I've put together a silent PC using a quad-core i5 (2nd gen), an Intel SSD, and other parts listed. The computer has absolutely no moving parts, period.
The article can be found here: http://www.formortals.com/the-solid-state-pc/

If anyone likes submitting articles to Slashdot and similar social news sites, I would appreciate the nod. The article has no ads of any kind -- it's more a matter of wanting others to get some useful information from my efforts.

Cool. You should figure a way to mount the power supply in the bottom of your case, instead of the top. I think that would make everything better.

Those load temps are too high though. Maybe you need a fan........

You might want to edit that one. I'm sure something was lost in translation.


That one plays a little odd when we see Seasonic 400W and 460W fanless power supplies.

I'm also surprised that you were able to post a URL on your first message on SPCR. But still

Welcome to SPCR!

If you are using that little power, get a PICO PSU. The problem with most power supplies is that they are rarely even 50-60% efficient when run at such a small fraction of their rated output. So you are creating excess heat for nothing. Also, the CPU eventually will heat up too much without some sort of airflow. So what you need to do is to use the now empty area where the PSU went and create a thermal venting system to passively draw air through the tower. The issue it that the motherboard sub-components themselves are rarely designed to passively cool themselves. You might want to look into something like this as well:

http://www.atechfabrication.com/product ... c_7000.htm
The best way to get rid of heat other than a thermal venting system is to use heat pipes to use the case as the CPU cooler.

The choice of case is far from ideal. With the PSU blocking the natural rise of heat from the CPU, it's no surprise that the CPU gets as hot as it does. Cooling of the entire system would be substantially improved if the PSU was at the bottom of the case, and vents not only on the back, but also the top panel.

The real test will be in about a year or 2, after a hot summer or 2: Will the motherboard VRM survive? If the PC is stressed hard often, I doubt it.

EDIT: I see the author admits the case layout is not ideal and recommends others not to follow his example.

I agree with the above posters. A PICO PSU would be ideal.

I would try further undervolting the RAM and CPU, and disabling turbo boost on the CPU.

A quad core Sandy Bridge CPU at 2.8 GHz is nothing to sneeze at.

You should be able to further drive down power consumption and heat, and get it well into the Pico PSU envelope. It will also take up less space in your case, and be more efficient.

Good luck!

Thanks.
I've been around for years, just never made an account, SPCR and StorageReview used to do a few very small things together, which I was involved in from the SR side (just editing articles and moderating the forums).

Seasonic does indeed made fanless power supplies, but I think the word "rare" still applies. Almost no one has a fanless power supply, few manufacturers make them at all, and they are low-volume units. I used "rare" in the sense that dual-GPU video cards are rare. You can find one if you look, but they are maybe a thousandth of a percent of the market.

I hadn't considered a PicoPSU. That would somewhat mitigate the problem of horrible passive airflow in this case, too. Do you know of any dummy PSU backplates so that there wouldn't be a gaping hole in the back of the computer, should I use one?

--Charles Burns