Fanless cooler

[Speedbird]

Hello

 

I'm looking to build a home server. I have most of the parts alreaday, just need a few more things. I need a fanless cooler for an i3 550 (TDP is 73W). It needs to be small, the case is a bit narrow. Should not be taller than 90mm. And the budget is 50 euros. Thanks.

[kichilron]

I don't know of a particular one, but the laws of aerodynamics dictate that absolutely fanless is almost impossible if you're looking for it to be as small as possible.

 

I someone knows of one, I'd love to be told, though.

 

There are some cases that will let you use the case as the cooler, though. Especially made for small formfactor Server / Media devices.

[SirRoderick]

I can think of a few fanless coolers in the 90-100W range, but those are taller than 90mm by a good margin. Any reason you aren't considering a fan?

[ForsakenLive]

Depends on the case, if you have a good open enclosure, or at least the top panel is mostly mesh, you can get away with something like Silverstone NT06-E

[Nup]

Could you just have an open case and a very large cooler (noctua nh-d15 or something), and let it be passivly cooled? if's its not to demanding in the first place?  

[Speedbird]

I don't know of a particular one, but the laws of aerodynamics dictate that absolutely fanless is almost impossible if you're looking for it to be as small as possible.

 

I someone knows of one, I'd love to be told, though.

 

There are some cases that will let you use the case as the cooler, though. Especially made for small formfactor Server / Media devices.

Well, the case is from a prebuilt desktop and the airflow is pretty bad.

 

I can think of a few fanless coolers in the 90-100W range, but those are taller than 90mm by a good margin. Any reason you aren't considering a fan?

I have to sleep in the same room as the server and I want it to be as quiet as possible.

 

Depends on the case, if you have a good open enclosure, or at least the top panel is mostly mesh, you can get away with something like Silverstone NT06-E

Unfortunatley it is not.

 

Could you just have an open case and a very large cooler (noctua nh-d15 or something), and let it be passivly cooled? if's its not to demanding in the first place?  

Open cases aren't really available here. And the D15 is 100 euros, out of my budget.

[ForsakenLive]

 

Unfortunatley it is not.

 

 

The way passive cooling works is that there is actually air getting inside the enclosure, getting heated up by some way of heat transfer (heatsink) and leaving when it gets too hot. This happens thanks to convection, where the hot particles will try to find their way out, and the not-so-hot ones take their place. In systems most of the times you need support for the air to go through with fans, where all the passively cooled components get a helping hand (which is what happens in servers). To have a fully passive system, you need a lot of well placed vents or a really low power hardware combination (which is the case of smartphones, tablets, and some notebooks and NUCs).

So you may want to reconsider your parts, case, or cooling method in order to make it work.

[Speedbird]

The way passive cooling works is that there is actually air getting inside the enclosure, getting heated up by some way of heat transfer (heatsink) and leaving when it gets too hot. This happens thanks to convection, where the hot particles will try to find their way out, and the not-so-hot ones take their place. In systems most of the times you need support for the air to go through with fans, where all the passively cooled components get a helping hand (which is what happens in servers). To have a fully passive system, you need a lot of well placed vents or a really low power hardware combination (which is the case of smartphones, tablets, and some notebooks and NUCs).

So you may want to reconsider your parts, case, or cooling method in order to make it work.

Well, I'm reusing old parts to keep it cheaper. So what would be the best quiet active cooler for me?

[ForsakenLive]

Try to find something cheap but quiet that is also low profile, the Rajintek Zelos is not a bad choice, and coming from Germany they might be available to you. If you don't mind paying a bit more for better performance and quieter cooler, the Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Topflow SR1 makes a system look like it's off, that's how quiet those are if you have some sort of PWM configuration from your motherboard (which is very likely).

 

Try getting some sort of air pulling in or exhausting from the case, just one fan is all you need. Arctic, Gelid and Be Quiet! offer compelling solutions for small chasis, they have pretty decent 80mm and 92mm fans. You don't need massive airflow, so don't even run those at full speed.

 

Using rubber pads (anti-vibration mounts) will actually help with the overall sound of the system; also rubber case feet. Don't worry that much about the fans, the ones I mentioned are probably to be quieter than the hard drives, so they will go unnoticed.

[TheFalseHuman]

NCIX actually made a video on a fanless PC:

 

 

Maybe consider this, since it comes with like an integrated CPU cooler?