Can you build a desktop PC without a fan?

Fanless PCs are possible, but they need extra attention to detail in the planning phase to make sure the PC stays cool. After building one, regular cleaning and temperature monitoring are critical to the health of a fanless PC.

If you’ve seen gaming PCs, you may have noticed the monstrous number of fans these systems use to keep things cool, but what if it went the other way? Can you build a PC that doesn’t have fans?

How practical is a fanless PC?

A fanless PC can offer several benefits, such as reduced noise levels and improved reliability. With no fans, there are no moving parts to fail or generate noise, which can make for a more durable and quiet PC. This can be especially beneficial if you value silence, which you might do if you work in a home office or use your PC for media consumption.

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However, a fanless PC may not be practical for everyone. Because fans are typically used to cool components like the CPU and GPU, a PC without a fan can be more prone to overheating, which can reduce performance and cause component damage. This can be especially true if you use the PC for demanding tasks like gaming or video editing, which can generate a lot of heat.

Also, a fanless PC can be more expensive to build than a traditional PC, as fanless components can be more expensive than their fan-powered counterparts. This is largely due to the massive copper heat sinks required to make up for the lack of active cooling. That extra cost makes a fanless PC less practical when you’re on a tight budget.

However, building a fanless desktop PC also presents several technical challenges. The biggest challenge is ensuring that PC components don’t overheat. Without fans providing active cooling, the components of a fanless PC must be carefully selected and installed correctly to ensure they do not exceed their maximum operating temperatures. Building a fanless PC can be more difficult than building a traditional PC because it requires careful planning and attention to detail to ensure that all components fit together correctly and function as intended.

A fanless desktop PC needs the right components

When building a fanless desktop PC, it’s important to choose your components carefully to ensure they’re compatible with a fanless setup and can work without overheating.

First of all, the CPU and GPU must be selected carefully when buying parts. Both components generate a significant amount of heat, and it is essential to choose energy-efficient models designed to work without a fan. Both Intel and AMD offer a variety of fanless CPU options, and there are also several fanless GPU options available from companies like NVIDIA and AMD.

In addition to the CPU and GPU, you also need to carefully choose other components such as the motherboard, power supply, and storage drives. It is important to ensure that these components are compatible with the fanless CPU and GPU, and that they can function without overheating. For example, choosing a low-power motherboard and power supply can help reduce overall heat production and improve system reliability. Motherboards designed to work with fanless systems may have large interconnected heat sinks that connect hot components on the board to passive heat sinks.

Finally, it is important to consider which case is appropriate for the components. You want a fanless case that provides ample ventilation to allow for passive cooling of components. Ideally, the case will have vents, mesh panels, and/or special quiet fans that will be positioned to draw cool air into the case and exhaust hot air.

Fanless PCs also need special maintenance

A fanless PC requires the same basic maintenance as a traditional PC, with a few additional considerations.

First of all, keeping your fanless PC clean is critical. This means regularly dusting the inside and outside of the case to prevent a buildup of dust and debris, which can block ventilation and lead to overheating. It’s also important to clean heat sinks and other cooling devices, as they are essential for keeping components cool in a fanless setup.

In addition to cleaning the PC, it is also important to regularly check the temperature of the GPU, CPU, and other components. A fanless PC can be more prone to overheating than a traditional PC, so you can’t overlook monitoring temperatures to make sure components are operating within safe limits. You can do this using a temperature monitoring utility or software like NVIDIA GeForce Experience or AMD Radeon. You can also invest in a laser thermometer to check the components to make sure they don’t get too hot.

Not everything has to be fanless

In a “fanless” PC, not all components need to be fanless. While a fanless CPU and GPU can help reduce overall noise and improve reliability, other components such as storage drives and power supplies may not necessarily need to be fanless.

Since some components, such as the power supply or case fan controllers, can stop the fans completely when idle or under low load. So your PC should only be noisy under heavy loads, and even then it should be quieter than a regular computer where all components have fans.

Who should consider a fanless PC?

The main reason to build a fanless computer is to have a system that doesn’t make noise. Various types of computer users need that feature, such as audiologists and recording studio engineers.

So some people simply want to reduce the amount of noise their computer makes. Reducing the number of fans to make a computer with “fewer fans” instead of a true fanless system is still a big step forward.

The latest generation of video game consoles are virtually silent even under load, so it’s possible to use large low-revving fans or technologies like water cooling to make computers inaudible. Especially if you place the computer further away from you than usual. Sound volume drops rapidly with distance, so by removing some fans, switching to quiet fans, considering a sound-dampening case, and moving the computer away from your ears, you can achieve near-silence without the complexity of absence. number of fans.