Fanless Build Thread

I figured there may be a few folks interested in fanless builds. This is my journey.

I've been running a fanless/hybrid build for about a year or so. This is strictly work/productivity and music, with HQPlayer PCM upsampling in the mix.

Components:

• Fractal Define 7 standard case
• Asus Tuf Gaming Z490 Plus Wi-Fi mobo
• 10700K CPU (makes no sense in a fanless build, but I wanted options)
• NoFan CR-80eh fanless CPU cooler
• 3x BeQuiet Silent Wings 3 140mm fans, two in the front panel and one rear exhaust
• 32GB decent RAM but nothing fancy
• Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1tb
• No dedicated GPU

Temp management strategy:

I set up Intel Thermal Velocity Boost to throttle aggressively from 85 deg C, cutting the multiplier by 12 and an addition x1 at 90 deg C. The actual behavior is more gradual than the settings suggest and throttling starts earlier with smaller reductions. This is the only change I make in the BIOS, so I have the stock settings for Turbo etc. Well, I have C States enabled as well to allow for core idling. The goal was to get as much turbo as temps would allow, so if I wanted/needed higher clock speeds I could engage the chassis fans. Then I manage the turbo state by setting the Processor Power Management percentages in Windows.

This worked acceptably well...by setting maximum CPU speed to 99% you effectively turn off Turbo, and I would idle at about 62-65 degrees with Turbo off, and about 70 degrees with Turbo on. I could push a max of about 60 watts on Prime95, with Thermal Velocity Boost throttling to a multiplier of about 31 or 32.

For general use I could effectively work completely fanless and have Roon/HQPlayer running with a moderate oversampling filter, a VM running at the same time and the usual Teams etc. crap going with fans at 30% PWM, effectively silent and bobbling around 72 to 85 degrees. For dedicated listening I could go completely fanless, especially if I dropped the clocks a bit by setting max CPU to 75% which was more than enough headroom.

These temps won't really phase a 10700K, but damn, 60 watts is leaving a lot on the table.

Noctua NH-P1 Fanless Cooler

The NH-P1 wasn't available here when I did my build, but I ordered one and got around to installing it today. I got the additional 120mm NF-A12x25 LS-PWM fan that clips to the cooler as well.

The install was a breeze, I mounted the cooler vertically for best passive cooling and clipped the fan to the bottom, so it would push cooler air from the bottom of the case through the cooler to the top.

Well damn, this thing is epic. I idle at 50 degrees with Windows max Processor state at 100% so Turbo is on. Idle is about 42 with Turbo off.

I ran a suite of Prime95 runs, Small FFTs with all SAVX disabled as a standard. I ran continously, just tweaking the Windows CPU Max setting upwards after temps seemed to stabilize. Fans at 100%, which is a bit loud but as loud as a set of BeQuiet and a Noctua are going to get, which is not terribly loud.

At Win CPU state 99% (full base multiplier of 38 and no turbo) temps are stable at 58 degrees C pushing 81 watts not breaking a sweat. At 100% with Turbo on, I push over 220 watts for a good few seconds, dropping back to a stable 125 watts full rated TDP at 75 degrees.

That is pretty damn imopressive for 900 rpm case fans and the CPU fan at 1700rpm.

In full fanless mode (fans kicking in at 75 degrees in FanXpert 3, min CPU state 5% and max 100%), the fans don't kick in at all and the system throttles to about 80 degrees (package) and 69 degrees (CPU reading that FanXPert is reacting to), dropping from 115 watts to about 75 watts stable. I literally can't get the fans to kick in. If I force the fans on 100% the watts will climb steadily to stabilize at 125.

This is pretty damn impressive for a fanless build in a case that is not terribly good for a fanless build in the first place. I have the solid top on, all filters in place to reduce dust with fans on. It's no Meshify, but for a hybrid it's f'ing awesome!

 

Oh, cool topic! I have been quite obsessed with this stuff as well, ever since I build my first PC a bunch of years ago.

Basically what I do is to install the biggest amount of 4 pin fans possible, and set them to the lowest speed I can. All of this while not burning my CPU/GPU down.

For PSU, I am using the BeQuiet! brand. Dead silent. Seriously. Even when I put my ear against the fan, I barely even hear it spinning inside. Impressive!

The dream would be a fully passive PC. There are all these passively cooled cases. You attach each component of your PC to it, and it will cool them through the case itself. Kinda expensive though:



I will personally stick to 80-90% silence. I can easily achieve that with a closed case, the BeQuiet! PSUs, and fans set to lower speeds.