Passive cooled pc?

[shovenose]

so after read ing this it seemed too complicated so how about just runnign pieces of metal or heatpipes to the case for the psu? where would i find heatpipes? i have a p4 system, 350w psu, 1gb ram, 160gb sata hd, etc. that i want to run passively cooled?any good idea? how would i passively cool the cpu? thanks...

 

[shovenose]

i could use this as the cpu hs, and just take the fan off, right? would it overheat?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835230010

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Well, you could but an awful lot depends your system components.

If you are interested in having a silent pc, then here is a link to a very good web site with a lot of useful information about quiet pc's, including on that has no moving parts:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Silent_PC_with_No_Moving_Parts

 

[MagicPants]

That'd be pretty sweat. I think you can build your own heat pipes pretty easily as long as you have access to the right chemicals. You probably can't make stinted pipes though so you'll have to be careful about the orientation. Maybe you could use a peltier junction?

I hope you're doing this for fun, because it's not going to be easy.

 

[masterjaw]

IMO, if you want a passively cooled CPU then you should also consider to have cool ambient temps plus good case airflow.

 

[welshmousepk]

With some pretty aggressive underclocking and good heatsinks, it should be possible.

is say at least use an ultra silent case fan or two though. it would make it much easier and you would still have a near silent PC.

 

[Paperdoc]

Not sure about your particular CPU, but Pentium 4's (at least some of the early ones) used a lot of power and hence generated a lot of heat. So as you find ways to do this, pay attention to how much power the CPU was using when you see reports of a successful passive cooling arrangement. Many who go down that route start by selecting low-power versions of key components like the CPU and video card.

 

[shovenose]

1)im not going to mess with chemicals to ake my own heatpipes
2)could i use solid pieces of metal instead of traditional heatpipes
3)i have very bad airflow case with the psu pulling air out top, a 60mm fan slot on the top back (not used), two 80mm fans on bottom side pulling air out and 4x80mm fan ports in front (not used)
4)would the above linked to heatsink cool the cpu enough? i have asus p4c800-e deluxe motherboard...should i set the cpu to 1.4ghz for less heat?
5)my wd sata 10gb hd is relatively queit so i could live with that for a while till i save up and get the smallest cheapest sdd i can find...
6) i have a mad dog multimedia lousy quality 350w psu. it has 2 fans one on the inside blowing air from inside the case to the psu and another blowing out. could i take the inside fan out? it does run hot thouhgh even with 2 fans theirs hot air coming out the back...it has a fan controller on the back, but its not nearly silent when on silent mode...
7) i have an nvidia quadro fx 300 256mb agp card with a stupid little fan thats quiet/not on under light load but when it revs up its a whiny little thing! can i just disconnnect that little fan or how can i underclockm my card? unfortunately my mobo doesnt have onoboard video. i do have old 32mb agp card sitting around (passive sooling) they sure would suck at gta3, ms flight simulator 2004, and roller coaster tycoon (original 95 version)
8)sorry bout the olng post!

 

[shovenose]

Not sure about your particular CPU, but Pentium 4's (at least some of the early ones) used a lot of power and hence generated a lot of heat. So as you find ways to do this, pay attention to how much power the CPU was using when you see reports of a successful passive cooling arrangement. Many who go down that route start by selecting low-power versions of key components like the CPU and video card.

i am using a 2.8ghz p4 w/ht enabled. my vid card is a quadro fx 3000 agp 256mb.

 

[shovenose]

With some pretty aggressive underclocking and good heatsinks, it should be possible.

is say at least use an ultra silent case fan or two though. it would make it much easier and you would still have a near silent PC.

i understand and agree that a case fan (or 2 or 3 like right now) are/would be a bug help. but not only do i want a nearly silent pc i also want to make sure it will last long (fans can fail in the long run) except for the hard drive which will obviously die the soonest, but i also want to be able to tell people/show people i have a fanless pc. i think part of the future in pcs is silent (not exremely queit) but SILENT when you cant hear it when you put ur ear right by it...

 

[welshmousepk]

from the sounds of your setup, its a no go.

you need to have the right parts that will cool well, and since you haven't built it form scratch with passive cooling in mind it will be difficult. and without a low power CPU and good case ventilation it isn't going to happen.

the only way it may be possible is to drastically under volt the CPU, but you'd be reducing the performance of an already weak processor.

 

[shovenose]

oh oops ebfore i got ur response, i modded it somewhat. nothing i cant undo, but anyway, heres what i did:
1)switched to a 2ghz p4 instead of a 2.8ghz p4 cpu
2)took the fan off of the heatsink and removed retaining clip thingy
3)superglued heatsink only (no fan) to the retantion frame in 2 small points so big deal if i need to remove it...
4)hoping to help cpu heatsink not get as hot, glued a pci slot faceplate cover one end to the heatsink one end to the case...
5)turned it on, ran a quick PC WIZARD 2009 cpu benchmark, and the temp went over 60C...
took the cover off my psu hoping the output fan on the psu will help cool the cpu hsf directly undr it..
thanks is it still bad?

 

[MagicPants]

There is one thing you can do:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/strip-fans,1203.html

 

[shovenose]

lol hell no!

 

[JohnnyLucky]

ROFLMAO :lol:

 

[shovenose]

ok then...good to know...

 

[jaguarskx]

If you want to build a completely silent PC then I recommend you build from the ground up. Meaning trash what you have (because it's not going to work) and start looking buying new components after researching power consumption and heat output of those components.

The greatest threat to any PC (other than user error) is heat.

Also, what is the purpose of the silent PC. Gonna be a media server or HTPC, no problem. You wanna do some "hardcore gaming", then you got a problem.

 

[AsAnAtheist]

There is one thing you can do:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/strip-fans,1203.html

Haha nice.

I wonder if you can fry things inside there. -sarcasm-

 

[shovenose]

ok well for now im putting a fan on the hs...but not the stupid little noisy stock one! a nice blue led one that ill run off the psu fan controller!

 

[MagicPants]

The cheapest thing you can do it try and replace any fans smaller than 120mm with fans bigger than 120mm. Big slow moving fans are quieter. It's not always that easy depending on your case.

 

[shovenose]

yep not gonna easy-im not even sure how to do that

 

[coasterman]

I would say the best silent PC configuration is:
Thermaltake M9 Case
Thermaltake TR2 PSU
Silent CPU fan

I once built a PC with a Pentium Dual-Core E5200 with a stock CPU fan with that case and PSU and the thing was literally silent... You only heard the CD or hard drives running. It was difficult to determine if the PC was on until you actually saw it on, with its blue LED fans.

 

[shovenose]

well actually i have a c2d 2.4ghz e6600 pc that i built myself. it was silent till i added an old geforce 6800 ultra edition graphics card. all used parts, all in a crappy old atx case with a used antec 120mm fan.