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A fanless NUC?

labdoc

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I am late to post on this topic and my setup is not Roon or Win based. However, it is fanless and works for a large NAS-based classical collection. I run Daphile (a linux Squeeze ecosystem server/player) on an ECS LIVA Z Mini PC Intel N3350 Fanless Dual LAN 4K UHD Display 4GB DDR3L RAM 32GB eMMC Canadian $229.99. Works great. The music library is on a ReadyNAS, but could be on the NUC if it had an SSD. Other Liva models run Win 10 according to the website (www.ecs.com). I also have a couple of older brand name Intel NUCs. One is running Daphile player with the CPU set to lowest speed. It is not fanless, but it is very quiet to silent in a player only use.
 

Jinjuku

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I ran Prime 95 with their short FFT and while the fan did activate and you could feel dissipated heat, you couldn't hear it unless your ear is literally 1/2" away.
 
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audiobill

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I've been doing the J3455 based NUC's (about 75 of them so far) and while they have a fan, I can't hear it from even a foot away. You have to literally put your ear against the NUC.
How do you put one ear next to 75 NUCs?
 

jtwrace

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That's a nice industrial unit for sure. If you don't want $620 in spend the $130 J3455 or J4005 based NUC's will operate silently.
It's an option if one wants to buy a ready to go unit and just load Rock and have something as fast as the Nucleus. I've read that there are some features coming that will be Nucleus only though.
 

Jinjuku

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How about these? https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B06XD2V...46-11e8-b9b0-b9c4745829eb&smid=A1UAUN9AXXYBEH

Pretty slow CPU but for just playback, it will do.

I've played around with a handful of those and the build quality isn't there with the same as the NUC's. Starters they use cheap foamed, self adhesive, heat sink material to bridge the gap between CPU/RAM and the heat sink.

When it's all said and done both are silent and the NUC's simply better for the same amount of $$.
 

audiobill

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That's a nice industrial unit for sure. If you don't want $620 in spend the $130 J3455 or J4005 based NUC's will operate silently.
A fan is a fan not fan-less. Not hearing it is subjective. It you ran tests you would find there is still a fan in the system. Facts are facts, I hope.
 

Jinjuku

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A fan is a fan not fan-less. Not hearing it is subjective. It you ran tests you would find there is still a fan in the system. Facts are facts, I hope.

Correct. Not hearing it is measurable however.
 

Jinjuku

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How? SPL meter will be able to "hear" the fan. I thought this is objective here.

ASR is objective. We are talking about solutions and the NUC is one possible solution. I don't have any measurements but let me get something together if it's that important.

**I broke out my SPL Meter, no weighting, the NUC @ idle with the meter 1 inch away was averaging 39/40 dBa. When running Prime 95 (max out CPU) at the 1 inch away was 61dBa.

So I stand by my post that not hearing it is indeed measurable. Unless you think that a NUC, even at full load, with 61dBa is something you can hear from a normal 6-8 feet away in a rack.
 
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Soniclife

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So I stand by my post that not hearing it is indeed measurable. Unless you think that a NUC, even at full load, with 61dBa is something you can hear from a normal 6-8 feet away in a rack.
I have a quiet fan that measures the same, the sound is audible and annoying to me from a lot further away than that. How loud does it get after sustained medium load? I'm ok with PC's making noise when under high load, but not medium, I wish I was more tolerant but I'm not.
 

Jinjuku

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I have a quiet fan that measures the same, the sound is audible and annoying to me from a lot further away than that. How loud does it get after sustained medium load? I'm ok with PC's making noise when under high load, but not medium, I wish I was more tolerant but I'm not.

The mic can't pic up the NUC at full load with Prime 95 at 3 feet.
 

audiobill

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The mic can't pic up the NUC at full load with Prime 95 at 3 feet.
The sound is still there, why do you keep trying to ignore it. If someone want fan less, they do not want sort-of fan less. Or quiet enough for you.
 

Jinjuku

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The sound is still there, why do you keep trying to ignore it. If someone want fan less, they do not want sort-of fan less. Or quiet enough for you.

There are fanless options. There are silent options. Silent can be actively cooled options. The NUC is one of them. It's being discussed in thread as someone may not have $620 for a fanless option. The other Mini PC options like the Minix and all the other knock off Celeron and Atom based systems are compromises in build quality compared to the NUC.

Anyone reading this thread has the information needed to make an educated decision.

I'll post a YT video on the fan noise and people can assess for themselves.
 

Soniclife

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The mic can't pic up the NUC at full load with Prime 95 at 3 feet.
Neither can my SPL meter, but I can still hear the fan at 15' away.

In my open plan office that are loads of PCs, none are remotely silent, way louder than we are talking about here, but I never notice the fan noise from any of them because of the high noise floor in the office, but at home I cannot not hear a fan if it is on in the same room.
 

Jinjuku

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Neither can my SPL meter, but I can still hear the fan at 15' away.

In my open plan office that are loads of PCs, none are remotely silent, way louder than we are talking about here, but I never notice the fan noise from any of them because of the high noise floor in the office, but at home I cannot not hear a fan if it is on in the same room.

On which model NUC?
 
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