I am interested in putting an i7 NUC into a fanless case. Even better, buying it already done. I’ve located suppliers in the Europe, including the UK, but none in the US. Can anyone recommend a US supplier?
Would you trust a local PC repair shop to do the assembly?
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
3
Akasa seems to be the flavour of the year for Nuc fanless cases, mine is an Akasa Plato.
However I bought mine already done and dusted used from eBay, but there are many users in these forums have done this and it surely cannot be that complicated.
Sure somebody will chime in soon…
Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
4
Isn’t this just a Nucleus+? Or do you already have the parts?
Nucleus(+) appears to do some things better (such as power/temperature management) than a random fanless NUC assembly with ROCK. In my experience, both Akasa-based and ZOTAC fanless servers are usable but borderline with respect to power/temperature if you push them. They are fine for me as I don’t use much DSP and I want to manage my own Linux server configurations, but if I wanted fanless ROCK, I might well go for the extra Nucleus+ cost.
Good thermal management would be an important factor. Even though I’m not using Roon’s DSP now (having DSP available both in my preamp and my streamer), one never knows. And I am interested in ROCK’s promise of function without fuss.
I am surprised it’s an issue, though – the review I saw of the Akasa case reported better thermal performance than the stock NUC. Of course, that wouldn’t rule out further improvement by Roon Labs.
SukieInTheGraveyard
(This one time, at Bandcamp... I spent too much money!)
8
I’ve only ever heard good things about the Akasa case re: running temperature. I haven’t seen any evidence of the temperature approaching critical levels. I’ve got an off the shelf fanless PC running Windows 10 that I use as a Roon Core and desktop. Average CPU temperature rarely goes above 35C, and that’s with DSP.
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
9
I have never actually measured the temperature of my Akasa cased nuc but I do occasionally place my hand on it out of curiosity.
I run everything at dsd512 and it feels cool to the touch at all times
Cool to the touch is not necessarily a good thing under high load, as it could be the sign that there’s bad connectivity between your CPU and the cooling system. If your system hasn’t fried yet, you’re probably fine though.
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
11
Maybe my definition of cool to the touch and others may differ, I am used to working with machinery at 400 plus degrees all day long…lol
It is nowhere near as warm as my tube headphone amp for example.
you may also consider a m90n nuc from lenovo. There are two types fanless and with integrated fan. I had the opportunity to by a i3 8th gen with fan version and it is silent enough to be not audible in the living room.
The rock installation went without problems. There is a how-to in the forum
A very good point. A cool case could mean that heat from the processor or drive is not getting transferred to the case properly. (Or it could mean everything is running cool.)
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
17
Thanks, Kevin! I just remembered them a few days ago. A good resource as I don’t want to do it myself – neither my eyesight nor my patience is up to it now.
Why would you even bother with fanless NUC? I can understand it if you connect DAC directly to NUC, but if not just place the NUC in a different room connected to same network via ethernet. It is in fact irrelevant if the NUC generates noise from its cooling.