Passively cooled HTPC possible?

[panfist]

Hey. I'd like to build a HTPC for my parents and I was wondering if anyone had experimented with using a lot of passive cooling. I would like to put a passive heat-pipe heatsink on one of these
processors.

And I also found an AMD 2600xt with passive cooling.

I was thinking of building it in a case like this, putting in a DVD burner and a card reader in the 5.25" and 3.5" external bays, and one hard disk inside.

I can settle for a quiet fan in the power supply, and I'd like to put a quiet 120 or 140mm exhaust fan in the back. Would this be enough to cool all of the components? Can anyone recommend a better case? Or a decent power supply?

My budget for this project is absolutely no more than $500, so I can't really spend more than $150 on the case+power supply

 

[manimal]

Well you can do a HTPC passively and some people had decent sucess with it-check the AVS forums-but from a heat perspective id still go with a really quiet cpu fan instead of passive. Most Psus need a fan and even the passive psu's had some trouble. A really quiet CPU cooler with a really quiet psu will give you alot better cooling at a very low sound threshold.

 

[panfist]

Ok, I've been browsing newegg and some review websites, and here's my new perspective.

When you're building a system on a budget, you have to make some compromises. What I really don't know is, is there a case that's within my budget that has good enough airflow that I can cool the entire HTPC using a 120mm exhaust fan. The answer to that I'm thinking is no... esepcially considering that the video card will produce quite a bit of heat which will not be exhausted right out.

I think I'm noticing a contradiction here. It seems like it would be more efficient to have a VGA cooler that exhausts the hot air, but there aren't a lot of options for VGA coolers; they are noisy or expensive. If I get a passively cooled video card like the one I linked above the temperature inside the case will go up, meaning I will probably have to get a CPU fan, but (from my experience) it would far quieter to put a 120mm fan on a tower heat sink than use a VGA cooler which exhausts hot air.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[bigpow]

get a passively cooled vga
get a big tower hsf for cpu with a quiet 120mm fan
put one silent 120mm in the back

after this, you'll notice that you'd have to get a quiet PSU (seasonic)
and a suspended HDD (samsung)

 

[huynhc]

i agree with bigpow on the recommendations.......a completely passively cooled htpc is not possible if you are working on a budget and dont have a case that dissipates alot of heat. In all honesty, a silent HTPC is not really needed because once the speakers come on, you cant really hear the fans (as long as you dont have a crazy loud setup). I know you can argue that the comp might make the sound from your speakers sound worse but even I (I am somewhat picky with my sound) am not bothered by the "noise" of my htpc (or the lack thereof). FYI, I have a Silverstone LC-10M case (stock cooling fans which sound a bit loud when i'm near the PC). But I do have it hooked up to a HK AVR435 AV Reciever and 5.1 Aperion Audio speakers....

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: panfist
I was thinking of building it in a case like this

That case won't work with your video card choice because the expansion slots are half-height.

Also note that your video card choice is TALLER than a normal card, so it will not work in many of the smaller cases.

Originally posted by: huynhc
In all honesty, a silent HTPC is not really needed because once the speakers come on, you cant really hear the fans (as long as you dont have a crazy loud setup).

That's about it in a nutshell. Make it quiet, but forget about silence.

 

[GullyFoyle]

You might want to check out this review and case: Antec NSK2400

 

[Nickel020]

The Scythe Ninja Rev. B is one of the best CPU heatsinks for passive cooling.
But passive is not really worth it unless you get a very quiet hard drive and put it in some kind of box to further reduce the noise. On my silent PC the noisiest part is the 2,5" HD, not the 500 rpm fan on the CPu or in the fan in the PSU.

 

[Binky]

You're asking for the impossible. You want to put a nearly passive computer with a relatively high end video card (htpc-wise) in a small cramped case with low airflow. Something has to give here. It wont work.

Find a taller case that can accomodate a taller heatsink and at least one 120mm fan. A full size power supply also with a 120mm fan would be optimal. The 120mm case exhaust fan could be ducted to cool the cpu, eliminating the need for a dedicated cpu fan. You may also want to consider a lower-end video card. Sapphire makes a passive 2400xt. This should produce less heat. Finally, use RMclock to fine tune your own speedstep settings within windows.

