<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="im">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Hmmm... hadn't thought of that. So you are saying I could effectively<br>
throttle my system power consumption by simply removing the fan from<br>
my CPU heat sink?<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Absolutely not. I'm saying your CPU won't eat itself. There's not<br>
going to be anything effective about your CPU operating in this manner,<br>
other than it will retain some minimum level of functionality to keep<br>
the system running.<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
That would be fantastic -- silent and low power -- but I am skeptical<br>
about the longevity and reliability of a system like that.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Silent, low power, and absolutely awful performance. This is not<br>
something that is a good idea. This is merely a protection mechanism<br>
for the CPU should you fail to give it sufficient cooling. Note that<br>
your CPU will be doing this to some degree anyway. All removing the<br>
heatsink does is mean it cannot speed back up for normal operation once<br>
you load it up. You're stuck down at that extremely low level of<br>
performance.<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
OK, but do you mean awful compared to an Atom 330? I sure hope not!<br>
<br>
If what you say is correct (that a modern i3 system takes less power than an IONITX) then that fanless i3 system should be cooler and perform better than a fanless IONITX. Really that is all I am looking for since I am satisfied with the performance of a dual core Atom 330 as a mythfrontend.<br>
<br>
BTW: I looked them up on cpumark and the i3-530 is just over 4X as fast as the Atom 330. I am not saying a four fold improvement is trivial but really, 4X as fast as an Atom is hardly something to jump up and down about -- especially when it comes with almost 10X the TDP!<br>
<br>
Regardless, as long as it never ended up _slower_ than an Atom due to throttling I really am not too concerned.</blockquote><div><br></div><div>I don't think anyone is encouraging you to run any cpu fanless; unless it's in a properly engineered fanless case, which probably wouldn't perform so well in a closed cabinet.</div>
<div><br></div><div>What he is saying, and I agree with, is that you could safely run a modern Intel CPU, in a standard configuration, in a closed cabinet. Yes it will get hot in the cabinet... but no, it will not melt anything. </div>
<div><br></div><div>What will happen is that the CPU will throttle itself to reduce the heat generated such that it will adjust it's performance to it's environment. Essentially, trying to spec a system to under 25W because that's what your cabinet can handle before it gets too hot is an unnecessary exercise. Spec the system you want, and let the temperature throttling keep it running safely in your cabinet.</div>
<div><br></div><div>The advantage is that if it's idle most of the time (as it probably will be), when it does get utilized, you have plenty of power to do what needs doing, and it will do it quickly, before it idles again. If it ever tries to run at peak power for too long, it will get throttled by temperature.</div>
</div></div></div>