Crazy Fanless Dream (Please Help)

[ghostwarrior]

ok here we go.....

i've been playing with the idea of creating a little master piece for myself for a while, only problem is i'm probably nuts and not in the loop as much as i used to be so its getting pretty heavy going and im at the point where i need some serious help...

project is to try and fit all this into antec mini skeleton :

asus E350m1-i or similar mobo

3x 2.5" hdd
1x 2.5" ssd

8Gb ram ddr3 1600 with xigmatek dragoon n422 ram cooler.
4Gb to be used as ramdrive, maybe?

Sony BD-Combo Slim SATA Slot Load optical drive

2x graphics cards in sli on an active dual flexible pci riser with thermalright spitfire or similar heatsinks mounted so that each heatsink will sit on the outside of either side of the case.

shuttle silent 300w psu
i have no idea right now how much power a set up like this might need
all i know is the psu needs to be fanless and ultra small to fit within my dream


im a keen amateur photographer so 1000s of hi def pics and do lots of work on photoshop, have a large music and video collection
also small bit of gaming would be nice
plus the usual email/surfing/streaming...

is it complete overkill? will it even work?
all help and ideas welcome

thanks in advance

 

[Zap]

Hello ghostwarrior, and welcome to AnandTech Forums.

The Mini Skeleton has a big fan on top. Are you going to try to run it without the fan?

If you do a lot of Photoshop work, the CPU might prove to be inefficient. It is great for a low powered system, but the performance will be similar to the lowest end original Athlon 64 x2. The big difference of course is lower cost than the original, plus the CPU not capable of drawing more than 20W so a fraction of the power used and heat output.

For your listed parts, you can probably run it on a 70W or 90W PSU. The E-350 Zacate CPU is basically a high performance NETBOOK setup (plus your extra drives).

Speaking of which, would you want to do Photoshop stuff on a dual core netbook?

Also, even these low end CPUs need cooling. Cooling means airflow. Note how big the heatsink is? Look at other mini ITX boards using the same CPU. Some of them use a heatsink that is 1/10 the size but with a fan. THAT'S how difficult it is to cool something without fans.

My recommendation for you is to use a fan. It is possible to cool a system using one single low RPM fan that makes so little noise that you won't be able to hear it unless you put your ear to it. Also, your system has three hard drives anyways, so it isn't as if it would be completely silent.

I would also recommend using higher end hardware. I'd suggest a Core i3.

 

[mfenn]

You've got more problems than a PSU I'm afraid.

First, an E350 is going to be very slow for the types of tasks you describe.
Second, fanless SLI with any sort of reasonable GPUs isn't going to happen.
Third, you've already lost "silence" by having mechanical HDDs, so you might as well run a fan in the case. The Skeleton doesn't have very good thermal properties at all (open-air isn't very good believe it or not)

 

[betasub]

Seem to have been a glut of "silent build" threads recently.

A realistic build would have air movement (such as provided by a single slow fan as Zap outlines). True "silence" freaks should head over to SPCR forums, and let AT forums handle quiet/inaudible builds.

 

[Zap]

Seem to have been a glut of "silent build" threads recently.

Yes, quite an affliction around here these days. :hmm:

Simple steps to build a computer so quiet that most of the time you won't be able to hear it.
1) Take whatever performance you would like, and reduce that performance level by 20%.
2) Take your cooling budget, and increase it by 50%.
3) Accept the fact that you will need at least one cooling fan, though it can be a large, slow and very, very quiet fan.
4) If it is a gaming rig, accept the fact that during gaming the GPU fan will be loud. If you can't accept that, then you have to accept 40% lower gaming performance.
5) Enjoy your new quiet system.

Simple steps to build a SILENT computer with NO moving parts that has AWESOME performance.
1) Choose typical "gaming" and "enthusiast" components.
2) Decide that laws of thermodynamics do not apply to you and decide system will work fine with no moving parts.
3) Spend $15 shipping to RMA graphics card you just burnt out.
4) Spend $70 for fans advertised to be super quiet.
5) Spend $30 for fan controller because "super quiet" fans turned out to be audible.
6) Subtract line 5 from line 4. If it is greater than line 3 then write it on line 12.
7) Give up on doing your own taxes and pay someone to do them for you.
8) Decide you really care more about performance than silence.
9) End up with the super performance gaming rig you've always desired, albeit now with 120% more fan noise.

 

[betasub]

^ LOL, nice summary, Zap. Bookmarked for quoting.

