Passively Cooling an i3

[SharkByte]

Due to wanting a VERY quiet machine, I am looking for a dedicated passive cooler or CPU cooler without the fans installed. My intention is to cool an i3 2120, or the new (yet probably hotter) Ivy Bridge i3 that is yet to be released.

I have had my eye on two coolers: the 'Phanteks PH-TC14PE' and the 'Corsair A50' because they both look very appealing and perform well. I'm well aware the Corsair A50 is obviously a lot worse (in terms of cooling performance) than PH-TC14PE, so I'm wondering what the BARE MINIMUM would be to passively cool the CPU.

It will not be under any load - I'm using a GT 520 (also passively cooled) purely for BluRay performance, so it shouldn't run that hot at all! There will only be one fan in the machine, which will be a 200mm in the front which can hopefully be put to its lowest speed.

 

[jamesriley94]

The ivybridge i3 will be cooler than sandy.
IB generally was cooler - only got hotter when you OCed.

As for the cooling, why not the nofan icepipes? Be perfect for you.

If you dont want the cost of that, then I think it'd be worth thinking about the NH-D14. If you're running passively, you could sell the fans for like £15 each and make back most of the money from the cooler

 

[SharkByte]

The reason I picked the Phanteks is because of how nice it looks in blue! Pairing that up with the new MSI H77/Z77 (they're nearly the same price) mATX motherboards, which are a very similar shade of blue would look lovely! The Noctua, although better, is pretty ugly, even without the fans!

Would it be possible with the Phanteks?

 

[jamesriley94]

Should be at a guess.

I was just thinking from a financial perspective.

Also, you realise with a cooler, whether Phanteks or D14, plus some form of graphics card in the case, on a mATX board, you arent gunna be able to see like anything barely.
I dont think the heatsink of the D14 looks bad at all.

 

[SavageCupcake]

the d 14 should run ok passive aslong as you have a fan or 2 in your case cant see why the phanteks wouldnt run as well

 

[Gilbert93]

you could try the prolimatech megahalems they're sold without fans so must be quite good as a passive unit, you could look into the zalman cnps10x flex as well, so long as you're not running massive overclocks on the i3 i think it will be ok

 

[SharkByte]

Thanks for all the comments!

I'm looking at the Silverstone TJ08-E case, so I could have the 180mm air penetrator in the front, and another AP121 in the back. That should be pretty for airflow. Also, I could turn the PSU upside down to suck warm air directly out the case as opposed to taking cooler air from outside.

 

[jamesriley94]

You cant use the psu fan as a case fan - just doesnt do anything at all.

With the cooling you've said though, that should be sufficient yeh