FWIW, I'm running this system and it runs very warm but it runs well:
Nmedia HTPC case (their original)
Asus P5K-VM
RMclock slows the CPU when possible (try "power on demand" with 25%-35% for "desired cpu usage level")
E2160@2.5ghz, stock heatsink using speedfan to hold cpu at 50C
Passive nvidia 8500gt
Low-speed 80mm fan blowing across video card and northbridge

 

[Binky]

I forgot to add a few things:

1) If this proposed system won't be doing any HD or Blu Ray DVD's anytime soon, you should seriously consider using onboard video. Less heat would be created and you might be surprised how well it works. The AMD 690G chipset is incredible, and the Intel G33 isn't too shabby either.

2) Use MCE 2005. Vista requires a MUCH higher CPU and video card. You can get away with a much less powerful (and therefore cooler) system using MCE 2005. A 690G system with a 4200+ and no video card works nicely.

 

[panfist]

I know it's a little late to reply and say thanks but I just want to let you guys know that your input was very much appreciated. Thank you for all the great suggestions everyone.

Binky, the PC will be decoding 720p mpeg4, and also playing some games, which is why I decided on a 2600. It has hardware support to decode pretty much anything and it's decent at running today's games. But maybe when I actually build this PC in November things will change.

 

[aigomorla]

roflrofl..

passive cooling on a 2900XT.


I think i could pull it off. The only moving part you would need is a Pump.

Would require the cooling unit to be external. A (120x3) x 2 radiator could probably even do a moderate overclocked quadcore on passive.


But you'd end up spending too much money on a project like this.

 

[panfist]

2600xt

twenty SIX hundred xt

two thousand SIX hundred xt

roflrofl? what are you laughing at? do you know what the definition of passive is? is english your first language?

this post has nothing to do with overclocked quadcores or pumps.

here are two examples of passively cooled twenty SIX hundred XTs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127298
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814125075

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: panfist
2600xt

twenty SIX hundred xt

two thousand SIX hundred xt

roflrofl? what are you laughing at? do you know what the definition of passive is? is english your first language?

this post has nothing to do with overclocked quadcores or pumps.

here are two examples of passively cooled twenty SIX hundred XTs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127298
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814125075

oops my mistake on the video card then. Thought i saw a 2900

Then yeah you could pull this system passive, however you need to make sure you have really good airflow.

Im running a E6300 on a TR120Extreme. Its passive on a 7600GT passive.

The case its in is a CM690. I got a single 120 up front, a 120 in the rear. The system is duct'd wind tunnels.

You might be able to pull it off given you undervolt as much as possible to run on stock settings. However if you dont get good air flow inside the case, you'll run into a ton of problems.

I recomend you get samsung spinpoint drives as hard drives. Otherwise you may hear more tick tick noises then your fan.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Here is a suggestion:

Get one of the low-power AMD brisbane CPUs, like this one or this one - would reduce heat output quite a bit from there. You could most likely put a ninja on this and run it passively simply because it runs so cool.
Then there is this HD2600XT which has a heatpipe passive sink on it and 2x the video memory as well. The heatpipe cooler I'm sure would be better than the other one on the gigabyte card you originally linked to.

If you did that you could probably do what you originally hoped, quiet PSU and quiet rear 120mm fan

 

[panfist]

I just saw that very same heatpipe cooler today while I was browsing Newegg, Sparky.

And Aigomorla, sorry if I seemed like a jerk before...my bad

I see now that going totally passive isn't really worth it...I'm going to look into getting a quiet 120 MM fan or two in the right spots.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: panfist
I just saw that very same heatpipe cooler today while I was browsing Newegg, Sparky.

And Aigomorla, sorry if I seemed like a jerk before...my bad

I see now that going totally passive isn't really worth it...I'm going to look into getting a quiet 120 MM fan or two in the right spots.

nah... its my mistake. As i said, i thought i saw a 2900, so i went WTF??

