[SOLVED] Intel mini-pc i7-10510u

[AtotehZ]

Hello,

I've got this coming for me in the mail:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000837780239.html

I've chosen the i7-10510u version, but the reviews say it is noisy. I read around and saw that there was a big difference between manufacturers and also some other pretty cool solutions to countering the noise.

I've been unable to find a place that has benchmarked the fans used in mini-pcs(often similar to those used in laptops). It would be nice to know which fan to get for it if it becomes a problem.

Do you know where I can find that out?

 

[Alabalcho]

To start with, this is not "Intel NUC", but some "Mini PC" by some company. And they can put whatever fan they have on these PCs.

 

[AtotehZ]

True, NUC is only used for the brand variant itself. My bad. Edited the post to give a more accurate representation of the topic.

Are there that many variants of fans? I've only really seen 55mm fans on the models I've come across.

Do you know of a place where they benchmark fans of that size? Or do you have any advice on fans that size?

I've also wondered if modding it with something similar to this could be fun: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:922160
.. but I don't wanna start out with that.

 

[Alabalcho]

I've never stumbled upon a site which measures fans. Probably there are sites comparing CPU coolers, but these mini PCs use off-the-shelf fans, so I doubt you'll find a site comparing them. And again - these fans are commodity, there is no guarantee two boxes with same model / brand will use same parts (fans included).
My advice would be - see what you'll get, and then start searching for compatible, quitter fan. My rule of the thumb is "smaller, the nosier".

 

[AtotehZ]

Yea, that's the way it's been a long while. There's also a big difference between good and bad quality though.

I've heard people complain about their mini-PC's and when they swapped to another brand of fan the noise level plummeted, same size. Since that's the case I thought it might make sense someone had compared them.

The noise level pretty much decides if the mini-pc will be in a closet or behind my TV.

 

[Alabalcho]

If this is going to be media PC - why you need i7, fans etc? You're not going to play games on it, or encode blurays...

 

[AtotehZ]

My dad and I are already figuring something out***.. I will install a big aluminium plate at the bottom of it and run it fanless. He is an electronics development engineer and has done similar projects in the past. His company is in the same building as a guy who has the right CNC machines to cut a surface I can put on the CPU.

Fun fact, did you know that polishing a metal surface you want to use for a CPU isn't good enough? Not only is it difficult to make it plane enough, the polishing process produces countless small grooves in the metal that aren't optimal. I didn't know, my dad did. So what were looking for is a 1-2 inch aluminium plate where most of it will be cut to a lower thickness to create the right surface to be mounted on the CPU.

I want it to be capable of as many things as possible. Sometimes I arrange LAN parties of around 30 people in my house. It has to be able to support all their game servers, voice servers, file sharing and also the daily media server duties. What I did before at LAN parties was bring a computer home from the company and have it run as a dedicated server. It was faster than the mini-pc, but I don't think it'll be an issue.

I also plan to have an extra backup for my own small company. It won't be the main server ofc, just a place I update once a week or so for extra security. None of the files are sensitive, but they'd be a pain to lose.

***I should probably mention that it's not all that easy figuring things out before it has arrived and it won't for another 3 weeks. We are looking for some cheap aluminium in acceptable dimensions though.

 

[AtotehZ]

I've never stumbled upon a site which measures fans. Probably there are sites comparing CPU coolers, but these mini PCs use off-the-shelf fans, so I doubt you'll find a site comparing them. And again - these fans are commodity, there is no guarantee two boxes with same model / brand will use same parts (fans included).
My advice would be - see what you'll get, and then start searching for compatible, quitter fan. My rule of the thumb is "smaller, the nosier".

While my question wasn't really answered, things happened and this was definitely the best answer.