itx atom 330 passive?

Kanifee · 12 Nov 2009 at 00:31

just purchased an itx set-up to use as a server/download box.

well any way, i got the asus AT3GC-I, its got a pretty beefy heatsink across both bridges and the cpu but the fan is silly loud, louder than the 200W psu and the 2 hdd's, so can i run this passive? do these have thermal monitors built in so i can check temps to see how to goes under general use?

apilbeam · 12 Nov 2009 at 16:57

cant see too much of an issue running it passive but on the other hand there are about 5 different 40mm fans available in the OCUK store ranging from £2 to £7 that would do the same job a lot quieter.

dtokez · 16 Nov 2009 at 23:42

what about jus get the biggest fan u can fit in and mount that above the heatsink? thats what im going to do on my itx build

Illusion · 21 Nov 2009 at 11:27

danrogers said:
what about jus get the biggest fan u can fit in and mount that above the heatsink? thats what im going to do on my itx build

This is probably the best option. I used a Scyth Kaze Jyu Slim fan which is 100mm x 12mm thick (as opposed to 25mm on full size fans I think).

Mounted it above the (already passive) Atom / heatsink and it silenty pushes air out of the holes above.

They don't push very much air put it doesn't need to as the Atom's don't give out much heat any way.

Scythe Fan link

Falcor · 5 Dec 2009 at 01:19

whats the asus board like compared to the zotacs?

Trying to decide waht board to get for my HTPC

theron · 12 Dec 2009 at 13:49

I think i saw someone put 2 slower 40mm fans in a kind of push pull configuration on this heatsink, in stead of putting a fan on the side face there was one on the top and one on the bottom, blowing towards the top of the case.

Kanifee · 12 Dec 2009 at 18:59

the asus board is rock solid, as for the fan configuration i decided to go passive, been like this for a couple of weeks and the cpu temps have never risen above 49c.

Cant recommend the board enough, the system has been restarted only 3 times since first power on and hasnt spent any time switched off whatsoever.
hasnt faulterd an inch.

mod1fied · 12 Dec 2009 at 20:12

The 945 GFX on my ITX board had a silly little 40mm fan on, replaced the whole heat sink with one of Zalman NB heat sinks, tops out at about 50C. Nearly total silence from it now.

PermaBanned · 12 Dec 2009 at 22:26

Yeah, i was thinking that they looked a lot like chipset coolers. You could add something like this but it demands a fairly large case.

mod1fied · 12 Dec 2009 at 23:16

I found the link which I basically did:
http://www.davewsmith.com/blog/?p=179

Its for the D945GCLF2, so It may/may not be of use.

Of course bearing in mind that the Atom heatsink on my board was already fanless at an even smaller size.