Anyhow, i wouldnt give up on the idea yet. It will take ducting tho. Passive systems have been one thing i always look at. Im thinkn of cutting up my ionic breeze and adding it to the front intake so i can get rid of the fans total. But i am kinda weary on the ozone buildup that would make. Someone said there whole board and components got bleached from the ozone.


Ducting isnt very hard to do, and you could pull it off with poster boards, or cardboard. As i said, it just takes some time and planning, but its very fun and interesting to do.

The only downside to running passive to me was it was very costly. Almost ran the same price as water. Maybe a TAD bit less. But my HTPC is awesome. The only noticible noise it will make is the small woosh intake noise cooling my hard drives

 

[MichaelD]

Nobody has mentioned a mini-ITX system yet? I'm surprised.

If you want quiet and/or small, mini-ITX is where it's at.

Small? Check
Passively cooled? Check
Silent (or almost?) Check
Can decode DVDs (hardware)? Check
HD content? Probably not, but that's not req'd as per the original post.

And if you get the right case such as this one, you can even fit a full-size 3.5" HD. 320/500/750GB of movies, anyone?

Put a passively cooled mini-ITX motherboard in here (roughly 75% of them are passively cooled) and the only moving parts are the HD and the fan.

Many mini-ITX boards also have S-Video and and coaxial digital out. Instant HTPC! Granted, S-Video is not Component Video or HDMI out but it's still worlds better than composite. Many mini-ITX cases will also allow for a single PCI card. So, if you have a nice PCI videocard (All in wonder or capture card) that you want to use, you could.

Just an idea. BTW, did I mention small? The case I linked to above is (WxHxD): 7.9"x 3.8" x 10.7"

More pics of said case.

 

[dedwards]

I know someone mentioned it already - but you really should check out the Antec NSK2400 case. It comes with a decent power supply, and has good airflow for an HTPC case.

This article is a review of the Scythe Ninja Mini cooler. When mounted in the 2400 without a fan of its own, it can be run "passively". The side exhaust fan is so close to the heatsink that it can provide good cooling without a dedicated fan.

Article

DE

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Nobody has mentioned a mini-ITX system yet? I'm surprised.

If you want quiet and/or small, mini-ITX is where it's at.

Small? Check
Passively cooled? Check
Silent (or almost?) Check
Can decode DVDs (hardware)? Check
HD content? Probably not, but that's not req'd as per the original post.

And if you get the right case such as this one, you can even fit a full-size 3.5" HD. 320/500/750GB of movies, anyone?

Put a passively cooled mini-ITX motherboard in here (roughly 75% of them are passively cooled) and the only moving parts are the HD and the fan.

Many mini-ITX boards also have S-Video and and coaxial digital out. Instant HTPC! Granted, S-Video is not Component Video or HDMI out but it's still worlds better than composite. Many mini-ITX cases will also allow for a single PCI card. So, if you have a nice PCI videocard (All in wonder or capture card) that you want to use, you could.

Just an idea. BTW, did I mention small? The case I linked to above is (WxHxD): 7.9"x 3.8" x 10.7"

More pics of said case.

my 2 cents on itx systems.

They are great, however they wont playt H.264 videos at HD resolution perfectly. It will skip.

You should see some of my collection. I have 1 anime movie that has a min processor requirement of of a C2D @ 2ghz.

Im an anime junkie. Thats the one thing from my childhood i could never get rid of.

Directly posted from the website.
"First, this is a 1920x1080 copy of Naruto Movie 3 encoded with H264. You will need an Intel Core Duo 2.0GHz or higher to play it. "

I have tons of other regular movies those kind of requirements. Hence why i went the C2D approach.

ITX isnt also something the op should learn to make passive. Its like cheating. The whole unit is basically passive out of the box. I think he wants to play with designing a passive setup with wind tunnels.

 

[panfist]

Passive + "wind tunnels" (you mean ducting?) is kind of an oxymoron. Passive means you don't power any of your cooling, which means no fans.