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Hello all, I want to finally fulfill my dream to passively cool one of my machines, my plan is to get 2 of these : https://www.amazon.com/Mugen-Rev-CPU-Cooler-Support/dp/B06ZYB8K77 and put them on my cpu and gpu, cpu is very easy, gpu will require bit of work, but that's mostly sorted out. Looking into Fuma 2 also. Would like to get some opinions on my coolers of choice. Are they enough or should I get something else? They will be used without fans, I have a few Noctua fans in my case, but that's it. If things workout I will be looking into changing my already very quiet psu into passive Seasonic psu. Any advice is very welcomed.

This is my first post and PC "build" (I still do not know why I did not build a full ATX in the first place). I have an Intel Nuc I5BEH, case swapped into the Akasa Turing case. Idle temps are pretty low between 35°C and 40°C. Under long term gaming I can play for hours without any issues at 100FPS and high settings. However, I've noticed only under 100% CPU utilization (Blender rendering) there are random thermal shutdowns, and I am fairly certain that it is not overheating. I've run a few different CPU stress tests and after running for a few seconds, it goes into thermal shutdown which is definitely not enough time to start overheating. I have set the BIOS and Windows to passive cooling and that did not seem to make a difference. Any help in mitigating this issue would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if you need anymore info. Specs: Intel Nuc 8I5BEH (Intel Core i5-8259U) 32 GB Crucial DDR4-2400 SODIMM Samsung SSD 970 PRO 512GB Razer Core V1 GTX 1070 FE

Hi Forum, my 10 year old watercooled 2.8ghz quadcore leaked a year ago and there's something causing bluescreens from the hardware.. It's time to build something new. I once was very good at this stuff, but 10 years of not paying much attention to hardware development.. you need a hell lot of time to get back into it. All of linus' videos helped great there. Thanks Linus & team! For my build I was inspired by wall pcs (google it, plenty there) and this guy who cooled his pc passively, build log here. Now I am ready for a build log: Requirements I made up: On the wall quiet no fans portable for lans (gaming get-togethers, like physically. Is that still a thing with young people?) I like hardware and specs, but in the end it has to look good. If a floppy looks good, I'll put that, so don't complain about hardware not being the best I could get. First I made a render, so you can see where this is going. After that I will post progress on the production of all the parts. That will take some time. I hope to be done by the end of the year. Dimensions are about 160cm to 70cm.

what happened? Our first Surface Pro model was the Core i5-7300U SKU and, as shown by our looped CineBench R15 Multi-Thread test scores below, CPU performance can fall significantly from 334 points during the start of the run to as low as 226 points towards the end. This represents a drop of almost 33 percent from what we expect out of a proper ULV Core i5-7300U. In fact, such behavior is more common on a 4.5 W Intel Core Y or Core M series CPU rather than a 15 W Core U series. Surface Pro 2017 Core i7-7600U processor will throttle just as heavily when under the same CineBench R15 Multi-Thread loop test as shown by our graph below. Scores drop steadily after each subsequent run from 410 points down to 340 points by the 7th or 8th loop. This means that users who purchase the Core i7-7600U SKU will actually have a performance level closer to that of a proper Core i5-7300U CPU instead of the Core i7 that they paid for. Conclusion Microsoft's promise of a 50 percent performance boost over the Surface Pro 4 generation is only partially true. Our tests on both the Surface Pro 2017 Core i5 and Core i7 SKUs reveal that performance is indeed faster, but only for the first few minutes before throttling inevitably kicks in. Microsoft is essentially overcharging for the Core i5 and Core i7 configurations since their respective cooling solutions are clearly unable to maintain the proper base clock rates that we have come to expect from a U-class processor. TLDR- improper cooling on the new Microsoft surface pro, all of them are affected but the passively cooled ones gets affected the most. source -https://www.notebookcheck.net/Microsoft-Surface-Pro-series-facing-heavy-throttling-issues.232538.0.html yes there was enough room for a fan on all the models

Could a motherboard VRM and Chipset water block be used just as a passive cooler without water? Like could one be bought and installed just for cosmetics without having water ran through it and not fry a motherboard? Most motherboards VRMs and Chipsets are passively cooled so could this be done without frying a motherboard? The block in question would be this EKWB one. https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-fb-kit-ga-x99-acetal-nickel

Hi! Do you think an i3 2100T would be OK passively cooled in a mini itx case (front intake and rear exhaust), under mostly medium load with a larger cooler? I've got a cooler master 212 evo style cooler without a fan. Cheers.

