Question Most powerful fanless CPU?

[cmw_a1]

I am curious what the most powerful low-power CPU used in fanless operation is right now. I am mainly wanting this for a media player that can be hidden away and not worry about dust eventually building up. Supporting the latest video decoding is more important than max raw performance.

Conor

 

[hotaru.hino]

There's no such thing as a "fanless CPU", there's just "how big of a cooling system do I need so the CPU can be cooled passively?"

If you're trying to build an HTPC, you don't really need a powerful CPU as long as it has an iGPU and it supports hardware decoding of whatever codecs you want. And the iGPU doesn't even have to be that powerful. If my phone from 2016 can decode 4K60 HDR videos just fine, I'm sure an H.265 compatible iGPU can too.

 

[cmw_a1]

There's no such thing as a "fanless CPU", there's just "how big of a cooling system do I need so the CPU can be cooled passively?"

If you're trying to build an HTPC, you don't really need a powerful CPU as long as it has an iGPU and it supports hardware decoding of whatever codecs you want. And the iGPU doesn't even have to be that powerful. If my phone from 2016 can decode 4K60 HDR videos just fine, I'm sure an H.265 compatible iGPU can too.

Yes, a passively cooled CPU with a decent iGPU is what I need. Honestly a Pentium or Celeron would do but they often reduce performance and other features overall to segment the market from high and low end, etc. I am not familiar with any of the lower power AMD stuff right now so something in that line might be great.

Conor

 

[hotaru.hino]

Honestly a Pentium or Celeron would do but they often reduce performance and other features overall to segment the market from high and low end, etc.

Intel doesn't do that for video decoding, because content consumption is still the primary use case for most people and gimping that feature on low-end processors would be a poor marketing move. As proof, the Alder Lake based Celerons use UHD 710 iGPU, which if you look at https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...orted-by-intel-hardware_decode-overview-11-12 , it supports basically every common format for hardware video decoding.

 

[Eximo]

I suppose the most performance per watt is really what you are after. Something like the i3-12100T would be pretty decent out of the box. You could further power and voltage limit to very low levels.

Best you could track down that isn't a celeron or pentium would be an ultrabook class processor with a TDP of 15W. They will always boost beyond that though.

I run a 4770k at something like 35W. Single core max boost is 3.6Ghz but for the most part it sits between 2.4 and 3Ghz. That is just to keep it quiet in my living room. Has a Noctua NH-L9 on it.

 

[Paulie walnuts1888]

i3 10100, 10400 even 10600k power limited are pretty powerful at low wattage. I built a few 100 percent passive systems just with copper heatsinks, copper wire and water reservoirs. fanless but very heavy. 140mm fans are dead quiet and use tiny amounts of power, definitely recommended

 

[cmw_a1]

Thanks. I was basically given a cheap netbook that does most of what I want. It is one of the 7th gen Intel M3 CPUs which is extremely low power, fanless, but cannot decode some of what I want. It CAN but quickly overwhelms the cooling capacity and begins to throttle and stutter.

Something like this but newer would be great. It seems the iGPUs have really come a long way. As mentioned, an Alder Lake Celeron would do. I found one with a 9/29watt power use. I wonder if you could disable boost and still do what I want at 9W.

It might be best to use a NUC or something like that instead of a laptop. I see some of these that are fanless and the casing is basically an aluminum heatsink with fins.

Conor

 

[Paulie walnuts1888]

Thanks. I was basically given a cheap netbook that does most of what I want. It is one of the 7th gen Intel M3 CPUs which is extremely low power, fanless, but cannot decode some of what I want. It CAN but quickly overwhelms the cooling capacity and begins to throttle and stutter.

Something like this but newer would be great. It seems the iGPUs have really come a long way. As mentioned, an Alder Lake Celeron would do. I found one with a 9/29watt power use. I wonder if you could disable boost and still do what I want at 9W.

It might be best to use a NUC or something like that instead of a laptop. I see some of these that are fanless and the casing is basically an aluminum heatsink with fins.

Conor
[/QUOTE
i7 3610qm -3840xm were very nice per watt and should be dirt cheap , all atoms are pretty abysmal lol

 

[cmw_a1]

The M3 isn't an Atom exactly but more like a derated i3 of the 7th gen in my case. It can play 1080P just fine and 4K as well but will not sustain 4K HEVC because it gets hot and throttles. It was free and kinda fun to play with. It only has 4GB of RAM and that is built in/not upgradable. It does have a SATA bay for an SSD though.

I have plenty of newer stuff, also gotten free, that would do the job but it isn't fanless.

Conor

 

[Paulie walnuts1888]

The M3 isn't an Atom exactly but more like a derated i3 of the 7th gen in my case. It can play 1080P just fine and 4K as well but will not sustain 4K HEVC because it gets hot and throttles. It was free and kinda fun to play with. It only has 4GB of RAM and that is built in/not upgradable. It does have a SATA bay for an SSD though.

I have plenty of newer stuff, also gotten free, that would do the job but it isn't fanless.

Conor

my "atom" laptop i accidently bought a few y ago had 2 cores, was laughably slow at 2ghz and consumed like 20w ! 😡

 

[cmw_a1]

I am not a big fan of Atoms or Celerons. They are quite limited in what they can do. I also came across one that was only 32 bit at a time when everything was 64 bit.

If a laptop says "Intel Inside" and nothing else, that is usually a Celeron. It is like they want you to know it has an Intel CPU but not one that is dead dog slow!

Conor

 

[Eximo]

They have retired the names actually.

Lower end products will now just say "Intel Processor"

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-retires-celeron-and-pentium-brands-for-laptops

 

[DSzymborski]

Small. Passive. Fast.

Pick two. Then you'll have more of an idea what to do.

 

[cmw_a1]

Small. Passive. Fast.

Pick two. Then you'll have more of an idea what to do.

Yep! All it needs to do is decode most of the common video formats so I am not real concerned about insane speed. If I wanted that I would buy an i7/i9 or comparable Ryzen with a fan. I have plenty of i5/i7s along with a couple decent Ryzens laying around. I have a pretty new Ryzen 7 laptop with a smashed screen. People just dump stuff when it breaks as they cannot wait for the parts so I have a nice stockpile of 7th gen and newer parts. Anything older than 6th gen gets donated to the local tech schools for them to learn on and give to students when fixed.

I seem to remember reading that newer Intel low-ends were getting a rename. I think they will still have the Pentium Gold maybe???? and that would be something possibly in the running for what I do. I know they also make ultra low power i3s and such that might do.

This project isn't a huge hurry of mine either.

Conor

 

[cmw_a1]

I ended up with a couple more junked computers that might play 4K HEVC media but aren't fanless.

The first one was a cheapo all-in-one from Wal-Mart with a failed hard drive. I replaced with spare SSD and upped the memory to 8GB. It comes with an 8th gen Celeron G4900T which has the Intel 610 graphics. This looks to have the bare minimum to play back the video I want. I would never suggest a unit like this to anyone who likes to tinker. I am amazed I got it apart without destroying the thing as it is obvious it wasn't meant to be serviced. I personally kinda hate all-in-ones but it could be a neat little self-contained TV/media PC. This is actually upgradable to any 8th gen CPU ending in a T such as an i3-8300T but don't think it is worth it for what I would use it for. I know these have the Intel 630 iGPU which is better but don't think this matters much for decode/playback.

Another is a Ryzen 3-3200U laptop with Vega 3. The keyboard/touchpad are toast but externals work just fine. I know less about the capabilities of this CPU/iGPU and found conflicting information about its capabilities.

Conor