<Fanless PC> G620 - G620T

[Kristijonas]

Just a quick question. Is it possible to maintain G620 or G620T at normal temperatures without a cooler? Possibly by underclocking and undervolting? How about i3 2100 and i3 2100T ?

 

[richierich1212]

G620 and G620T should be fine without a fan. Just make sure your heatsink gets enough airflow though.

 

[Roy2001]

2600k without a fan here.

 

[Kristijonas]

Roy2001, seriously? Please tell me how! I'd be interested in i5 2500k fanless. Is it with under voltage-wattage? Would it also be possible with a non-K edition?

 

[Kristijonas]

*bump, because this is really interesting and important to me*

 

[fuzzymath10]

You can always experiment by simply unplugging the fan. You can't kill CPUs very easily by doing this so it's very safe, especially on a low TDP CPU like the one you want to use.

Undervolting makes a very big difference; for me it's about 5-6C idle, and easily 10+C at load.

As an experiment, I removed the fan from my i5 2400. Idle temps increased a few degrees from 35-40C to 39-44C. Load temps were worse; with a fan running even at low speeds, I don't go over more than high 40s or low 50s unless running for a long time. Without a fan, it hit 50C quite quickly, and took longer to cool back to idle.

Long story short, you don't need a T-series CPU, and unless you're running no case fans, it should be fine. I would not recommend running a 65W CPU if you are aiming for completely passive.

 

[dma0991]

I don't see why should you tweak it to lower performance to compromise the performance of the CPU. In fact it is not even technically possible to do any sort of adjustment to a Core i3 2120. If it was a Core i5 2500K/2600K then that might be possible.

There is no point getting the Core i3 2100T anyways as the stock cooler is way thinner than a stock cooler that comes with the Core i3 2100. The size of the heatsink that Intel supplied is directly proportional to the CPU's TDP.

What would be better is to fork out a little bit for a cooler like the Thermalright HR-02 which offers passive cooling out of the box without any fans.

 

[Kristijonas]

Thank you both for answers. Also, wouldn't the heat accumulate in the case if there were no fans in the case? Perhaps holes on the top of the case could solve this?

 

[ElFenix]

get a big tower heatsink and undervolt a plain jane 2100 and it will probably be fine.

as for running it in a sealed case with no fans, doesn't sound like a great idea to me. it's one thing to run a tower heatsink out in a room, another to do so in a case. i guess if the top were open enough it'd be fine. but 'enough' is a tricky thing.


(anyone remember the fan-less mac cube?)

 

[Zap]

Also, wouldn't the heat accumulate in the case if there were no fans in the case?

Yes. Passive does NOT mean "no airflow."

 

[Cerb]

Thank you both for answers. Also, wouldn't the heat accumulate in the case if there were no fans in the case? Perhaps holes on the top of the case could solve this?

Holes likely wouldn't be enough. However, you can get away with very quiet fans, and a small number of them (exactly what depends on the case).