Cooling for VIA C3 800 mhz

[alexbrickel]

I am building a low power/low cost pc to use in my home theatre. I have an 800 mhz VIA C3 cpu that I'm going to use. Because this PC is going to be in my living room, I want it to run as quietly as possible. Has anyone had any experience running the C3 without a fan. I plan on using a good heatsink of course but would like to go without the fan if possible.

 

[wetcat007]

I'm not sure, but to my knowledge it outputs signifcantly less heat that a 500MHz celeron i have in my compaq and it doesnt have a fan on the chip just a moderate heatsink and a case fan.

 

[alexbrickel]

Thats the impression I've been getting from most articles I've seen on the subject. Thanks.

 

[BA]

I had a 900 fanless. Used a GlobalWin FDP

 

[PhoenixOfWater]

As long as you have a good heatsink you should be fine

 

[BuSykeniff]

i would agree with the above.

 

[Lonyo]

You could always if you felt the need get a 22dB or something 12v 80mm fan and undervolt it to 7v to make it pretty much totally silent.

 

[alexbrickel]

Since it looks like I'll be going the fanless route...can anyone recommend a good heatsink? Someone mentioned the GlobalWin FDP. What vendor did you purchase it from? I've looked at the vendors I usually use (Googlegear, NewEgg) but they don't have much in the way of fanless heatsinks. I don't want to spend more that $10-15.

 

[BA]

I bought the FDP in FS/FT.


You won't find many sinks other than the Zalman flowers that are actually marketed as passive. . A c3 800 shouldn't be real hard. Look for a heatsink made of aluminum, with relatively wide spacing between fins.

 

[mudboy]

I run a C3/800 fanless with the stock heatsink with no problems. The stock sink is a bit anemic, I probably should use something more like the AMD/Coolermaster OEM heatsinks that come with Athlon XP's, but hey, if it ain't broke....

Pete

 

[alexbrickel]

I see. Guess I'll just purchase a cheapo HSF and take the fan off. Thanks for everyone's sugestions.

 

[Zap]

All Electronics Aavid passive heatsink with clip $1.25

I have one of these heatsinks on a C3 866 in a Shuttle SV24. I've modified the SV24 so the whole system runs off one fan. No fan on the CPU and no fan in the power supply, and one 80mm NMB fan in the rear sucking air off this cheap Aavid heatsink out the back through a duct. Pictures here. The Aavid is a good choice for passive cooling because the wide spacing between the fins allows for more air to move through unimpeded. However, this also makes the heatsink a BAD choice if the processor puts out a lot of heat because there isn't as much surface area, though the C3 Ezra core processors are a good match for it. I've tried a Zalman heatsink with it and it works fine if the ventilation is good, otherwise air doesn't seem to pass through the heatsink and thus it runs hotter. The best compromise would probably be a Zalman with every other fin cut off.