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Fastest CPU that can be passively (or virtually passively) cooled

Alexrose1uk

Alexrose1uk

Alexrose1uk

Soldato
Joined
26 Apr 2004
Posts
9,718
Location
Milton Keynes
Hi guys,
Wasn't quite sure whether to put this in CPUs or in Cooling, but figured this subforum might be slightly more relevant, as I'm primarily focusing on the CPU. Basic issue is I've taken my eyes off desktop hardware for a year or so, and things seem to have shifted a bit :)

Got a family member after a PC upgrade with a fairly aged box (still running a AMD64 3200+) single core, so tempted to do her a favour, sell her my old HTPC core parts, and upgrade my HTPC whilst at it, as I'd planned to swap some bits in it anyway. Now I've been quite a stickler for noise when I built the machine, so it's exceptionally quiet, loudest bit is probably the external HDD, and I'm wondering what I could get away with.

It'd be going into an ATX sized case, so no size issues, perhaps 10cm clearance to the removeable 'ceiling' of the case for a medium sized heatsink. Airflow is 2*120mm 600rpm virtually silent light airflow fans and some vents.

What CPU do you reckon I could get away with, I'm sure there must be stuff out there nowadays that runs cooler than my AMD X2 :)
 
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the dual core AMD zacate can certainly be passively cooled as many hudson motherboards come with it passively cooled anyway. i would have thought that the intel atom could also be cooled passively looking at the pathetically small heatsink on it. which of those two is best i really dont know.

your next best bet would be to get an i3 2100 or i5 2500k, and massively lower the voltages and multiplier. then increase until it starts to get too hot

or, you could just get an i7 2600k, stick on the Nofen CR-100A and be done with it :p
http://extrahardware.cnews.cz/files...3brezen/nofen_cr100/nof_cr100_01_instaled.jpg

(yes, you'd lose the top two expansion slots on the motherboard but you'd get fanless cooling

*edit*
didnt see you were planning on putting it in that case for a HTPC. i'll spec you something sensible :)
whats the make/model of case youve got?
 
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Most ATX cases with 120mm fans can fit a Thermalright HR-02. This CPU cooler is known to be fine for passively cooling i7 920 (130W) CPUs which are known to run hot, even when slightly overclocked.

Since the current gen Sandy Bridge CPUs are only 95W and run even cooler - then running one of these (like an i5 2500K or i7 2600K) on a HR-02 will be a piece of cake. You should be able to overclock it a bit too.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys, unfortunately at 16cm, the Thermalright is too 'tall' for my case, I have a feeling I checked it out when I was putting the machine together first time round just over a year ago, and I don't want to get really want to get rid of the case. Right now I'm running a AMD X2 5200+ with a Zalman CNPS 7500 and custom fan job, which'd be going off to the family member (she gets a cheap PC upgrade, I get some cash towards my upgrade...win win)

The setup doesn't have to be 100% passive (as I've got SOME fans in the case), but it does need to be virtually inaudible... I'm running 600RPM fans, SSD, customised Zalman as the default fan was too noticeable and a Nexus Value 430 PSU (look this PSU up on SilentPC Review if you've never heard of it :)) which really is almost silent. I'm not planning to overclock at all.

It might be a bit cheap and basic, but I'm using OcUK's Opera case. I *could* change this, but it's about perfect size for the spacing I've got for it, and it'd add to the cost. Aside having a slightly duff front USB connector, the case generally does the job :)

@micky, as I stated in the OP, it's for my HTPC, the whole point of the upgrade is it'd be a win-win scenario for me and the family member; I get a more 'futureproof' machine with a little more oomph under the cover, and she gets a pretty hefty upgrade (2Ghz single core to 2.7Ghz dual core) on the cheap.

