Will a 550 MHz Celeron be able to run fanless?

[Hendrik]

I have an old 550 MHz Celeron lying around and I'm interested in building a silent system. I'm wondering whether I could run the Celeron with just a heatsink on, no fan. Has anyone done this?

Thanks for all replies.

 

[CraigRT]

I think you can do it.. just make sure it's not a stock Intel HSF, but a bit bigger so that just passive cooling will work.. should be OK as long as the HS is big enough!

 

[Migroo]

I'm with Yield. Just use a big heatsink.

Those small heatsinks with a very powerful fan are not suitable for what you want (assuming you'd take the fan off..).

Something I use to run a fanless system (note: this particular one might not fit your Celeron, but Zalman might make an appropriate one) with a Duron 800 is this

Hope that helps.

 

[Slawsk]

Gateway can get away with it up to their 950mhz celerys. Stability is compromised, though. Go to 1CoolPC.com and check out the silent heatsinks. I'd get one that was designed for passive-cooling beyond like a Pentium II. They have some very nice passive-cooling heatsinks. I never go stock! Too many stability compromises!

 

[squirrel dog]

Compac has done this,we have p2-400's at work with no fans on the cpu,just very large heatsinks.They have the cpu right in the power supply's fan suction flow.

 

[Hendrik]

Thanks to everyone for replying. :}

I think I'm going to try it.

 

[The_Lurker]

I got my PIII 750e running with a passive Alpha P3125!!! temps a little high under load though, so i put it down to 500 so i dont kill the poor thing.

 

[ShiFtY1000]

Try to undervolt it if possible... also try to route case airflow over it, this helps a lot... I have an old p200 air cooled...

 

[Blain]

Intel doesn't show a listing for a "550MHz" Celeron.
They've got a 500 & 533, PPGA listed. They list the Thermal Design for the 500 @ 27.2W and the 533 @ 28.3W.
As compared to the 533 FC-PGA @ 11.2W.
Their Pentium 3 - 550E's are rated @ 14.5W.

So no, I don't think you can pull of passive cooling of a Celeron PPGA 500 or the 533. If you've got some air flow via a near by case fan, maybe. But then it's not real passive cooling.
Sorry

 

[Packy]

I wouldn't try it... Celerys tend to be warmer than PIII's, which may be able to pull it off. I have a 566 that o/c's to 900 just fine with cooling, but if I leave it at 566 with no fan, the temps get warmer than I like to see (around 50c). Then again, I believe Celerons are rated up to 80c, so it's up to you

 

[Killrose]

If your mothrboard supports it, lower your Vcore voltage. Most intel CPU's will run below spec voltage, and this will help lower the overall temp.

 

[ShinSa]

All celerons have a coutoff protection that kciks in when the CPU gets too hot.

Try it fanles and do some rigorous CPU testing. If the computer boots or locks up you need a fan on it.

It wont harm your CPU so dont worry.

I have the same CPU at 850 and I've tried it fanless but locks up.
If I clock it back to 566, I might have a better chance.

 

[Blain]

I'm still curious as to which Celeron you have... the 500 or the 533. If it's "an old" Celeron it's probably not a 566. The 533 is the last PPGA with 533A being the first FC-PGA Celeron.

 

[Jhhnn]

Check out a Globalwin fdp32 in the bargain bin at nexfan.com. These were originally designed as passive coolers, Globalwin added the fan to make a performance unit, back in the day. The wide fin spacing is better for passive cooling- air is viscous, has a tendency to flow around sinks with narrow spacing...

You'll still need a fan in the psu unless you're willing to spend big money for a fanless open frame unit. Siliconacoustics is the only vendor I know of.....

If your celeron has a metal heat spreader on the core, then it's probably a 533 ppga, original model celeron, or maybe a 366 that will run 550 at 100fsb. If it has a small bare silicon core, then it's a 533 or 566 fcpga CeleronII, and your chances of running fanless are better.

 

[wefixitalways]

I would not recomend not running a fan on the heat sink I have a volcano fan and it is very quiet on my Celeron 700 Mhz. Or you can look at it this way heat is a computers worst nightmare, and if you don't use a CPU fan the processor just won't last as long as it could.

 

[Hendrik]

Blain, it's actually a 566 MHz Celeron - sorry to get that wrong. On top of it, there's the bare core, so I assume it's a fcpga Celeron 2.

I'm planning to run the whole system with just one virtually silent Pabst fan, with which I will replace the fan in an Enermax PSU (disabling the second fan in it). I'm trying to have as few fans as possible not only to cut down on noise, but also on vibration.

I will undervolt and possibly underclock the CPU. The system will be used for internet and email access, and for recording and playing music.

I'll report back how it's been going!

 

[Migroo]

Yeap it sounds like a FC-PGA Celeron 2.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[Blain]

Man, just slap a little 50mm fan on that HS and it will probably run 850. What kind of video card are you going to run without a fan?

 

[Hendrik]

What kind of video card are you going to run without a fan?

One that has good 2D quality, and can run fanless. Radeon or Matrox, probably.

As I said, this is for internet, email and music; no need for high-powered 3D capabilities.