Fanless CPU Cooler for HTPC (i3 SB)

Ross L

Ross L

Ross L

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17 May 2011
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51
Hi,

I've updated my HTPC and I am trying to make it fanless (as it is in a small room, so even the slightest noise can be heard).

The current specification is:

Zalman HD 501
i3 2120 (with Arctic Cooling Freezer 11 Low Profile CPU Cooler)
Asus P8H67-M PRO Rev.3.0
Seasonic X-400FL 460W ATX (Fanless)
Sapphire 6670 Ultimate 1GB DDR5 (Fanless)
Corsair XMS3 8GB DDR3
Crucial M4 64GB SSD
Samsung EcoGreen F4 2tb HDD

It's only used for watching Blu Rays and TV Shows from iTunes.

Can anyone recommend a fanless CPU cooler for my setup?

Also are "Hard Drive silencing" boxes a worth while investment? My EcoGreen is quite noisy, but I've read mixed reviews on how much they actually "silence" the drive.

Thanks in advance.

Ross
 
Thanks for the responses.

beejjacobs said:
Sure that wouldn't be more noisy?

The only I thing I know of is the nofan cr-95c icepipe - which is stupidly expensive. Maybe just a better cooler, or just set the fan profile to a quieter one in the BIOS if you can?
Click to expand...

That would be an option but for some reason the BIOS screen over stretches my TV, so I cannot see the options (I can see the top left hand corner of the bios screen, but that is it) :confused: I used the ASUS bundled software and that made hardly any difference.

I tried justifying the icepipe, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't justify that amount of money on a CPU cooler for my HTPC :p
 
lol. Well this is the problem I have too - quiet/silence is very expensive! It's only an i3, so I dunno how much it's worth spending? I'd just try and get your current fan to be as quiet as possible (while watching temperatures) a slow moving fan is MUCH better than none at all, it just helps airflow in the whole case, especially if you don't have other fans?

Is it vibration noise that's the problem, or the drive itself when seeking?

Surely you can just turn the volume up! :D
 
Ross L said:
Thanks for the responses.



That would be an option but for some reason the BIOS screen over stretches my TV, so I cannot see the options (I can see the top left hand corner of the bios screen, but that is it) :confused: I used the ASUS bundled software and that made hardly any difference.

I tried justifying the icepipe, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't justify that amount of money on a CPU cooler for my HTPC :p
Click to expand...

change the aspect ratio of your TV? 16:8, overscan, 4:2, etc

failing that try picture in picture

head to the monitor area of the BIOS and choose silent from the list of profiles
 
Yes the Thermalright HR-02 is designed to be fanless but good luck with fitting that in a small case.

What about a Thermalright AXP-140? A large flat cooler rather than a tower. Prolimatech Samuel is another. Both coolers are a couple of years old now but should still be available. These are large low profile coolers that you might get away with going passive. If you do need to fit a fan it could be run at minimum speed I imagine and would probably be quieter than the case fans that you must have installed.
 
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I've run TRUE's and SI-128's passive with hotter cpu's
The SI-128SE is another option.
You could use a Mcubed Borg heatpipe array and make your case the cooler.
Or a Zalman reservator

Bungee your HDD first - if it's still noisey - get a GUP
My GUP 2002 smart drive keeps a raptor quiet - it takes up an optical bay - but they are so much better that the rest.

Complete fanless is a nightmare - the soft drone of a good fan (that you can filter out) will hide lots of annoying clicks and electical whistles.

SPCR is the place for more info
 
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