I'm building a dream pc and need a proper psu. I want primary color to be white, and the range of white PSUs is extremely limited, that's why I'll need to repaint it. I want it to be really quiet (passive cooling) and have a lot of power for future upgrades. It also needs to be very reliable so voiding warranty (repainting) wont turn into a disaster. Now I'm choosing between corsair hx1200i and ax1000 for both of them have passive cooling under 40% load and well known stability. I've read about the differences but don't fully understand how it will influence the pc. If you have had any experience with one of those PSUs can you share it? Maybe you know about some other nice PSUs? Maybe there are silent (under 400w) white 900+w PSUs on the market which I didn't notice? CPU will be i5-9600k, i7-9700k or i9-9900k (or mb newer models if case modding takes too long) GC will be 2080 ti

Hey LTT gang, Working on a new rig for gaming and need some advice. Planning on running a Ryzen 3600. I'd like this thing to be as quiet as possible. So going for a quiet case and as few fans as possible. One option I'm considering is passively cooling the CPU. Looking at running one of these without a fan: DEEPCOOL Gamer Storm ASSASSIN II-CPU DEEPCOOL Gamer Storm Lucifer V2-CPU The idea being that the large 140mm front two case fans and one rear case fan would be sufficient to pass enough air across the heatsink to cool the processor. Leaning toward either Noctua or be quiet! fans. Can I passively cool the Ryzen 3600? Even if I can cool it passively, are there good reasons not to? What sort of case is going to give me the best airflow across the heatsink? Been looking at some of the cases that let you invert the mobo as maybe giving better air flow across the processor (e.g., a couple of the be quiet! cases). But have seen a few tests where the performance really wasn't much better than regular mobo placement. What are some good alternatives to passive cooling that are also super quiet? Thanks for your help. ?

Hi, First topic on the forum, sorry if I mess up. I'm building a small HTPC-ish machine for daily use. I'm running a browser, and sometimes a few VMs on it. I also use Parsec to stream games from my gaming PC. Because of my use-case it doesnt need a VGA, or a lot of performance, so I went with: I3-6100T with a (35W TDP) + ARTIC's alpine 12, which keeps a cool 60C under load. I have a Mini-ITX board, and I'm happy to change to an M.2 drive to conserve space. My problem is thus: I want this system to stay quiet. And I want it to be small. But all ITX cases either: a) have a lot of extra space for a GPU b) have no clearance for the Alpine 12's 69mm height c) have a built in PSU that has terrible fans d) has no room for an internal PSU Or some combination of the above. For example I was considering Hot-Rod-ing the InWin chopin, but I've read that the fans get really loud after a while. I'm looking for a case, that can fit an ITX motherboard, an SFX/SFX-L or some standard, replaceable PSU, and has clearance for the cooler. All, while staying as small as possible. Does such a case exist? I have not been able to find one. I'm considering DIY-ing one at this point. As of now my machine is in a butchered ATX case, that I have cut apart with an angle grinder. I'm also happy to hear suggestions on what PSU I should use if I do manage to get or make a case, I'm currently running a standard 600W psu with its fans barely turning.

I was looking at the Linux Mint monthly bulletin and it led me off to the Mintbox3 page. There I found this passively cooled beast. All I can think of when I see this thing is how can it stay cool. If anyone has one out there it would be great to know if this thing really works as advertised. Link to spec. https://fit-iot.com/web/products/mintbox3/mintbox3-pro-specifications/

Hey guys, I’m trying to build a full silent HTPC 4K streaming capable and for playing some games in a good quality (no need for 4k, but maybe 2k, only will play Sport and Fight games, I have a good pc for the AAA). But it will be used with my HiFi Stereo Audio System, so I’d like to have no noisy fans. I’d prefer it to be slim, but it looks impossible. What i’m Pretending to buy: B450M Motherboard Ryzen 5 2600 CPU GTX 1060 GPU Seasonic 400W Fanless 8GB DDR4 RAM 3TB HD (Will need to buy a 8TB one later). And the two passive coolers (uploaded images) gotta decide a case yet, silent, not more than 150$ (if possible, I can spend more, but I think I don’t need to), small (mini ATX + Full Size 1060), fanless (If possible).

