Passive 1156

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sixleaf
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Passive 1156

Post by sixleaf » Sun Jul 11, 2010 2:54 pm

I know this isn't the rarest topic around - and the general answer is its stupid to go passive. BUT if one were feeling stupid, whats the best chance of not frying a heavily underclocked & undervolted i3 530?

I was looking at a mcubed micro case - which is all but perfect apart from the fact I want to add in a graphics card.

So excluding that, what heatsink will actually manage to keep it cool passively? No case fans as I'm trying to make a totally silent system - no moving parts whatsoever.

In terms of case I'm thinking PC-Q07 or SG03/04 (I havent bought anything yet)

psyopper
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Post by psyopper » Sun Jul 11, 2010 4:21 pm

I underclocked/volted my 530 and ran it passive with a Scythe Mugen for about a month. This was in an Antec 3480 so the rear exhaust fan is about 1.5" away - I had it plugged into the CPU-FAN header.

Once I started gaming I bumped the 530 back to stock and I added a Nexus 120 to the Mugen for insurance. Speedfan keeps it below 600 RPM most of the time which is nearly inaudible in my situation.

I don't think you'll be able to get a 6xx series cooled passively but I don't have one so I can't answer with any definition.

mb2
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Re: Passive 1156

Post by mb2 » Thu Dec 30, 2010 12:27 pm

Bump. OP is talking about completely passive, not with a fan a couple of inches away.
I've recently revived an old s754 sempron with a pico PSU and AC freezer 7, for 0 moving parts system.. and looking into upgrade options. I think i've seen people with completely passive C2D systems here...

Has anyone done a s1156 (presumably i3) build completely passively? or documented an attempt?
They seem low enough power.. my s754 idles at ~45W, and just under 60W load.??
For the record i'm excluding examples where case=HS.

tim851
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Re: Passive 1156

Post by tim851 » Thu Dec 30, 2010 3:07 pm

Thermalright HR-02.

If I'm not mistaken, the mounting holes of the 1156-platform are square, so the heatsink can be mounted as to accomodate airflow by convection.

I'd go for an external PSU here, e.g. a Pico-PSU, to avoid another major heat contributor.

It should be doable.

JamieG
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Passive 1156

Post by JamieG » Thu Dec 30, 2010 5:40 pm

A passive graphics card (even a low power one) would make things tricky in a small case, or in any case really, depending on how powerful you want it.

I could run my Q07-based system entirely without a fan (see my signature) but I would see a significant increase in temperatures at full load (10c from memory on the CPU), but that's with G31 mobo integrated graphics only.

See this system which has a fullsize passive system in an Antec 300 case with a Scythe Orochi heatsink, but no graphics card.

A smaller system, again with no graphics card.

About the only system I could find with a graphics card that is almost fully passive (fan in the PSU that turns on on load).

If you want to stick with mini-ITX motherboards, the Lian Li Q07 is pretty decent if you combine it with a picoPSU. You'd need to stick with a lower power graphics card to keep the system's load use under 160w or so, which I think is the current max wattage picoPSU available.

Alternatively, for micro ATX or ATX systems, you can use a full size passive PSU like the Seasonic X-400 and add large passive heatsinks for the CPU (eg Thermalright HR-02) and graphics card (Artic Cooling Accelero S1 Rev 2, Thermalright Spitfire + VRM heatsink etc) and get a fairly powerful passive system. You'd need a case with plenty of air vents at the top, but most gamer-oriented cases have room for plenty of fans, so convection cooling via the top exhaust vents would be your best bet.

I'd also recommend replacing the motherboard chipset heatsinks with something larger - eg a Thermalright HR-05 series heatsink or some of Zalman's larger passive chipset heatsinks.

Personally, I never saw the point in fully passive systems if fans at <400-500rpm are essentially inaudible in most environments, but if you do want to persist with this, you have to choose between a system that is (1) small and low power or (2) powerful in a large open case with a lot of large passive heatsinks on any heat-producing components.

Hope that helps in some way!

mb2
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Location: UK

Re: Passive 1156

Post by mb2 » Sun Jan 02, 2011 10:16 am

Hm those first two are pretty insane! .. the 45nm quad core i7 on a somewhat earthly heatsink is encouraging however! even if things are a little unclear and it is at 1.7ghz. what is the heatsink on that? I see it has that 'back cpu cooler', how effective are they?..

This would certainly suggest that 2ghz-ish on an i530 should be pretty straightforward? but no one has tried with a sane setup? or has there been any investigation into i3 vs g6950 to see what advantage the reduced cache gives?

not fussed about graphics at this point. also, have a *120w pico psu.

..sandy bridge should be interesting; do we know if 'locked' versions will be underclockable??.. i guess they will allow reducing the multiplier atleast?.
Last edited by mb2 on Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

Chevreuil_turbo
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Location: Sherbrooke, Qc, Canada

Re: Passive 1156

Post by Chevreuil_turbo » Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:32 am

To give you an idea i'm running this system for gaming.

Case is a P182

Core i5-750 + Scythe Ninja Rev.B + YateLoon D12SL fan

2x 8800GT in SLI with Thermalright HR-03GT, no fans

Intake fan is a Scythe Fan, exhaust is another D12SL fan. All fans are on a manual controller

Powersupply S12-500, noisiest part in the system....

Temps while gaming are :
50oC Cpu add another 10oC without fan
80oC Gpu 1 upper one, near CPU
60oC GPU 2 bottom one

The room is itself pretty quiet, i can hear a very faint hush from the powersupply, but that's it.

Conclusion, it's possible to go passive on components, but you need case fans or going to a more open case. All this function of usage.

Francois

fumino
Posts: 298
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Location: ontario

Re: Passive 1156

Post by fumino » Wed Jan 12, 2011 5:09 pm

if you went with a pc-q07 you could potentially mod into the top panel a silverstone 180mm fan grill, which should let most any hot air evacuate with ease.

of course a custom vent might look better in the end...

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