An important design factor that determines a computer's performance is its cooling design. When deciding which thermal design to implement when building a computer, air cooling, water cooling, and passive cooling are the most well-known cooling methods. Either of these methods can effectively cool the component in the computer that generates the most heat, the central processing unit (CPU). Air, water and passive cooling each have advantages and disadvantages. However, passive cooling or fanless designs are considered the best PC cooling solution for applications that require rugged, rugged, and compact features.
Fanless PCs are ideal for industrial applications, space-constrained solutions, energy-efficient systems, and more. Building a pc with a fanless design allows the system to do more in terms of versatility, durability, reliability, flexibility, and longevity than the other two.
6 steps to build a fanless PC
Step 1: Choose the right CPU
Before building a fanless computer, first of all, you need to figure out which CPU is right for the requirements of your particular application. Choosing the right CPU will help you design a better fanless system when implementing passive cooling.
When choosing a CPU for building a fanless computer, there are three things you need to be aware of. They are TDP, T-knot and thermal throttling.
TDP or Thermal Design Power: Is a value that represents the power consumption and thermal output of the CPU when running certain applications. TDP, in watts, shows how much power the CPU is consuming. Since heat is a by-product of energy, TDP also represents the heat generated by the CPU without exceeding its thermal limit.
T-Junction or Tj: is a term that refers to the temperature measured on a CPU silicon chip. At the same time, max T-Junction is the maximum temperature that the CPU can reach before it starts thermal throttling.
Thermal throttling: This is when the CPU reduces its power and performance to avoid overheating. The CPU will try to cool itself down and stay within the normal operating temperature range by reducing its processing frequency.
That being said, there are a variety of CPUs with different TDPs that can be used to build fanless PCs. Typically, in the processor market, CPUs range from 10W to 130W, depending on their performance level. The key to building a fanless PC is the balance between performance and power. For example, getting 95W CPU will enable your computer to run demanding programs, but with a trade-off that requires active cooling to cool the system. In contrast, to make a fanless computer, you want to get a CPU with a TDP ranging from 10W to 65W. Any CPU with a TDP of more than 65W requires active cooling to maintain reliable performance.
Step 2: Replace the HDD with the SSD
Another component to consider when building a fanless PC is the storage solution. Since traditional HDDs (hard disk drives) are made up of multiple moving parts and potential points of failure, it is best to use SSDs (solid-state drives) to switch them. Compared to HDDs, SSDs are more durable, more compact, faster and more energy efficient. Therefore, implementing an SSD will make your fanless PC more solid-state. Eliminating fans and HDDs reduces points of failure on your computer, increasing durability and reliability.
Step 3: Utilize a superconducting heat sink
The third step in building a fanless computer is to use superconducting heat sinks to dissipate heat more efficiently. The essence of fanless design is how to passively cool internal heat by dissipating the heat from the CPU to the computer's enclosure. The heatsink is the bridge between the heat-generating processor and the chassis. Therefore, heat sinks need superconductivity. The heatsink uses superconducting materials such as aluminum and copper heat pipes to ensure that the computer can efficiently dissipate heat from the heat-generating processor to the fanless computer chassis. In addition, for a better thermal design, some fanless computers install additional heatsinks on other high-thermal processors, such as PCH (Platform Controller Hubs) or additional modules and accelerators.
Step 4: Fanless computer chassis
A fanless computer chassis is the last stop before heat is dissipated from the CPU and heatsink to the surrounding airflow. Fanless PCs have a different chassis structure than fan-cooled desktops. Fan-cooled computer chassis are often made of plastic and thin aluminum plates with smooth surfaces. In contrast, fanless computers take chassis design to another level. The fanless computer chassis is very rugged and made of extruded aluminum and heavy metal. For example, a fanless computer chassis is squeezed into a one-piece chassis with built-in copper heat pipes that provide durability and efficient heat dissipation. The all-in-one design eliminates moving parts, making the fanless PC a true solid state. Moreover, the fanless computer chassis has a special heatsink on its surface, providing a wider surface area for the chassis. With heat sinks and a larger surface area, the fanless computer chassis can dissipate heat into the surrounding airflow as quickly as possible.
Step 5: Put everything together
After choosing the right CPU, SSD, heatsink, and chassis for a fanless PC, the final step is to combine all the components to create a completely fanless PC. The main advantage of a fanless system is its ability to withstand shock and vibration. Fanless PCs are more than just durable, compact, and low-power. The fanless computer was also quiet. There are no fans, and fanless computers are sealed and much smaller than standard desktop computers. While not every application requires a fanless PC, having a fanless design on your PC architecture offers countless benefits compared to fan-cooled computers.
Step 6: Environmental testing and validation
The sixth step in building a fanless PC is to ensure that the system is truly powerful, durable, and reliable. After designing and building a fanless PC, the entire system design needs to go through a rigorous testing and validation process to diagnose success or failure in an industrial environment. These specialized tests push computers to extremes, often to the point of destruction. In testing and verification, the destruction of a product is an important sign of its overall design, but most importantly, its limitations. If the manufacturer does not perform extreme testing, the overall reliability or mean time between failures (MTBF) of the computer may be lower than industrial standards. As a result, more and more industrial computing manufacturers are investing in capital test equipment to test and validate designs in a variety of environmental settings.
These tests include:
Compliance testing: ELECTROMAGNETIC compatibility (EMC) testing certified by the EC and FCC.
Signal Measurement: Signal integrity of high-speed peripherals to ensure optimal design properties.
Stress testing: Observation results when operation exceeds normal standards or meets maximum specifications.
Functional testing: basic I/O functional testing, boot testing, operating system, power protection, power consumption, performance testing, full load testing.
BIOS Setup Testing: Ensures that the system correctly detects, configures, and initializes all features and devices.
Compatibility testing: Ensure that the CPU, DIMMs, graphics cards, and other peripherals are compatible with the system.
Environmental testing: Thermal testing, including four corners, operating and non-operational, start-up testing, shock and vibration testing, IP rating sealing and thermal shock testing.