I've put together a new build with a lot of Noctua fans, two in the front, one in the bottom, one in the back and two on the Kraken water cooling radiator at the top of the Fractal design chassi. So far the build is as quiet as I can get with normal cooling. However, I got a video output card for use in color critical applications and it got a chip cooling with a cheap bad and small fan that has this annoying pitched tone to it. It's so annoying now that the rest of the computer is quiet that I had to disconnect the card when I'm not working with critical color work for my post production needs. I was thinking that I might be able to replace the card fan with a passive solution now that there's a lot of air flow with all the new fans. But I'm not sure how to achieve this? What passive cooling solution should I use? What is enough so that it doesn't overheat? Removing the fan shouldn't be much of a problem, but how do I attach a new passive cooler on it? Here's a screen of the Decklink card I want to change the cooling on.

I've been looking into making a custom heatsink for a case I designed myself, but when I started looking into heat pipes there wasn't an awful lot of information regarding specific details, such as which end of the heat pipe is the "head" and "foot" end, and which to apply to the heat source. Also, what are the differences between grooved, wick material and sintered heat pipes?

Hello, I figured out lately that i have unused CoolerMaster N200, not even unpacked etc. So how to use it when i have 6 PC in home and family like to watch movies from internet. I decided to build up small file sharing/media center machine, based on linux distribution. The problem is - room with router is pretty calm, unfortunately while my home was build, ISP got a cable to my sleeping room (hey, it wasn't sleeping room before!). I really would love to sleep without any noise so this machine needs to be completely calm, silent, passive cooled. What i have right now: - CM N200 case (already removed all fans from it) - Kingston V300 240gb SSD What i need: - Older parts like CPU and motherboard with integrated GPU which can be completely passive cooled - mobo needs to be microATX to fit case. - Passive PSU If you give parts name, i will note if some of them not ship to Poland. Your ideas how to build this. I am not specialist in building such machines, only thing what i can do is take parts and build up normal PC (without water cooling implementation). I could buy older parts from auction sites, it's not a problem, they don't need to be new and top tier, i am aiming for really cheap budget setup. Custom made parts are not a problem, i am living in small village so a lot of handwork here :). Right now i was thinking to cut top of my N200 and replace it with anti-dust airy material, same thing to side parts so case will have way better air flow. Anything else - i appreciate every help and ideas. Whenever i will build this, i will share vLog/pictures with you and performance tests. Cheers! Michael

Hi all, I went through the lineup of the new editions for the GTX 1080 but honestly couldn't see one that would offer a quiet version. Pretty much every one of them was like 2 or 3 fans version, I think the only exception was the corsair water cooled hybrid edition which supplied a single fan. I'm planning to change my rig to a more quiet version and this will be the first component to replace and I'd like to get some opinions as I feel this topic was not covered anywhere yet. Is there a quiet/passive cooling version coming out anytime soon? Or which one you guys think is the most quiet from the current lineup? Or is it possible to replace the fans on any of the current editions to some quiet custom fans? Thanks Arisu

I have a sapphire R9 290 vapor-x, and since there is no water blocks for it (it has a different pcb than the 290x vapor x sadly), I was thinking of a universal block, since the vrm has its own cooling solution anyways (it has a heatsink that doesnt make contact with the main heatsink, meaning its aircooled anyways). Would this be possible or would I be wasting my time and money. Also would the ram need cooling or does that not get that hot?

LinusTechTips made a video where he made a silent pc with the i7 5960x with a Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro3 and no fans except for the case fans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXZrWqCT7R0 I was wondering, seeing as though the fx 8350 is only 125 watts, whereas the i7 5960x is 140 watts, if the fx cpu can be passively cooled in the same way. Is this true and if not why? I have the same case, a asus gtx 970, a corsair 650RM psu and the case fans installed in the default layout. I will NOT overclock my CPU at all, and my GPU will be in passive mode for as long as possible. I have all the stock fan configurations for the be quiet! Silent Base 800 case, and if the passive cooling works, I will probably install another two silent wings 2 fans at the top as exhaust fans. Somebody please let me know if the fx 8350 can be cooled passively, when the i7 5960x, a cpu with a 15 watts greater tdp, can be passively cooled without compromising. My current setup: CPU: AMD FX-8350 at stock clocks with stock cooler (big mistake on my part, the fan on the cooler isn't turned on and so my idle temps are around 65 degrees!!) GPU: Asus Strix GTX 970 underclocked Motherboard: MSI 970 Gaming PSU: Corsair 650 RM Case: be quiet! Silent Base 800 with stock fan configuration at the moment. Standard information: 1 DVD RW drive + 2 HDD (2tb each)

