First fanless NUC 16 Pro case

Akasa, a leading provider of thermal solutions, introduces the Newton N16, a compact aluminium fanless case designed for the ASUS NUC 16 Pro. Available in dual HDMI® (A-NUC109-M1B) and dual DisplayPort (A-NUC109-M2B) versions, the Newton N16 includes dedicated passive cooling for the CPU and dual M.2 SSDs. Measuring just 188.6 x 204 x 53.6 mm (W x D x H) with a volume of 2.1L, it provides a compact fanless platform for digital signage, industrial automation, POS, surveillance, AI and embedded computing applications.

Built specifically for the new ASUS NUC 16 Pro AI Mini PC, the Newton N16 keeps access to the board’s native interfaces within an aluminium chassis designed for silent, passive cooling. Supporting Intel® Core™ Ultra Series 3 processors up to 28W TDP, the NUC 16 Pro platform combines integrated Intel® Arc™ graphics with a dedicated NPU for business, industrial and local AI applications.

To match the two ASUS NUC 16 Pro rear interface configurations, the Newton N16 is available in two versions: A-NUC109-M1B provides two openings for HDMI®; and A-NUC109-M2B provides two openings for DisplayPort. Both versions retain dual LAN connectivity and access to the board's native I/O.

At the front, the Newton N16 provides one USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C port and two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-A ports. At the rear, the case features a serial port opening, alongside openings for the board's native I/O. A serial cable is included with the Newton N16 to connect to the board's internal RS-232 header, allowing support for legacy industrial, POS and kiosk equipment. Two antenna fitting holes accept optional external Wi-Fi antennas.

The Newton N16 uses dedicated aluminium thermal modules to transfer heat from the CPU and dual M.2 SSDs into the chassis, where external fins dissipate heat passively. Capable of cooling up to 28W TDP, the system operates silently and is well suited to always-on commercial and embedded applications.

Two mounting accessories are available separately, compatible with both Newton N16 versions. The Wall Mount Bracket Kit (A-NUC109-KT01) enables direct wall mounting to free up desk and counter space in retail, office and industrial settings. The 10-Inch Rackmount Front Panel (A-NUC109-FP02) enables the Newton N16 to be installed in a 10-inch rack cabinet, providing a compact rack-mountable option for embedded and networking installations.

The Newton N16 models start at £118.90 / €118.90.

Source: Akasa 

Minisforum S5 is official

They did it. Minisforum's unique fanless PC / NAS / AI machine is almost here. Featuring a gorgeous aluminum heatsink case the S5 pairs a low-power Intel Core 3 304 processor, 16GB of soldered LPDDR5 memory, while running its custom MiniCloud operating system off an onboard 64GB UFS module. For storage expansion, the NAS features five M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 x1 slots, which distribute bandwidth evenly across drives to keep thermal output manageable. The S5 also features a 10 Gigabit Ethernet port alongside a 2.5 Gigabit port. Price should be available any minute now, stay tuned.

Source: Minisforum 

We need the ASUS N304T

A passive Intel Core 3 304 motherboard would be an absolute bestseller. The Core 3 304 uses a hybrid architecture (1 P-core + 4 Low Power E-cores / 5 threads). That single dedicated P-core handles demanding, front-of-house operations immediately without stutters. Chips like the popular Intel N150 feature a purely efficient architecture (4 E-cores / 4 threads). It lacks high-performance cores. With a PassMark score of roughly 11,500 points, the Core 3 304 delivers more than double the overall processing power of the N150, which caps out at around 5,350 points. New Atoms are reportedly on the way from RosaicLabs, but processor development takes years, and we simply can't stay stuck on the N150 much longer. 

Explore the Akasa Galileo range

Learn more here.

Fanless CPU coolers as art pieces

Back to 2013 with the beautiful, weird, and unforgettable fanless CPU coolers by our friend Tamas in Budapest, Hungary. We’d love to see more DIY CPU coolers. If any artists out there have made one, send your creations our way!

i7 PC with a $200 discount

Powered by an Intel Core i7-10510U processor and featuring 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, this mini PC delivers efficient, low-power performance for industrial applications, or for home use. Connectivity includes HDMI, DisplayPort, dual Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports alongside multiple USB and serial COM ports. It's not the prettiest PC, but it's dead silent and will handle anything you throw at it, except heavy gaming, of course. It's available today with a $200 discount.

Thermalright HSC-100

The Thermalright HSC-100 was an experimental, and frankly a little crazy, fully passive computer chassis showcased at Computex 2007. Designed during the height of Thermalright's dominance in high-end air cooling, the prototype turned the chassis exterior into a massive CPU cooler. Thermalright claimed the passive side-panel could handle CPUs up to 100W TDP without fan assistance. Despite a planned August 2007 launch with a projected price of $500, the HSC-100 never hit the shelves. 

Built-in fans make planned obsolescence a guarantee

Planned obsolescence is a reality. Planned obsolescence is an ecological disaster. Planned obsolescence is a grift, and fans are not helping. Small moving parts are often the primary point of failure in ultra-compact systems. Fans into a mini PC create specific mechanical and thermal trade-offs that directly limit the device's lifespan. Cleaning or replacing a fan in such a tiny chassis often requires a complete teardown, including removing delicate ribbon cables, wireless antennas, and motherboard screws. Most people aren't doing that. PCs are simply being tossed out and replaced.

Image: reddit

Pure enthusiast fun

Pairing a massive desktop CPU cooler with a NUC for passive cooling is completely impractical, utterly ridiculous to look at, and yet mathematically and thermally brilliant. We'd love to see a manufacturer turn this concept into an official, widely available adapter.

The plastic PC faces doubts

"I found a way to reduce the CPU temperature of about 25 degres (tested at room ambiant temperature of 23 degrees), but I expect the difference can be even more when used at a higher ambiant temperature. The test were conducted by running a Perf software that is testing CPU performance.

Without cooling: CPU reaches more than 68 degrees

With cooling: CPU reaches 42 degrees and I get more than 33%  perf for the benchmark test: PerformanceTest app gave 3000 before cooling and 4300 with fan + coolers.

The Noctua 80mm USB only is placed in extraction mode. To improve the cooling, we can put some Black Shark Funcooler Pro (coolers for phones)..."

Source: Cloudy Nights