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100 % Passive cooled Custom Mac

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Development in that field is always a great thing imo. It is just the beginning.
I do like the fact that it's built to last a lifetime and will still be usable long after most cases are in the recycle bin. At that price though, it's not going to sell to the average consumer PC builder. Hopefully some other case makers can learn lessons from it.
 
I do like the fact that it's built to last a lifetime and will still be usable long after most cases are in the recycle bin. At that price though, it's not going to sell to the average consumer PC builder. Hopefully some other case makers can learn lessons from it.

The idea is a good one, but the PSU sitting atop the CPU block? o_O

From research I did way back in my employment, still air is the greatest insulator, so there does need to be movement through all that finning. You simply can't rely on it radiating. TBH for reliability a fan would would be sensible even if outside the case.

But as a plate-warmer, why buy a separate device? :thumbup:
 
Hopefully some other case makers can learn lessons from it.
Yeh , at the moment I haven't found any osther company creating fullsize passive atx board housing.

Looks like the majority still things anyone wants a small lightweight case and neglecting that bigger housings supposed to be better passive cool able.
I think with a proper design of airflow it is possible to built a big not to heavy cool system.
But developing something costs resources which noone liek to invest. yet

The idea is a good one, but the PSU sitting atop the CPU block?
yea stupid design, I wonder what person makes such designs ?:banghead:
 
Yeh , at the moment I haven't found any osther company creating fullsize passive atx board housing.


Yes, right now I just don't think most components are designed for passive cooling. Maybe some of those "T" and "S" spec CPUs would survive. But I would not be willing to risk my i9-9900 or whatever to passive. They cost way too much to play roulette with.

GPUs are the same. Some low-end are designed to be fanless but the big stuff, no way.

:)
 
Yes, right now I just don't think most components are designed for passive cooling. Maybe some of those "T" and "S" spec CPUs would survive. But I would not be willing to risk my i9-9900 or whatever to passive. They cost way too much to play roulette with.

GPUs are the same. Some low-end are designed to be fanless but the big stuff, no way.

:)

I feel that trying to passively cool a 100W+ TDP CPU is foolish. Even with the use of lots of heatpipes to transfer the heat to exterior fins, ambient room temperatures and the amount of air flow in the room matters. Of course, pretty much any overclocking will be out of the question so it only make sense to go with lower TDP CPUs.

The next thing to consider is that even if the heatpipes are really efficient at transferring the heat to external fins on the case, it will just mean a really hot case. Depending on how hot the CPU is, this can mean a case that can heat up your room. At the end of the day, the heat has to go somewhere...

In regards to having the PSU on top of the CPU, I think it really depends on how efficient the heatpipes are at transferring the heat and how much separation there is between the the heatpipes and the bottom of the PSU. Those new SFX PSUs are really tiny and high quality, modern PSUs can run really cool. The fan of my PSU doesn't spin up until power draw exceeds 425W and it remains quite cool to the touch at those levels even with the fan off.

Note:
When I'm stress testing an overclock, the ambient room temperatures will have a noticeable impact on temperatures. That being said, even under Prime95 testing, my Noctua cooler is always cool to the touch. That's just an example of how good airflow and effective heat transfer can dissipate heat.

Note 2:
I have an i5-6400T that I've tried to run with a stock Intel cooler (these things are really terrible, btw) and unplugged the fan to see what would happen. I don't remember exact temperatures, but it never reached extreme temps while I was doing a bit of browsing. I did not try anything too intensive and only tested a few minutes.

I had intended to delid the CPU and try with a better cooler but I got sidetracked and never got to doing it... I may revisit this little experiment soon...
 
I feel that trying to passively cool a 100W+ TDP CPU is foolish. Even with the use of lots of heatpipes to transfer the heat to exterior fins, ambient room temperatures and the amount of air flow in the room matters. Of course, pretty much any overclocking will be out of the question so it only make sense to go with lower TDP CPUs.

The next thing to consider is that even if the heatpipes are really efficient at transferring the heat to external fins on the case, it will just mean a really hot case. Depending on how hot the CPU is, this can mean a case that can heat up your room. At the end of the day, the heat has to go somewhere...

In regards to having the PSU on top of the CPU, I think it really depends on how efficient the heatpipes are at transferring the heat and how much separation there is between the the heatpipes and the bottom of the PSU. Those new SFX PSUs are really tiny and high quality, modern PSUs can run really cool. The fan of my PSU doesn't spin up until power draw exceeds 425W and it remains quite cool to the touch at those levels even with the fan off.

Note:
When I'm stress testing an overclock, the ambient room temperatures will have a noticeable impact on temperatures. That being said, even under Prime95 testing, my Noctua cooler is always cool to the touch. That's just an example of how good airflow and effective heat transfer can dissipate heat.

Note 2:
I have an i5-6400T that I've tried to run with a stock Intel cooler (these things are really terrible, btw) and unplugged the fan to see what would happen. I don't remember exact temperatures, but it never reached extreme temps while I was doing a bit of browsing. I did not try anything too intensive and only tested a few minutes.

I had intended to delid the CPU and try with a better cooler but I got sidetracked and never got to doing it... I may revisit this little experiment soon...

Agreed. It's horses for courses. Some CPUs are designed for low power and run slower, create less heat. Air-flow is what cools. Look at all the design Apple put into the trash-can MacPro and even they dumped that idea with the latest version. As you say, you can't 'design away' heat. It has to go somewhere.
 
I just had another quick, parallel, thought. There's no such thing as water-cooling. Water just transfers the heat a little further away so air can do its job.

Off-topic, I know. As you were ...
 
I just had another quick, parallel, thought. There's no such thing as water-cooling. Water just transfers the heat a little further away so air can do its job.

Off-topic, I know. As you were ...

This is 100% accurate.

It's no secret that I'm not a fan of water cooling. In my opinion, it's more primitive than air coolers and is more of a "brute force" method of cooling. I see it as an extremely inelegant method of cooling.
 
This is 100% accurate.

It's no secret that I'm not a fan of water cooling. In my opinion, it's more primitive than air coolers and is more of a "brute force" method of cooling. I see it as an extremely inelegant method of cooling.

Agreed again. Plus water-cooling does not have the benefit of moving air around in the region of memory-banks and north/south-bridge. Plus... It needs a pump and a fan so is less power efficient.
 
Agreed again. Plus water-cooling does not have the benefit of moving air around in the region of memory-banks and north/south-bridge. Plus... It needs a pump and a fan so is less power efficient.
This is why Apple has never gone back to liquid cooling after trying it briefly on PPC Macs many years ago. Look at how cool and quiet the 2019 MP operates. That's where some really good design is happening.
 
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