Would passively cooling work?

[MyNameIHappy]

Hi there

Im planning to rebuild my mini pc that my gf uses now. She plays Planet Zoo and Sims most of the time, but also is interested in Games like Kena and stray but never had a system to run these Games.

Specs now:

- AMD Ryzen 5 2600X

- GTX 970 Asus Mini

- 2x8 GB 3000MHz

- Gigabyte Aorus B450 mini-ITX

- Corsair Carbide AIR 260

- Corsair RMx650

- Corsair H100i Pro

- 1TB 2.5 SSD + 500GB 2.5 SSD

 

My plan is to build a compact and quite system that still is powerfull. Also i will replace the GPU with an Intel A770 or my RTX 2070 as soon i got my new GPU for my main PC.

I will reuse the CPU,RAM and MB for the new build since they are more then enough for my gf and most games.

The case i wanne use is the Phanteks Evolv Shift XT, so i created a shopping list with:

- Phanteks Evolve Shift XT

- Corsair SF600

- Crucial P5 Plus 1TB

- 2x Noctua NF-F12

- Be quiet Silent Loop 2

I should add im not interested in RGB for this build.

But then I figured to run this case in his smallest form I won't need an AIO but Air coolers are much louder and i won't have much airflow in this case either. Since im not running a high spec machine I don't need alot of Cooling. So I thought about a passive Cooler for my CPU, but im kinda concerned about the temps. Still im interested as I could run a much smaller and quieter PC if I would passively cool my CPU

[Somerandomtechyboi]

50 minutes ago, MyNameIHappy said:

I will reuse the CPU,RAM and MB for the new build since they are more then enough for my gf and most games

Then whats even the point of creating the new build if the current one is enough? Just slap a better gpu on it and maybe even a ryzen 5 5500 since those are now like 100$ and now youve got your damn upgrade

 

4 minutes ago, Arika S said:

what??

In fact you're more likely to have an air cooler be quieter than an AIO given that the AIO also has a pump which adds noise. You just have to tune your fan curve right.

 

in fact my Noctua NH-u9s on my 5600x is quieter than my partners Corsair H110 on a 7700k despite the fan needing to run faster.

^^^

Gotta consider the pump too, also theyre only useful for as long as the pump runs so when it inevitably dies then your aio is gone and you gotta buy a new one whereas aircoolers they last forever cause theyre just hunks of metal with a fan strapped on (aside from passive coolers) only real maintenence being replacing the fan every decade or so when it dies if you didnt just buy a passive cooler

[freeagent]

I was able to run my 3600XT passively on my Le Grand Macho RT.

[MyNameIHappy]

49 minutes ago, Arika S said:

what??

In fact you're more likely to have an air cooler be quieter than an AIO given that the AIO also has a pump which adds noise. You just have to tune your fan curve right.

 

in fact my Noctua NH-u9s on my 5600x is quieter than my partners Corsair H110 on a 7700k despite the fan needing to run faster.

True air can be quiter but tue the size off the case im limited in size of the cooler. I would need a top down cooler, your cooler would never fit into the case. max cpu cooler size is 72mm

 

[MyNameIHappy]

45 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Then whats even the point of creating the new build if the current one is enough? Just slap a better gpu on it and maybe even a ryzen 5 5500 since those are now like 100$ and now youve got your damn upgrade

 

^^^

Gotta consider the pump too, also theyre only useful for as long as the pump runs so when it inevitably dies then your aio is gone and you gotta buy a new one whereas aircoolers they last forever cause theyre just hunks of metal with a fan strapped on (aside from passive coolers) only real maintenence being replacing the fan every decade or so when it dies if you didnt just buy a passive cooler

Just me wanne build and trying out new stuff. U never do something just because out of fun and curiosity?

[MyNameIHappy]

12 minutes ago, freeagent said:

I was able to run my 3600XT passively on my Le Grand Macho RT.

Do you remember by any change the temps ur cpu were hitting?

[PDifolco]

I can't really understand the need for passive cooling, it works usually quite bad when a silent fan at 60% rpm gives much better results

 

[freeagent]

1 minute ago, PDifolco said:

I can't really understand the need for passive cooling, it works usually quite bad when a silent fan at 60% rpm gives much better results

 

What I didn’t mention was I ran it at a static 4400MHz. It’s a good cooler, better than most.

[WoodenMarker]

On 11/1/2022 at 5:29 AM, freeagent said:

I was able to run my 3600XT passively on my Le Grand Macho RT.

Fully passive or semi passive?

On 11/1/2022 at 5:50 AM, PDifolco said:

I can't really understand the need for passive cooling, it works usually quite bad when a silent fan at 60% rpm gives much better results

Some people are sensitive to noise.

[freeagent]

Just now, WoodenMarker said:

Fully passive or semi passive?

Both, semi passive is better of course, but fully passive was a go outside of the case. That cooler is not that great on my Zen 3 parts though. I mean its "ok", but not for passive use.

 

To be fair, it was winter, so the ambient was about 17c in the basement.

[PDifolco]

20 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Fully passive or semi passive?

Some people are sensitive to noise.

Unless you live in an sound isolated bunker a less than 20dB fan is not audible, real life ambient sound level are most often in the 30dB range, it's like the noise of a small breeze...

[freeagent]

46 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

Unless you live in an sound isolated bunker a less than 20dB fan is not audible, real life ambient sound level are most often in the 30dB range, it's like the noise of a small breeze...

When you use industrial fans, sometimes change is nice.

[WoodenMarker]

9 hours ago, PDifolco said:

Unless you live in an sound isolated bunker a less than 20dB fan is not audible, real life ambient sound level are most often in the 30dB range, it's like the noise of a small breeze...

Pretty much every fan I've come across is audible at 60% when there isn't music or a video playing and it's not like I have great hearing or that my room is particularly quiet either. This applies from generic case fans to fans that are relatively very quiet like the NF-S12A PWM.

I tend to hear most fans at >450rpm and quiet fans below 400rpm fade into the background. I wouldn't call any spinning fans silent though. There's a noticeable difference between how a machine with quiet spinning fans and one that is turned off. It takes a bit of work to get a machine with spinning fans quiet enough that it's undiscernible from one that's turned off. 

[freeagent]

On 11/1/2022 at 7:42 AM, MyNameIHappy said:

Do you remember by any change the temps ur cpu were hitting?

80c with Linpack Xtreme.