nofan case / cooler?

[sfryman]

I'm really intrigued by the silent case & CPU cooler from this little S. Korean company called "nofan": http://www.nofancomputer.com/eng/products/main.php

CS-70: mATX case but supports long video cards
CR-95C: fanless CPU cooler

They also have a fanless power supply and a couple of other cases that don't look as nice. The set would be rather expensive ($260 for the case, $100 for the cooler, $190 for the 400W power supply). I haven't found many reviews.

I would use it primarily as an HTPC. Maybe a bit overkill, but I want something silent with GPU upgrade options because eventually I want a 4k TV & don't think I can get a suitable graphics card in most of the usual htpc cases on the market today. I saw some 4k TVs on a recent trip to Korea, and WOWSA I must say they looked really nice. I'm hesitant to buy a 4k TV just yet, since there's really no content yet in the US.

The CS-70 case has a review on quietPC that was very positive, but I think they also sell them so maybe a conflict of interest there... Also the CS-70 looks JUST like a SilverStone Fortress Series FT03B, except it's like $260 instead of $160. Could it just be a re-badge?

Anyone used any of these products or know of an independent review online?

Thanks!

 

[ElFenix]

yeah looks just like an FT03 with the fans removed.

 

[aigomorla]

i dont think the cooler will do a very good job...
Your going to need that rear exhaust fan.

And i wouldn't expect to be able to overclock with it at all.
Also it doesnt look friendly to accept a fan, so if it cant do its role passively you'll need another sink.

 

[sfryman]

Ok, so to clarify:

This would be designed as a completely silent, passively-cooled htpc.

Overclocking would not make sense. It would be an mATX w/ maybe an i5 (fanless cooler so needs to be under 100W), SSD, & fanless GPU. There would be no fans at all, so it would be completely silent.

 

[lehtv]

I would get a HR-02 Macho and take the fan off; it was originally designed as a passive cooler. As for the case, better to have at least some fans... just run them at low enough RPM that you won't hear them.

 

[Alan G]

Lian Li make several nofan cases. I've built two HTPCs using their PC-Q27 case and they work quite fine (though I do install the Intel stock cooler on the CPU as I'm running i3 Ivy Bridge units). The installed ATX PSU helps exhaust warm air out of the case. It's not quite totally silent and there is some start up noise from the CPU fan which goes away after about five seconds.

If you are just going to build an HTPC (no gaming), you can do it with a number of case options.

I took a look at the CPU cooler and it looks pretty big. The dimensions of it are quite large and it won't fit in a small mini-ITX case (180mm diameter x 148mm high) and it costs $100 as well. I think one can find a variety of air coolers that do a nice job and are 'almost' silent. This strikes me as a real niche product.

 

[aigomorla]

Ok, so to clarify:

This would be designed as a completely silent, passively-cooled htpc.

Overclocking would not make sense. It would be an mATX w/ maybe an i5 (fanless cooler so needs to be under 100W), SSD, & fanless GPU. There would be no fans at all, so it would be completely silent.

thats not the hard part..

have u ever felt the Northbridge chip on any H67 & Z77 chipset?

Trust me... its not something u want to leave as passive...
Even people on Mini ITX setups using H61 Chipset are complaining about seeing the northbridge temps hit as high as 70C during normal operation.

Now lemme ask you again.. do you truely wish to cool something that hot passive?

Because that is one reason why i dont even AIO now (no air is being directed to the North Bridge + Vregs) .... just take 1 second to feel your northbridge with your sink and you'll totally understand what im saying.

 

[sfryman]

Did a little more research & found another option reviewed right here at Anantech: http://anandtech.com/show/6523/streacoms-fc10-and-nano150-building-a-fanless-ivy-bridge-htpc

So, I know these are niche products but I do think total silence is possible & worth a few extra $$. I'm not looking to build a top-end gaming PC, but an htpc that's capable to streaming anything and 4K-ready. I built a regular htpc for the in-laws using a Shuttle case a few years ago which is small, capable & looks nice but is not silent.

There is a valid argument in that at some point a good case w/ quiet fans is quiet enough that you won't hear it over the sound coming from the speakers & everything else. I'm thinking something with just one or two 120-140mm case fans & the CPU fan. But it seems that "close-enough" usually has a few disclaimers: like when it first starts up or when pushed too hard. Spending $100 for the nofan CPU cooler is a bit much but isn't going to break the bank. If going from "close-enough" to complete silence is only +$100 or even +$200, I might go for it. If it turns out to be substantially more than that I will probably get something that isn't totally silent but is close enough.

Lian-Li makes a good product but I don't know of any of their silent cases that will fit a full-size video card. I want this build to be 4k ready, and from what I've seen the good passively cooled GPUs are huge.

The nofan cooler is very large but should fit into the nofan cases (and hopefully some alternatives). I think the nofan CS-70 is just a re-badge and also costs too much so I'm looking for alternatives. The other nofan cases are too ugly. I might get the Silverstone FT03 since I like the way it looks & think it would look reasonable sitting in my living room but have doubts I could get away without fans in that case.