The silent cube Pushing passive cooling to the limit The vision The build The heat After I could gain experience with my first passive build with a TDP of ~250 watts (http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/342534-finished-full-passive-powerful-workstation-gaming-rig-who-said-it-cant-be-done/) I'm building an even more insane system. It will be the ultimate passive build because it's the best I can achive with the current technology without going absolutely crazy. And with crazy I'm mean something like using two PSUs, more than 50 kg of heat sinks or something along thos lines. The most powerful fanless PSU aviable nowadays is the Enermax Digifanless 550 watts, with a peak power of up to 605 watts (one minute). Under this power envelope I will fitt: - CPU: i7-4790K (90 watts) - GPU: 2x EVGA GTX 980 SC ACX 2.0 in SLI (380 watts) - MoBo: Asrock Z97M OC Formula (15 watts) - RAM: G.Skill Trident X 32GBytes, DDR3-2400 (10 watts) - SSD 1: Intel 750 PCI-E, 400 GB (25 watts) - SSD 2: Samsung Evo 512 GB in M.2 format (5 watts) - HDD 1: 3 TBytes WD Red (10 watts) The HDD can turned on and off with a switch and will only used for back-ups. I'd love to get rid of a HDD, but it's silly to make back-ups on a SSD and it will be hardly ever turned on. As you can see the maximal power draw is around 535 watts and very close to the limit of 550 watts. But in normal operation it's very unlikely to push all components at the same time. For peak power draw I have a buffer of 75 watts, what I can feel comfortable with. Thankfully the PSU has a very high build quality (it it also very expensive, but never cheap out on the PSU) and I can measure the load and temperature in real time. EDIT: The measured peak load pulled from the PSU is about 510 watts. Now I made sure the PSU don't blew up, I have to get rid of the heat somehow. The upper temperture limit for me is about 80°C with a max. room temperature of 30°C. As a result I have a temperature difference of 50°C to play with. So it's time for number crunching and it turned out I need three heat sinks of 400x300x84 mm, 12 kg each. So I designed the system around them. More renderings: The system has a size of 384x384x403 mm. Nearly a perfect cube. And it will weigh ~50 kg! This time I tried to use less heat pipes. They are fine, but quite expensive. Therefor I mounted the GPU directly to the heat sinks using a copper heat transfer plate. Also I will use peltier elements as a thermoelectric generator by takeing advantage of the Seebeck effect! I know the efficiency is only ~1%, but it's just for fun. Because of the low heat conductivity I can't mount the elements directly on the CPU/GPU, so I will mount them on the big heat sink on the front (hot side) and cool them with the two smal heat sinks on each side. Therefor I can only expect a smal temperature difference (5 - 10 °C estimated), so I will get an oper circuit voltage of 50 - 300 mV per modul. Since I'm useing cheap 3 euro peltier modules I have no information about the thermoelectric generator characteristics. But since I'm useing 10 modules and a low power LED needs only ~2 mW (1,8 volt, 1mA) I'm pretty confident I can at least illuminate some LEDs. When the final measurements shows that I'm able to harvest >= 600 mW, I could even charge my smartphone on a slow rate (5V, 100mA) useing a boost converter. Now lets roll out the build log: Update 1: Metal and heat sinks arrived Update 2: GPU heat transfer plate Update 3: GPU 1 assembly Update 4: GPU 1 measurement Update 5: Estimation thermal generator output power Update 6: Energie harvesting efficiency = 0.0005% Update 7: CPU block and PCI-E riser Update 8: CPU cooler Update 9: CPU cooler finally mastered Update 10: Don't give up.... Update 11: Full throttle, no throttling! Update 12: Final assembly part 1 Update 13: Stress test, 500 watts! Update 14: Make the heat visible! Update 15: Final assembly part 2 Update 16: Charging the smartphone for free while gaming Update 17: Finished! (Lot's of pictures) Update 18: <1dBa over the noise floor! Update 19: Overclock the CPU Update 20: Finishing touches Update 21: Liquid cristal thermometer! Update 22: Thank you all! If you liked this build log, you may also like a passive mineral oil cooled PC. Don't hesitate and look here: The number cruncher

