How does the passive cooling work without the Nucleus tweak?

[Jim_F (Minimalist)]

[Moderator Edit: Split out to own topic.]

@Rugby

Well, they are standard Intel computers and you can load any OS you want that runs on Intel CPUs. I have loaded standard Linux and then Windows on a Nucleus, both work just fine.

How does the passive cooling work without the Nucleus tweak? Or, is that a non-issue if running Windows instead of Roon?

[WiWavelength (Andrew J Shepherd)]

@Jim_F

How does the passive cooling work without the Nucleus tweak?

BIOS settings. I doubt that the “Nucleus tweak” to RoonOS is doing anything other than adjusting BIOS settings behind the scenes.

AJ

[Geoff_Coupe]

@WiWavelength

I doubt that the “Nucleus tweak” to RoonOS is doing anything other than adjusting BIOS settings behind the scenes.

I think @danny would say otherwise - it’s not just the BIOS that’s involved in thermal management in a fanless Nucleus.

What is spec diff Between nucleus and nucleus plus?

@richard_a, in general with processors, we use carefully chosen i3 and i7 CPUs (chosen for performance and TDP). They are thermally managed using our own processes, which impacts their performance some, but lengthens their lifespan quite a bit. This was critical in a passively cooled device. Between the 2 units, the Nucleus+ has a faster CPU and has more RAM, and more complex thermal management.

[Menzies (I’m a Roon user)]

Hi @Geoff_Coupe

The sceptic in me thinks this

@danny

They are thermally managed using our own processes, which impacts their performance some, but lengthens their lifespan quite a bit.

Means they’re using throttling in my mind to lower temps and performance as hinted by Danny. Could be wrong.

Throttling is a mechanism in Intel® Processors to reduce the clock speed when the temperature in the system reaches above TJ Max (or Tcase). This is to protect the processor and to indicate to the user that there is an overheating issue in their system that they need to monitor.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000088048/processors.html#:~:text=Throttling%20is%20a%20mechanism%20in,that%20they%20need%20to%20monitor.

[Rugby (aka Daniel or Big Dan)]

I too think it throttles as part of thermal management

[CrystalGipsy (Resisting the flow!)]

Bios settings and a well designed case. Neither of these need to cost the earth. The purpose built one I got from Tranquil was so well made, custom milled by them and then they set all bios to manage it. Works extremely well.

[danny (Danny Dulai)]

@WiWavelength

I doubt that the “Nucleus tweak” to RoonOS is doing anything other than adjusting BIOS settings behind the scenes.

@Menzies

Means they’re using throttling in my mind to lower temps and performance as hinted by Danny.

I wrote a PID controller that receives goals from Roon and uses the termperature in the chassis and on the CPU to throttle.

In non-work environments, I often speak of that exercise as evidence that “information scarcity” is an obsolete concept. Doing the work would have been near impossible for someone in my position 30+ years ago.