SPCR

I suppose you mean heatpipe-cases where the case itself acts as a heatsink? If so, have a look at the TNN cases from Zalman, such as this one. They list them under "Old Products" though so those cases might not be available anymore.

Most test bench cases are good candidates. They don't have walls so heat can't build up inside. Use large enough heatsinks and there's a good chance that convection or just air moving through the room will push enough air past the fins.

To my knowledge only other one currently available:
Deltatronic
Big towers, desktop systems and components for DIY at a very steep price, and almost totally noiseless.

You need one fan at least. If you want to find out why, just stick a 60W bulb in an empty PC case and leave it there for an hour. Be careful not to singe your fingers. There are plenty of 1 fan systems that you can build that will be essentially noiseless, though - under the noise floor of most homes (your fridge in the other room will drown it out)

Plekto wrote:You need one fan at least. If you want to find out why, just stick a 60W bulb in an empty PC case and leave it there for an hour. Be careful not to singe your fingers.

Fully passive setups have been realized for quite a while now. How do you suppose that works, magic?

tim851 wrote:Fully passive setups have been realized for quite a while now. How do you suppose that works, magic?

It works.... but with difficulty... and the high temps end up resulting in shortened component lifetimes.

See MikeC's comments in this thread, started by MickeC:

Is Passive CPU Cooling Best for Silent Computing?
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=61318

ces wrote:It works.... but with difficulty...

+1
And forget about upgrades !

You need *some* airflow.

But our ears are among the worst in the entire animal kingdom. This is actually a good thing as it means that even a single fan running at a constant 500-700rpm is enough to make a "purely passive" design work properly and still be too quiet to hear at distances of more than about 6 inches. Even in a music studio or similar soundproofed environment.

ces wrote:It works.... but with difficulty...

Perhaps, but it does work.

and the high temps end up resulting in shortened component lifetimes.

Alledgedly. There hasn't been (to my knowledge) a scientific study that would prove that passively cooled computers have higher failure rates.

It also depends. A passively cooled Atom (or now Zacato or whatever) system won't run that hot. There are also many inefficiently cooled systems, that have a number of fans, yet single components still run entirely too hot.

If you have a Clarkdale/Sandy Bridge CPU, rely on the integrated graphics, put a Thermalright HR-02 on it and use a Seasonic X-400 (for example), I don't see why this system shouldn't be cooled adequately and how this would be any less upgrade-friendly then a fanned setup.

There have been quite a few users over the years right here on SPCR who operated passive setups with great success. Apple once sold the G4 Cube, which operated passively. I'm not aware that it had significantly higher failure rates than the rest of their line-up.
So absolute statements like "passive won't work" or "you need at least one fan" are definitely wrong.

I can't see a point in a completely passive build, in a silence perspective. As others has stated, a single low-revolution fan is inaudible. So, what's the benefit to run a pc passively?

You can show off

it was and is quite possible to put a Ninja on a Sempron 140 with an SSD and have a silent puter with no moving parts. Some have managed it with dual core chips undervolted a bit. Now? AMD just put out their Fusion chips. The lightweight 19 W versions can easily run fanless. Zotec has an ITX board with a 1.6 hz Fusion APC that comes with a fanless heatpiped heatsink. Add a fanless PSU and a SSD and...no moving parts,no sound.

The more potent versions of Fusion, F-1 socket, are quads that as a family,rate as 100w but in tests only draw about half that running full tilt. They are designed to ramp down the power (and heat/noise)
much better than the original Cool + Quiet.

Rather than TRY for a pure silent rig, I expect to do my next build with a low RPM 250 mm fan,a large heatsink, a 80 or 120 G SSD for operating systems and software...and an e SATA drive, maybe 1TB in an external enclosure. I expect nearly inaudible. I no longer live in the woods,now I live on a rather busy street,the ambient noise is so much louder my laptop seems strangely silent. It has a 7200 RPM Scorpio black and a Core 2. I pretty much have to lean over the keyboard to hear the fan.

In this environment,I don't NEED a purist "no moving parts",though it's tempting to just see what can be done. I can do the One Big-Slow fan or maybe can let a rather quiet PSU fan provide enough airflow.

Now, with quieter components, the case need not be so much a sound barrier as a way to channel a small airflow and divert direct line soundwaves. This is easy.

I have recently purchased a Asus E350 motherboard with SDD and Pico for my Linux based music player. it is 100% silent. sometimes I'm not sure if it is powered on.



My intel i7 set up is very quiet too (with all the fans spinning under 600rpm, HD suspended etc), but of cause it is nothing close to the E350; it makes me wonder if i can go completely fanless on that set up. Suggestions? my ears are very sensitive to noise the Zalman is way too expensive and does not fit my my fanless display card either...

Fanless cooling isn't that risky or difficult anymore. Nowadays, you can easily built a sub 20 Watt pc with standard components.

There is no magic in it, just get a Intel CPU+Chipset, a large heatsink, a Pico PSU, an SSD and you got your fanless system.