fanless cpu cooler ?

steveinspain · 3 Feb 2013 at 17:21

I want to build a new pc with as little by way of fans as possible, but one or two very slow case fans may be fitted to try to keep dust at bay as much as possible !
My current, aged pc is an Asus p5 pro with E8400 in an Antec P182 case with 4 Noctua 120 fans and a Noctua heatsink and 120 fan - however, only 1 case fan and the heatsink fan is running as my temps are so low, and they are going as slow as possible !
I don't know what cpu i'll be using though the 3570k looks good, though I doubt it'll ever be overclocked so it may be overkill.
So, are there any heatsinks that can cope with gentle use (photoshop at most, no games) without a fan, or would I be better off with a fan on the heatsink and maybe just one case fan ?
I am thinking of a bitfenix prodigy or smaller case, and doubt I'll have a cpu to keep cool.
I know this may not be the best place to start planning a new pc but do know that noise is always an issue, and that my computing needs are basic

Any thoughts ?

Uncle Petey · 3 Feb 2013 at 17:50

Most of the big dual towers will happily cool passively at idle and even when active. Photoshop shouldn't be a problem at all.
If you want a cheaper option, the Thermalright HR02 can do a good job from what I hear.
You'd probably be fine with a Matterhorn for your uses actually...

To give you an up to date user report, I've just switched off the fan on my K2 and left the case fans running at 5-600rpm.
I'll get back to you in about an hour or so.
I'd run prime or something, but I'm currently at 4.5ghz, so that probably wouldn't go too well

May put it back to stock speed in a bit and give it a whirl.

Uncle Petey · 3 Feb 2013 at 19:00

Ok, I ran half an hour at idle just web browsing and doing a bit of basic stuff in CS6. Nothing that even caused the cpu to ramp up. Temps went up by 5 or 6°c to a max of 27°c.

I then put the cpu at stock 3.4ghz and ran prime for half an hour. Temps hit 61°c

Photoshop will obviously never get near that kind of stress.
The Prodigy fits coolers up to 160mm.

I reckon you could easily get away with one of these with the fan removed.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Thermalright Macho 120 CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
Total : £34.98 (includes shipping : £4.16).

Then again, I've just noticed you're in Spain. Hope you've got aircon

Might want to run a fan after all... This one'd be very quiet anyway.

doyll · 3 Feb 2013 at 19:40

double post

doyll · 3 Feb 2013 at 19:43

Any good size quality cooler will do the job at very low fan speed. Like Petey I've ran my 980 with no fans on in the case. Even stress tested it with all 6 cores running 100%.. load so heavy even monitoring software had the jitters.. and after 30 minutes it finally stopped getting hotter.. at 70c. Ran for at least another hours like that. Ambient was 23c. Now that's not running prime 95. Prime won't spin my cpu fans above 750-800rpm And running with fans they peak at 950rpm this time of year and maybe 1050rpm in summer with 26c ambient. But cpu is only 50c at that speed so I could slow them down more if I wanted. But why? Even at 1050rpm they are no at all loud.. only loud enough I know I'm working system harder than 99% of users. Normal use system runs 650-700rpm. Rendering video it hit's 850-950rpm @ 42-49c.. not even breaking a sweat. So even if your temp was 36c that's only 59c. System is in my sig.

steveinspain · 3 Feb 2013 at 21:50

Wow - thank you both very much for taking the time to help out here !
Looks like it won't be too hard to keep it all quiet then....

I really appreciate the time taken - thanks guys !

shadowscotland · 4 Feb 2013 at 09:31

With quiet builds there are two main schools of fan assisted cpu cooling.

The first is a simple air path case with an open fin tower cooler (ninja or HR2) without a fan
Intake fan (low pressure high volume) and active fan psu as extract. Ideally either side of the hestsink

The second uses a fanless or semi-passive cooled psu like the silverstone nightjay / seasonic X
These type builds usually has an high static pressure extract fan very near or ducted via the Heatsink.
Any of the single tower cooler can be used like this, as the duct helps keep the static pressure high.
And almost any case is fine

I use a HR-02 with a single TY140 as extract at 60% on my A10-5800K
passive Yescio psu.

I should also note that the of south spain can get a LOT hotter than the UK in summer.
Semi-passive pc's are affected by ambient much more so worth adding in an extra fan (usually off or temp controlled) for the summer.

varkanoid · 4 Feb 2013 at 15:18

There is always the Zalman FX100-Cube Fanless CPU Cooler or Nofan CR-95C IcePipe Fanless CPU Coolers you could consider if you want to go to such lengths with varying degrees (no pun intended) of success.

Can't tell you where from as its a competitor but if you google both above you will find them.

steveinspain · 4 Feb 2013 at 16:03

Thanks shadowscotland and varkanoid.
It can be hot in Spain but our house seems to stay cool, at least where the pc lives (in an underground room !)
I have seen the nofan monster before and it looks impressive but given what I have been learning today on here I think a couple of slow fans - one on the HS and the other on the case should do me fine as far as noise is concerned, plus I already own a bunch of Noctua fans. I think my Noctua NH-U12 HS cooler will fit most 1155 cpu's which is a further benefit financially so may try that first.

doyll · 4 Feb 2013 at 16:19

U12P should do fine with a good quiet fan.

Snapshot · 4 Feb 2013 at 16:58

I've recently built exactly this in a Silverstone TJ-08 case. This has a 180mm fan at the front and I've added an Akasa Apache 120mm at the back, plugged in to the CPU fan port on the mobo. My CPU is a 3570 (no K) which is at 3.8GHz & 100% utilisation full time as it's Folding and its temps are around 60C. I'm currently using a Megahelams as the heatsink but any decent large tower will do. Hope this helps a bit.