Passive Core i3 Cooler

[Brennan808]

I have a core i3 (65w) and I am wondering if there is a air cooler that I can remove the fans from like Linus did in the silent pc build. But I dont want to spend the money to get the one he got because that one is pricey for an i3. I would still have 2-3 case fans so it would not be too badly tortured.  

 

Thanks!

[LogicalDrm]

Some 140mm tower should do. You are looking just surface area.

[Brennan808]

1 minute ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

Some 140mm tower should do. You are looking just surface area.

Would something like this do?

https://www.amazon.com/Enermax-ETS-T40-Outstanding-Cooling-Performance/dp/B014W3EN26/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1511553946&sr=8-13&keywords=140mm+cpu+cooler

[LogicalDrm]

3 minutes ago, Brennan808 said:

Would something like this do?

https://www.amazon.com/Enermax-ETS-T40-Outstanding-Cooling-Performance/dp/B014W3EN26/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1511553946&sr=8-13&keywords=140mm+cpu+cooler

Probably as good as anything. There aren't really reviews about performance without fan, since fan is the one doing the job.

[loculus]

Should be okay, depends on which i3 and usage, etc.

 

For passive you generally want larger fin spacing and wider fins for larger surface area, but it doesn't need to be ideal for this thermal load. Look at the designs of actual fanless coolers for an idea of what works better that way.

 

 

Though if you have other fans anyway, why do you even want to run the CPU cooler passive? It's one thing to have a completely passive system; using fans elsewhere but not on the CPU cooler doesn't make any sense. The CPU cooler is one area where it's most helpful, and in the vast majority of situations including especially those in which you're already running other fans, having a fan at 400-500 rpm would improve things significantly over passive for practically zero additional noise cost.

[Brennan808]

1 minute ago, loculus said:

Should be okay, depends on which i3 and usage, etc.

 

For passive you generally want wider fin spacing and wider fins for larger surface area, but it doesn't need to be ideal for this thermal load.

 

 

Though if you have other fans anyway, why do you even want to run the CPU cooler passive? It's one thing to have a completely passive system; using fans elsewhere but not on the CPU cooler doesn't make any sense. The CPU cooler is one area where it's most helpful, and in the vast majority of situations including especially those in which you're already running other fans, having a fan at 400-500 rpm would improve things significantly over passive for practically zero additional noise cost.

I have modded my case to fit 2 200mm fans and those are very quiet and can push lots of air while not running very fast. A smaller fan would make more noise I would think if it is running at the same rpm's as my 200mm ones. That's just from my experience though correct me if i'm wrong.

[loculus]

1 hour ago, Brennan808 said:

I have modded my case to fit 2 200mm fans and those are very quiet and can push lots of air while not running very fast. A smaller fan would make more noise I would think if it is running at the same rpm's as my 200mm ones. That's just from my experience though correct me if i'm wrong.

That's not right. Larger fan at same rpm usually moves more air and is louder. If holding noise constant, it depends, but the larger fan usually has some advantage. The static pressure tends to get worse relative to free-air airflow in the usual PC fan dimensions, as size increases. So against sufficient restriction, holding noise constant, sometimes the smaller models might actually be better.

 

Unless one of the fans is very close to the CPU heatsink, it's not going to be nearly as effective at cooling the CPU as an actual fan on the heatsink. As long as air is not heavily recirculating within a case, fans on the actual heat-producing components are the most impactful.

[Brennan808]

Just now, loculus said:

That's not right. Larger fan at same rpm usually moves more air and is louder. If holding noise constant, it depends.

 

Unless one of the fans is very close to the CPU heatsink, it's not going to be nearly as effective at cooling the CPU as an actual fan on the heatsink. As long as air is not heavily recirculating within a case, fans on the actual heat-producing components are the most impactful.

Ok thanks so much I think that I will just use a smaller tower cooler with the fan at low rpm's so it is quieter. 

[loculus]

9 minutes ago, Brennan808 said:

Ok thanks so much I think that I will just use a smaller tower cooler with the fan at low rpm's so it is quieter. 

Just keep in mind 65W is not nothing, though on a lot of workloads a lot of Core i3 will not use up to 65W, especially if integrated graphics is not used.

 

And min fan speed on smaller fans is usually higher, though this will depend heavily on the design. Also the pitch is usually higher on the smaller fans, so don't interpret anything as a suggestion to get smaller heatsinks or fans.

 

The point is just that the airflow that does the most good to cool the CPU is the airflow actually through the CPU fan heatsinks. Which is not where most of the air is going to go, if it's blown from a 200 mm fan about 600 mm away.

 

I'd get something like the Cryorig H7, which has a 120 mm fan that is supposed to have a rated speed of 330 - 1600 rpm.