Slashdot Mirror

You can get a similar system put with P4 (up to 2.53 GHz) from:
Signum Data
That make more sense to me as a desktop, as you get much more CPU power. But I admit that it might look better without a floppy drive.

There's a rather similar PC with much more current hardware (P4, >2GHz): SignumData's FutureClient. See here. The problem is: It's vastly more expensive than the Hush model. Getting rid of all the heat costs you...

I really wish someone would make Mini-ITX boards using Pentium-M chips. They have roughly the same power budget as the C3s (ca. 10Watts max for ULV variant), and as various notebooks proove you can make the motherboards just as compact. With Pentium-M based Mini-ITX boards you could do all the cool things that Via's Mini-ITX allow you to, except at up-to-date performance levels.

Yeah, a fanless desktop PC has been done. Check out Signum Data FutureClient. I have had one (1.8 Ghz P4) for about a month now, no problems so far. My biggest gripe is the lack of room for expansion, and of course the price is higher than with regular desktops. But my ears love the machine.. ;-)

However, I suspect that their use will be more general, extending to desktops: imagine completely passive CPU cooling - no fan, no pump, just a heat pipe the case. I'll be interested to see if this idea makes it into general use, or whether our pc manufacturers are too hide bound to change.

I received my Signum Data FutureClient earlier this week. It's a desktop PC with no fans at all, yet still havin a 1.8 GHz P4 processor (up to 2.2 GHz available). The custom case, which takes standard Micro-ATX mobos, has big cooling fins on the sides and there is a heatpipe to keep the CPU cool.

While torturing the machine with cpuburn I measured temps of up to 55 deg C on the outside of the case near the point into which the heatpipe from the CPU is fixed. I asked about the max. ambient temperature, and Signum Data told me it should be safe to run the computer at up to 32 deg C.

The downside of this machine is that it only takes 2.5" hard drives inside the case. For bigger HD's they recommend using external FireWire units. Currently I'm running a Seagate Barracuda ATA V with the ribbon cable coming out in the back of the case from a PCI slot opening... not the most reliable solution there is, and a bit of a shame to run such a hack on a machine this cool.. ;-)

anyone interested in a desktop workstation with no fans might want to check out this german machine: http://www.signumdata.de/english/futureclient.htm

2.2 Ghz P4, no fans at all - not even in the power supply. It's not ultra small, but still it looks very sweet...

Fans suck.

Use something like this.

This case has NO fans at all, it uses heatpipes and the case itself as an heatsink instead.

I would love a case that looks like a piece of hi-fi, something i could place in my component stack (as a media/coms device) and it wouldnt look out of place,my dvd,amp,cd,video,console etc are not in big ugly boxes so why should my computer be any different ?

The FutureClient by Signum Data looks interesting. Cool looks (IMO), heatpipe cooling, near-silent. Now if the price came down a little...

The current PC hardware platform is in dire need of redesign, and I'm not even talking about "features" like the infamous A20 gate. Most cases on the market are badly designed knockoffs with bad EMI and sound insulation and lousy looks. Yes, this goes even for all the expensive aluminum cases I've seen.

Why does the inside of a typical PC look like the site of an explosion in a wire factory?

Why do we still have those stupid power connectors that can be a royal pain to pry off instead of a unified power bus?

Where are those cool slide-in media bays which were part of the PC99 (IIRC) design?

Why do I have to stock sets of metric and imperial screws? (BTW, Torx rules, forget Phillips!)

Does a typical PC really need upwards of 6 fans of varying diameter, RPM and noise emission in order to keep its parts from frying? An intelligent air-duct design would keep down costs and noise emissions.

Wouldn't it be better to have a standard connector for front-panel switches and LEDs instead of the tangle of wires and unkeyed connectors which I always manage to get working only on the second try?

Why do my hands look like I tried to wrestle a porcupine after a motherboard and drive switch?

Intel and Microsoft claim leadership on hardware and software design of the PC platform, and they're both screwing it up badly. I won't even start to bitch about Microsoft, but hey Intel, what happened to those futuristic case designs? (warning - site needs Flash)

And if I had the money, I'd buy one of these babies. No carrying handle, but fanless (heat pipe cooling), sort of cool looking, yum.

Sadly, this got rejected as a news story last week.

The SignumData FutureClient!

It's German, It has no fans, It's expensive (so I've heard), It takes a P4, But It makes no noise!

H357