 

[WildW]

Yep, Zap's nailed it there. I stand by my previous statement on "silent" PCs . . .

I gave up on the silent PC game when I realised that I didn't like my bedroom so quiet at night. Without a noisy fan (and lets not forget that white noise is a good sleep inducer) I can hear every creak of the house as the temperature outside drops, and it sounds like monsters under the bed.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Happy 17k posts Zap!

 

[ghostwarrior]

ok ok ok.
Let me start by explaining the build.
i'm redesigning an antec mini skeleton STEAMPUNK style. lots of copper/brass/wood.
final build will look like it came from the turn of the century.

and just to clarify the title.....Crazy Fanless Dream (Please Help).

i didnt say silent, in fact if it sounded like a steam engine pulling 2 billion ton up hill it would actually suit the build.

what i would really like to know is whats the best build that could fit in and around the size constraints of the case money no object.

@ zap. thanks for the welcome and advice.
have taken on board all your wisdom and changed the design to include one fan, i haven't been keeping up to date with all the tech stuff of late so any advice is gladly taken.
Question...
if i had a water cooled cpu with the radiator mounted where the fan is inside the mini skeleton and the fan was blowing back in to the case would it provide enough air flow for the rest of the components

thanks in advance,
ghost

 

[llee]

What about a Core i5-2500K paired up with a Scythe Mugen II and a mini ITX motherboard? You could use the integrated graphics for light gaming and the the power of the cpu to really power through media processing.

 

[gevorg]

http://www.silentpcreview.com

 

[mfenn]

if i had a water cooled cpu with the radiator mounted where the fan is inside the mini skeleton and the fan was blowing back in to the case would it provide enough air flow for the rest of the components

So the crazy fanless build is going to include a fan? To answer your question, yes that would provide enough airflow for everything except the GPU. You might also consider a simple duct from the top fan down to the CPU heatsink instead of going crazy with water cooling.

 

[ghostwarrior]

i dont want to go mad with water cooling.

i want the best rig that is going to fit inside or around my build criteria
really needs help with this.

i would like to not have any fans but going on advice i decided i could maybe do one but only if its industrial in its use, this build is based on design first performance second,
i want it to perform as good as the best rigs around.... so like i said before can i build a crazy a.zzz rig in the mini skeleton with no fans. i was told no. actually i'm not going to eplain myself any longer

 

[Zap]

i'm redesigning an antec mini skeleton STEAMPUNK style. lots of copper/brass/wood.
final build will look like it came from the turn of the century.

That would actually be awesome. Might I suggest you designing the "chassis" from ground up and not modding an existing one? The reason is that if you mod an existing one, you are forever constrained to certain "hard points" of the original chassis. Also, something like the Antec Mini Skeleton is really a super simple design. Lower larger platform, higher smaller platform, corner stands that lean inwards culminating in a fan.

i didnt say silent, in fact if it sounded like a steam engine pulling 2 billion ton up hill it would actually suit the build.

Okay, fan or not certain computer hardware components need some kind of cooling. If you were okay with sound, you can actually integrate it as part of the system. For instance find some small diameter and super high RPM fan like this crazy 15000RPM 40mm diameter SOB and integrate it into some tubing that runs around cooling your heatsinks. Then, find some rheostat that can handle the power draw and make it into a spring-loaded lever. This way it runs at some lower speed but you can hit the lever and the noise level goes up drastically - and goes back down as the spring raises the lever back up as you release it.

How's that for an idea?

 

[Paperlantern]

Those look like the fans in the DL320 G5 I just picked up for a virtual server. They are LOUD at full speed (especially when there is 6 of them, heh), but run very tolerable when idle.

 

[mfenn]

i dont want to go mad with water cooling.

i want the best rig that is going to fit inside or around my build criteria
really needs help with this.

i would like to not have any fans but going on advice i decided i could maybe do one but only if its industrial in its use, this build is based on design first performance second,
i want it to perform as good as the best rigs around.... so like i said before can i build a crazy a.zzz rig in the mini skeleton with no fans. i was told no. actually i'm not going to eplain myself any longer

??? The bolded seems kind of counter productive? Now that you've got a better idea of what you want to do, why don't you make a post that has all the requirements and we can go from there?

 

[pcm81]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ8L1Prl6tk

 

[mfenn]

Ummm, OK?

 

[Zap]

I think we scared away the OP.

 

[Drako]

Too bad Zalman doesn't make the TNN 500 AF anymore. I built a computer for my wife with one of these 5 years ago for audio editing, and she loves it. Only moving parts were the HDD and DVD.