I guess I'll start off by saying that I've been lurking around on these boards for quite some time now, but never really felt that I had a reason to make an account and post something until today. The last time I built a computer was in 2002, and I enjoyed the experience immensely. My dad helped me purchase all the parts and with the assembly, I ended up using that computer for at least 4 or 5 years for gaming as well as school. The next time I bought a computer was in 2010, a mid-range ASUS gaming laptop. That's been my only PC since, and I'm still using it today, begrudgingly. Having been inspired by the recent silent build that LTT showcased on Youtube I have decided that its finally time to upgrade from this worn out laptop and build myself a custom gaming rig once again. I really found the idea of a nearly silent, passively cooled, balls to the walls, all out gaming PC to be pretty cool, something worthy of luring me back to the PC world. I thought it would be a good idea to post a thread and get some feedback before I went out and bought a bunch of parts to possibly find out that something may be incompatible. 1. Budget & Location – I live in BC, in the Lower Mainland. Budget isn't really too much of a worry, I'm not trying to get the best $/performance and I do have money to burn right now. 2. Aim – Gaming at 1440p being the main focus, maybe some RAW image editing with Lightroom, but nothing crazy. Might do 4K in the future. 3. Monitors – I’m pretty confident that I will never use a multi-monitor setup for gaming, just one screen at a time. The real question is should I go for 144hz 1080P, or 1440P, or just but the damn ROG Swift and have both? IPS vs TN? G-sync vs Freesync?!? TOO MANY CHOICES 4. Peripherals – I will need to get a copy of Windows 8.1, and I will end up picking up a new mouse and keyboard eventually, but I’m not really thinking about that right now. 5. Why am I upgrading? – My 4+ year old laptop doesn’t cut it anymore, simple as that. 6. The build itself - This is just what I have come up with so far (all prices from NCIX as that is most likely where I will be purchasing all the parts from): CASE – bequiet! Silent Base 800 - $129 PSU – Seasonic Platinum 520FLII Fanless - $159 CPU – i7 4790K - $399 CPU Cooler – bequiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 - $99 MOBO – Asus Z97 Hero VII - $254 GPU – Asus GTX 980 Strix - $689 RAM – 16GB Kingston HyperX Fury DDR3 1866mhz 2x8GB - $179 SSD – 2 x Crucial MX100 512GB – 2 x $259 = $518 FANS – 4 x bequiet! Silent Wings 2 PWM 140mm – 4 x $25 = $100 1 x bequiet! Silent Wings 2 PWM 120mm - $22 TOTAL - $2548 I want to make this a passively cooled, super quiet gaming rig. I plan on copying what Linus did with their build and will strip off the fans on the CPU cooler so that way the only moving parts are fans for the GPU and case and then tuning those to be off when in idle. The case comes with bequiet! Pure Wings 2 fans, which are not as quiet as the Silent Wings 2 fans. I plan to replace the stock two front intake 140mm fans, add two 140mm fans to the top in exhaust, and install the rear 120mm fan as an intake with a filter on it. Also, based off “eXtreme PSU Calculator” I should have enough headroom on this build with the 520W PSU to power 2 GTX 980’s in SLI should I want to upgrade in the future, but I would prefer to keep this a single GPU build. There are a couple things I was hoping you guys could provide guidance with (in no particular order): Do you think there is a better motherboard to use than the Hero VII? I would like an ASUS board but am not sure if there is a better choice. Possibly the Sabertooth? Any clearance issues with this Mobo/Ram/CPU Cooler configuration? Should I just get an i5 4690K for my purposes to save a few bucks, or is the slightly higher clock rate on the i7 4790K going to make a difference? Should I wait until after CES 2015 in early January to make any purchases? Should I use low noise adapters on the fans? Should I just keep the stock case fans instead of replacing them all with the Silent Wings 2 fans? What kind of monitor should I get, let me know what you guys think would be the best fit for this system. RAID0 for the SSD’s? Well, that’s about it. I hope some of you can let me know what you think, I’m looking forward to this build and might end up posting a bit of a build log on these forums once I get going.

for those who hate hearing their fans running *cough linus cough* but who think passive cooling sucks and when water cooling is impracticle... There is a new advance in passive cooling. Also who doesn't want a chore boy on their pc? source http://gizmodo.com/a-nest-of-copper-foam-lets-this-tiny-pc-run-silently-wi-1613237476?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

http://www.gizmag.com/silent-power-pc-passive-cooling/33145/ Dang. That's... interesting. We always talk about surface area in a heatsink, and I guess these designers just said, "screw it, let's add as much surface areas as humanly possible." I, for one, wonder how airflow works through this. How restrictive is it? Also, this looks SUPER ugly. What are your thoughts? Edit: Also, the dust buildup would be insane. How could you clean it?