Edit:
If the 2100 is as good as it sounds in terms of power consumption and heat, I was considering the Scythe Shuriken cooler. Would definately fit in the case and sounds like a relatively decent cooler without costing a bomb. If the fans's too loud I'll swap in a different one :)
 
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so you are planning on upgrading mobo + CPU + RAM + cooler i guess.

where have you fit the 12cm fans? the OcUK page says it has 3x 80mm fan slots and the place that originally make the opera case say it has 2x 60mm fans and 1x80mm fan

will you be able to fit a 105mm cooler in there, because for silence your not going to beat this:


very expensive cooler
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.98
1 x Noctua NH-C14 Top-Flow Low-Profile CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3) £68.99
1 x MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £64.99
1 x Corsair Value 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Single Channel Module (VS2GB1333D3) £11.99
Total : £257.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).

you'll have to remove the top fan, thats no problem as noctua say you can do that to put it in low profile mode

if you dont want to spend stupid money on a cooler then this will be fine too:

cheap cooler
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.98
1 x MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £64.99
1 x Scythe Shuriken BIG Quiet Low Profile CPU Cooler (Scoket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £31.99
1 x Corsair Value 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Single Channel Module (VS2GB1333D3) £11.99
Total : £220.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).
 
There are two side ports on the case that'll take a 12cm fan. I've got two Sharkoon Silent Eagles in there blowing air in over the graphics card passive cooler and out next to the CPU. Perhaps they've changed the case since I bought mine, but the vents are definately there. If you take a look at the picture on the OcUK site and zoom the Opera case's picture you can just about see one of the grills.

Will have to check out spacing, have to admit the Noctua might be a tad too pricey as well, cheers for the recommendation, your cheap build looks virtually identical to what I was looking at, will have to take a look and see if the board supports Wake on LAN.

Edit: Hard to find a conclusive answer, so might opt for a cheaper H61 board with confirmed WOL, not like I really need the performance features, and the extra 10 or so would be enough to opt for another 2GB of RAM or put towards another 2TB drive.
 
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If you are getting an i3 for a htpc have a look at the 2100T version of the chip. It runs at 35W instead of 65W and has a smaller cooler unit bundled with it (about half the height of a standard stock one) With the lower wattage it should run cooler.
 
Note that Clarkdale and Sandy Bridge integrated graphics chips cannot output at 23.976 Hz so all of your films will skip every 40 seconds or so. Only real solution is to get a separate GPU or go AMD.
 
I've already got a passive GT220 (which I might swap to a 430 near Xmas dependant on how flush I am haha), I'm not planning to use the GPU capabilities of the new CPU. I did take a look into the 2100T briefly, but the review I read didn't seem to think much of it, costs more, slower, and didn't really run that much cooler or energy efficiently in real world terms, certainly not to the level the TDP suggested it might; and as I won't be using the onboard GPU, I understand it should switch that module off for better power consumption and lower heat overall.
 
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I've read about it on numerous reviews, apparently the IGP can only do 24Hz, not 23.976Hz. It was mentioned in one review they've come up with a partial work around, but its still not perfect, and certainly worse than AMD/NVidia's implementations (even if they're not perfect themselves).

It's not power that's an issue, but the actual hardware implementation. As I've got the passive GT220 though, its not a real bother to me, as I was never planning to use it :)
 
Thanks for the info bud, was thinkin about building an HTPC myself, was lookin at the 2105 as it has hd3000 instead of the hd2000 but I might just get a cheap gpu instead
 
Alexrose1uk said:
Part of me wishes there was a cheaper chip, same performance but no IGP, save a little cash haha, I'm sure the market would be there.
Click to expand...

There are a few other 65W Llano chips too and they are on pre-order at a few Uk retailers.

The A6-3500 triple core seems to be around £75 to £80(2.1GHZ nominal speed with 2.4GHZ Turbo),the A6-3600 seems to be around £90 to £100(2.1GHZ nominal speed with 2.4GHZ Turbo) and the A8-3800 seems to be around £94 to £101(2.6GHZ nominal speed with 2.9GHZ Turbo).

The Llano A6 has a 320 shader IGP. The A8 has a 400 shader IGP.

There are also the dual core 2.5GHZ A4-3300 and 2.7GHZ A4-3400 CPUs which are around £55 to £60 on pre-order. These use a 160 shader IGP. It would not surprise me if the HD6410D IGP is better for media use than a GT220.

The Llano CPUs have around the same IPC as a Phenom II.
 
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