Akasa Turing FX - Building a Fully Silent Fanless PC

https://www.patreon.com/fullysilentpcs

This custom computer included the following components:

Akasa Turing FX Case
Intel i7-10710U CPU
Intel NUC10i7FNH Motherboard
Kingston HyperX Impact 2 x 16 GB 2400 MHz RAM
Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2 TB NVMe SSD
WiFi Antennas with I-PEX MHF4 Connectors
FSP Group 120 W 19 V AC-DC Adapter

After a half hour stress test with a 30 watt CPU load, the maximum CPU temperature was 63.7 C, with a 17.3 C ambient temperature.

A couple years ago I tested the original Akasa Turing fanless case for Intel’s 8th generation NUC. The Turing FX is the second iteration of the Turing case, for Intel’s 10th generation NUC. The first Turing case was a far superior CPU cooler than the tiny heatsink and fan included in the stock NUC case. At 30 watts, the Turing case brought stress temperatures from 82 degrees Celsius with the stock case down to 60 degrees with the Turing case. The Turing FX is nearly identical to the original Turing, measuring 9.8 by 4.5 by 3.8 inches, and can be placed horizontally or vertically. Akasa’s specifications for the case includes a maximum TDP support of 25 watts. This matches the i7-10710U’s upper TDP of 25 watts. The power limit can be modified in BIOS however to above 25 watts, and I will touch on that later. The Turing FX includes an M.2 SSD heatsink and a SATA adapter cable. One downside of the Turing case is that it does not allow for the use of the NUC’s SD card slot, and it does not include WiFi antennas. The case is available for about $165.

The system I will be building here includes the Intel i7-10710U CPU as part of the NUC10i7FNH kit, 32 GB of 2400 MHz SODIMM memory from Kingston, a 2 TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe drive, and two WiFi antennas with I-PEX MHF4 connectors.

You can skip the next 6 and a half minutes if you want to get right to the test results and conclusions.

To test the performance of this system, I ran Passmark’s Performance Test. The 6-core/12-thread 10th generation Intel i7 received a score of 12,667, which is significantly higher than average for this CPU. It earned 3 out of 5 stars. The integrated graphics predictably did not do very well, with 1.5 stars for 2D and 3D graphics. The 2400 MHz memory received 3.5 stars, and the Samsung 970 EVO Plus drive received perfect 4.5 stars.

Next, I wanted to test the CPU temperatures. Before this test I went into BIOS to set the Package Power Limit 1 to a reasonable 30 watts. I then ran Prime95’s small FFTs torture test for half an hour and used HWINFO to track temperature and power use. After the half-hour was up, the CPU’s maximum average core temperature was about 64 degrees Celsius. The ambient room temperature was about 17 degrees. This was a good result, and comparable to the original Turing case. I increased the power limit to 45 watts to see if I could get some more performance out of the CPU. Unfortunately the NUC motherboard’s voltage regulator began thermally throttling very quickly when stressed at 45 watts. I decided to add some small heatsinks to the VR components that I could identify. I re-ran the test, and the throttling was delayed by about 5 minutes, but it still throttled. The 30 watt test did not cause any VR throttling, so I would recommend sticking to 30 watts or less. The weak power delivery components of the Intel NUC is one of its drawbacks. It is really a mobile platform, designed to be as small as possible. If you are willing to accept a slightly larger case with a Mini ITX motherboard, you can get a lot more performance for about the same price of the NUC. That said, if the aesthetics and size of the Turing FX case, or the power efficiency and connectivity of the NUC appeal to you it’s certainly not a bad option.

Visit my recently created Fully Silent PCs Patreon page for details of this build, and every other one of my builds. My hope is that it will become a repository of a wide variety of fanless computers, with performance and thermal figures for each of them. Like this video and subscribe for more fanless PC content, and visit fullysilentpcs.com if you are interested in purchasing your own pre-built fanless PC.

Видео Akasa Turing FX - Building a Fully Silent Fanless PC канала Fully Silent PCs