck, it'd be the best thing to happen to libraries nationwide.

 

[Valdis]

it is possible. passive cooling psu,cpu and gpu exists.

 

[Gundam1s]

Eh... no, even with all the components passively cooled you should still have at least one fan to circulate cool air in and hot air out of the system.

But, it is possible to build a uber quite system now that theres passively cooled PSU, Vidoe cards, and solid state HDD's.

Bleh Valdis beat me to it.

 

[grieve]

Presently there are computers with no exhaust; here is a link, check it out. http://www.viewtrak.com/livestocktechnology/dt500.html

These ones are use in slaughter houses and have MB/CPU/RAM etc. Their just not pushed to the brink like we do to our machines.

 

[grieve]

of course they dont have CD/DVD drives or Vid cards... well prolly like 16meg onboard GPU but hey... there waterproof.

Also INTEL has a waterproof Laptop... not too sure if you can drop in pool though
http://www.itechnews.net/2006/04/26/panasonic-y5-waterproof-laptop/

 

[boner]

mmmmm.... cool?

 

[tirefire]

Sure, it's possible. It wouldn't be very cheap or fast compared to an ordinary box. You'd have to use pretty low-power parts, which wouldn't offer the same price/perf ratio as ordinary stuff with fans.

If you paid particular attention to power consumption in your parts and put them all in a cavernous and porous case, it could probably work without overheating. You'd want a mobile CPU, or a heavily-underclocked/undervolted desktop CPU. Either would require a massive heatsink. Integrated graphics would be a nice option, but it would probably need a bigger heatsink. There are passive power supplies that can handle light loads, I think they go up to about 300W, but they're very expensive.

 

[turboflame]

You would need low power parts that don't produce much heat but it can be done.

 

[ffchocobo]

I have an IBM 486DX with 16MB of RAM and a 500MB hard disk in my cupboard which doesn't have a fan (as I broke the exhaust fan) or a heatsink on the CPU... the thing worked fine and was still working when I put it away 8-10 years ago......

So just build yourself a 66MHz PC, don't think it supports Win98 though

 

[andybird123]

there's dozens of mini-itx based solutions that are fanless, we use them all the time at work as we're an industrial systems integrators, a couple of them use mobo's designed specifically for the case and have heat pipe solutions that use the case as the heat sink and so have no internal fans whatsoever

they wouldn't be suitable for gaming, but for standard office / database / systems control type apps they're great (or HTPC as one of my colleagues uses one)

 

[systemlord]

Like, do you think it's possible with today's (or perhaps near-future's) PC components to build a PC that is so cool and uses up so little power that you could simply have it sit and be completely silent (except for moving parts like the disk drivers) with no air, water, oil, TEC or any kind of cooling whatsoever?

I don't really plan on building such a system, I just think it would be kind've cool to have a viable, decent and not too expensive system that can just sit in a room and be completely silent. Heck, it'd be the best thing to happen to libraries nationwide.

I can't even get my dog to sit completely silent. There's only one way you can run a PC with no air, water, oil and thats unpluging you PC cord from the socket. :lol:

 

[potatomanakaspud]

I say i depends on a few things the temperature of the room you keep the case in for one... if the room itself does not get too warm and there is a decent ventaleted case and you use low power parts why not even a 2 gig usb key to replace the HDD and no optical drive would make it pretty quite... heat pipes from the cpu to the outside of the case IGP with an increased heatsink and a fanless psu possibly heat spreaders in the ram... no mechanical parts and depending on case might be possible to have completly silent sysyem and with 690g MB you could even have HDMI out
Hmmm sounds like a cool project... no pun intended

 

[systemlord]

completely silent with "no air", "water, oil", "TEC" or any kind of cooling whatsoever?

Am I the only one that gets it? Completely silent with "No air", "water", "oil", "TEC" or any kind of cooling whatsoever. "I want whatever this poster is smoking". :lol:

 

[maximiza]

Cooling is a necessity no matter what you are running.

 

[zenmaster]

But not active cooling.

As others have noted, there are PSU that are passive as well as passive CPUs and GPUs.

Here is your CPU Cooler for you non OC'd 1.8ghz C2D.

(More than enough power for many.)
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article251-page1.html

Choice of Video Cards.....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121056
htt p://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127287

Fanless PSU.................
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168171 03926

The biggest issue would be getting heat out of the case to prevent buildup. Running a desktop chasis topless would do it. Also a Large tower case with alot of ventilation holes would likely work as well.

 

[nukemaster]

It is possible to make a fan less system if you are willing to make your own case.

First you have to realize that heat rises.

So you case needs to have a fair sized opening on the top and some inlets on the bottom.

Now you place all your heat generating components in the convection path with the coolest parts near the bottom and cpu/psu near the top.

Another way to have less heat in the system is with a external power brick system like those used in many NanoATX systems. This removes one heat source from the system.

While on the topic of power. you will in most cases not need more then 150-200 watts for such a system. I have a

AthlonXP 1800+
K7S5A 3.XX
512megs of ram
120gig drive
Geforce 4 ti4200
16X cd
16X DVD
2 x 80mm fans

If I trust APC's power chute software that system draws under 200watts (202 watts with the screen(about 25 watts) speakers[they take about 20-30 doing nothing] modem and switch on) That said you won't need allot of power.

With some work and modding you can do it. In fact ECS once had a passive system way back when.

RED is a vent that lets hot air escape the case and blue is the vents that will draw cool air in as hot air escapes.
If you can use miniITX and laptop parts you can have a fairly small computer with NO fans and just convection cooling.

Convection cooling(heat raises and cool air comes in the bottom) is how many TV's, DVD players and cable boxes among other electronics cool themselves.

 

[Gneisenau]

Didn't Voodoo PC used to sell a setup that was passively cooled? The case was large, black aluminum, with cooling fins. It used copper heat pipes to transfer heat to the skin of the case. It was so heavy it was on rollers. It was nice looking but very expensive. I believe the case they used was availavble for sale from it's manufacturer.
I just looked, and Voodoo doesn't sell it any longer, but I know they did at one time.

Actually here is the case i was thinking of.

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Computer-Cases/Zalman-TNN-500A-Fanless-PC- Case-Review/

 

[ih8makingupnames]

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/10/12/all_quiet_on_the_pc_noise_front/

h ttp://www.tomshardware.com/2004/01/15/noiseless_computing/

I swear that there was one more but I can't find it.

 

[potatomanakaspud]

how about this for a fanless case

http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/01/15/noiseless_computing/

 

[erloas]

We just got some new PCs at work from Dell that, while not passively cooled are still incrediably quiet. They have a single slow RPM 120mm fan on the intake that goes directly to a large CPU heatsink with many open vents in the back. The fan is set into the case about 6" from the front panel.

While it still has some sound to it, it is practically un-noticable. The systems can't be heard unless you have your ear right up to the front panel. I can't hear them at all above the background noise, our lights make more noise then the PCs.

Completely fanless I'm sure is possible, but I think much more practical would be just using as few large slow fans as possible. Also modifying the case as much as possible to get the fans more centralized in the case and not on the front/back so there is more case to absorb what noise is created.

 

[coldmast]

Really Really thick massive heat pipes that go out of the case to large fins

like a dogs tongue!