Passively cooled PC

Chris Beard · 24 Jul 2007 at 10:31

I've just built my sister's new PC for Uni. The mission was to get as close to possible indistructable PC so she won't phone me up when it breaks. So the component choice was passive cooling (semi-passive for the PSU) and raid1.

Now - about the passive bit. E2140 @ stock with a ninja on it. No fans. 19C at idle after 1 minute, 60C at idle after 60 minutes. The air is clearly not leaving the case so a couple of case fans later everything is running cold again.

I want to take the case fans out, I don't want to spend hours of fruitless labour not achiving anything. Can I duct the air flow, has anyone done this before?

Jonny L · 24 Jul 2007 at 10:35

Am I right in thinking that you don't want any fans in the case at all? because that would be a big mistake as there would be no airflow, your best bet would be to put 1 quiet fan at the back exausting the air.

Chris Beard · 24 Jul 2007 at 10:42

I don't want any fans at all - this is so if the fans stop going round my sister's computer doesn't stop working. I may just add half a dosen fans so that even if several fail it'll still work.

This should be a 3-year fail-safe no-maintenance PC.

Shimmy · 24 Jul 2007 at 10:46

Fans are pretty reliable imo, never had a problem in my use with them.

I reckon just stick 1 in back for exhaust.

Jonny L · 24 Jul 2007 at 11:56

Fans don't easily fail and most have a very long life span, so you should be fine to put 1 or 2 in without them failing. I've used many fans and never had 1 fail on me. *touches wooden desk*

topgun06 · 24 Jul 2007 at 12:10

Why are you so against fans? Stick a few in, intake and exhaust. Ive been using a 80mm amber for 4 years now. They are reliable.

misterPK · 24 Jul 2007 at 12:13

Just because there are no moving parts doesnt mean something wont fail, and a cool PC is less likely to fail than a warm one.

If you have to fix something then its a lot more likely to be a software problem she'll be bugging you about!

PK!

drunkenmaster · 24 Jul 2007 at 12:57

no fans because they might fail is honestly, stupid. not wanting fans because you want entire silence, is also fairly silly as you can run quiet ones, even slower than designed and will most likely be quieter than hard drive and psu so won't make a difference.

stick in a exhuast, a front fan and a fan on the sink. choose quiet fans, simple.

honestly, across maybe i dunno, 10 cases or more, must be upwards of 100 fans i've yet to have one fail. had gfx cards, mobo's, hdd's, psu, memory all fail though. i would have had more stuff fail if i ran it all passively.

Chris Beard · 24 Jul 2007 at 14:33

Ok, that's great. Thanks for your help everyone I already have fans in the exhaust and intake - I have 2x5v 120mms.

Please could we now reserve this thread for people who have run their PC passively if indeed anyone has managed this without going water.