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1151 Mainboard for passive cooled rig

cisto1999
By cisto1999
in CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory
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Hi, which MB would you recommend for a rig with no active cooling (no fans)?

Would the Asus Z170 Pro Gaming (5k rated caps) be ok or would the Asus Z170i Pro Gaming be the better option (has 10k rated capacitors).

Components:

CPU: i5 6600

Cooler: Macho Grande or "NoFan" Cooler

16GB RAM

2x SSD

A case with a lot of mesh on top and front

PSU: Enermax 550 digi fanless

 

No OC intented (rather a little undervolting).

 

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Why a z170 with a non-k chip?

because the z170 boards generally have more features (beside OC).

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Hi, which MB would you recommend for a rig with no active cooling (no fans)?

Would the Asus Z170 Pro Gaming (5k rated caps) be ok or would the Asus Z170i Pro Gaming be the better option (has 10k rated capacitors).

Components:

CPU: i5 6600

Cooler: Macho Grande or "NoFan" Cooler

16GB RAM

2x SSD

A case with a lot of mesh on top and front

PSU: Enermax 550 digi fanless

No OC intented (rather a little undervolting).

The rating on the capacitors is only marketing as your system will never runn this long unless you do 24/7 operation.

As for the MoBo: Just get one with big heat sinks on the VRMs, but as you don't OC and only have a 65 watt CPU you don't have to worry. In fact I have a Asrock Z97M OC formula with a 91 watt CPU and also passive cooled. The temperature of the VRMs are fine, I checked it with a thermal image camera. Look on my signature for more details.

PSU: Personally I use the Digifanless, but I don't like it that much for the price. It's not bad, but price to performance ratio on the seasonic platinum fanless PSUs are way better.

Mineral oil and 40 kg aluminium heat sinks are a perfect combination: 73 cores and a Titan X, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Oil

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Hi, which MB would you recommend for a rig with no active cooling (no fans)?

Would the Asus Z170 Pro Gaming (5k rated caps) be ok or would the Asus Z170i Pro Gaming be the better option (has 10k rated capacitors).

Components:

CPU: i5 6600

Cooler: Macho Grande or "NoFan" Cooler

16GB RAM

2x SSD

A case with a lot of mesh on top and front

PSU: Enermax 550 digi fanless

 

No OC intented (rather a little undervolting).

Taking this no fan thing seriously....

seriously... none? Can't you bypass the noise of a couple with a decent case and low rpm? I actually find this extremely interesting, no sarcasm intended. I don't understand the need but... to each their own. I would guess with the massive heatsink I would have to use the sabertooth if I was actually going to take this too serious. Ultimate fanless cooling would be submersion in mineral oil.  

XeonWorx X5675 @ 50% overclock / 980 Ti G1

LogixWorx (LogiX) Dual X5690 Mac Pro 12-core

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/672567-guide-post-win10-install-software-and-driver-installation/

 

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Taking this no fan thing seriously....

seriously... none? Can't you bypass the noise of a couple with a decent case and low rpm? I actually find this extremely interesting, no sarcasm intended. I don't understand the need but... to each their own. I would guess with the massive heatsink I would have to use the sabertooth if I was actually going to take this too serious. Ultimate fanless cooling would be submersion in mineral oil.  

 

It's like a custom watercooling loop. You only gain a bit compared to a high end air cooler, but still people like to do it.

 

Full passive works fine, but it requres some preparation and depending on the project scale some modding. I do cool 500 watts passive....

Mineral oil is good for heat transportation, but useless to get rid of the heat. Still my next passive build will probably use mineral oil.

 

@cisto1999: Do you plan to use a discrete GPU?

Mineral oil and 40 kg aluminium heat sinks are a perfect combination: 73 cores and a Titan X, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Oil

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No discrete GPU. Just the CPU - and i can be undervolted if needed to reduce the heat... i do not need the full potential.

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No discrete GPU. Just the CPU - and i can be undervolted if needed to reduce the heat... i do not need the full potential.

 

Than you don't have to worry at all about overheating VRMs.

Also you may consider using a Zalman FX-70 as it doesn't block slots or RAM. But the Thermalright Grand Macho should also be good.

 

But for your build the Digifanless is overpowered, get a Seasonic Platinum Fanless 400 watts and save the 100$.

Mineral oil and 40 kg aluminium heat sinks are a perfect combination: 73 cores and a Titan X, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Oil

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But for your build the Digifanless is overpowered, get a Seasonic Platinum Fanless 400 watts and save the 100$.

i have got a great deal on the enermax... bought it for 120 Euros.

Thanks for your thoughts and comments :-)

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i have got a great deal on the enermax... bought it for 120 Euros.

Thanks for your thoughts and comments :-)

 

Well for 120 euro it's a good buy.

And you are wellcome ;)

 

If you happen to finish and have temperature data of a stress test aviable please let me know.

Mineral oil and 40 kg aluminium heat sinks are a perfect combination: 73 cores and a Titan X, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Oil

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@cisto1999

I just remembered intel dropped the integrated voltage regulators with skylake and therefor the VRMs on the MoBo have to work harder conpared to skylake.

They will produce more heat.

But they are designed to deliver >200 watts when cooled well on the OC MoBo's so I still think 65 watts should be possible with passive cooling. But you can't just use my Z97 results as a reference.

Sorry for (kinde off) missinformation.

Mineral oil and 40 kg aluminium heat sinks are a perfect combination: 73 cores and a Titan X, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Oil

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No discrete GPU. Just the CPU - and i can be undervolted if needed to reduce the heat... i do not need the full potential.

For the undervolt capabilities alone, I'd be looking at a z170. Filter away all mobos with less than 10 power phases (which, btw, are the super basic ones).

 

Pick one that's pretty.

Want to help researchers improve the lives on millions of people with just your computer? Then join World Community Grid distributed computing, and start helping the world to solve it's most difficult problems!

 

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