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Mini-PC w/o Fans?
blinky2 asks: "I just read this article on Tom's Hardware about small PC-cases. I would really like to have a small box next to my current one for development stuff etc. Here's the problem: I don't want to have any fans in it, and case like the one in the article needs heavy cooling. Is there anything out there that is small and doesn't need any cooling? the box should run 24/7 here in my room and i don't want to hear some noise while I sleep. A case like the SAX01 from Gigabyte would be nice, too. BTW, there is no need for a high-performance box: something like 300-500 Mhz with a moderate amount of RAM would be enough." A while ago, Ask Slashdot tackled this very question, has the intervening time made such a system a practical possibility?
Hey Cliff, the link is incorrect.
Easy choice for cooling a small case. Get a liquid cooling system like one from Koolance. It would be quiet and cheap and sounds like what you want. But I don't think Koolance offers solutions for small cases so try a different company. Liquid cooling is the most efficient way of cooling a small case so go with it. Then you can add a fast processor, hard drive, and other extras and not worry about heat.
--Metrollica
The key here is you need to generate less heat, and/or use a method to remove heat to another location silently.
Examples of the first method (make less heat) would be:
Get a laptop that doesn't have a fan.
Use an older computer or SBC (P100, etc)
Examples of the second method would be:
Using heat pipes to move heat away from the processor to a convection cooled heatsink
Water cooling to a convection cooled heatsink (requires a method such as one discussed recently, or a silent pump)
A seperate noisy bit located in another area (forinstance - you have the noisiest part of your air conditioner outside your home)
Which method you choose depends on the processing power you need, and your budget.
But then, you probably already knew this and were hoping for something in the 'cheap', 'little work', 'high power' bin. Unfortunately nothing currently exists that fulfills all three. If you really don't mind a low power system, then you can experiment with a k6-2 running at 200MHz or so, with a 300w PS. You'd have to put a big fanless heatsink on the k6-2, and arrange the case such that natural chimney effect airflow will go past all the major components and through the fanless 300w ps (which should be providing less than 100w). Don't put more than a single 5400rpm HD in there (or diskless boot, if possible - look at cheap compactflash - ide adaptors), and skip the cd and floppy unless absolutely needed. Use an all-in-one low end motherboard.
-Adam
I just bought a Sony VAIO GR250P laptop - for the specs. And it was cheap! ($1500 or so.)
But was VERY surprised, as a silence freak and hater of fan noise, that this thing must have no fan or something. It's TOTALLY SILENT!
The only thing you EVER hear from it is the itty bitty sound of writing data to the hard drive. And you know if THAT'S the only sound you hear, the rest is pretty damn quiet.
Anyway - I've been following the "How to Make a Silent PC" threads on Slashdot with great interest, and I think I accidently stumbled across a much easier solution.
This thing is a silent powerhouse 1000 mHz, 256meg RAM, intel 10/100 ethernet, 20gig hard drive box, ready to go. Highly recommended. So is my girlfriend's new Apple iBook.
Look into it. Much easier than the days you'll spend trying to make your own quiet PC.