2025 Windows 11 "Mini Fanless PC?" yes or no?

  • Thread starter Thread starter CoolCat
  • Start date Start date
CoolCat

CoolCat

Well-known member
I was in the closet and wanted to compare some audio things for curiosity reasons. The room noise I assumed was the space heater fan, but it was off. hmm?
So once again the PC fan/fans were the culprits. Its a pretty low usage setup/area, Reaper is all that's needed and really only minor HR stuff going on now and then, play backs etc..
With Windows 11 and the fan noise, I thought I would look into a Mini- PC with FANLESS, w WIN11.... but I don't know anything about the Mini PC.

Anyone any experience or trials of the Fanless Mini-PCs? good, bad, blah, cheap....
Searched a bit online but not as much written about it as I would have expected.

Workload:
HD monitor and keyboard/mouse.
need for only 5 or more USB ports for Interfaces, Backup drives/thumb drives.
No WiFi work other than updates or downloading a Plugin now and then. Usually the WiFi is off.
Reaper with PlugIns

Leaning to the Mini PC Fanless. 16G Ram. $200-$350...unless Im missing something it should be as good as my 10yr old tower , right?
I don't care if it gets hot because nothing will be touching it or near it.

Maybe a Laptop is better?
 
Basically the Mini PCs are laptops in a square box. They tend to use slower, low power consumption CPUs to minimize heat. More Watts and More MHz = More Heat. My brother got one, had some issues with validating his Windows 11 license, probably a manufacturer issue, and he said it does tend to run warm when he runs movies and things.

The issue with heat isn't that you would burn anything, but heat is generally a bad thing for lots of electronics devices. Something with even a low speed fan should still be inaudible but can provide cooling.

My computer is in a cubby hole in my desk, and I just leave a crack in the door to allow a little bit of airflow out the back by the wall. I found my external 4TB hard drive was noisier than the computer ( a 10 yr old Lenovo I5 H50-50 ). Now I eject the drive to turn it off before I do any recording.

I might wait a year or so before I update that computer.
 
yes, can you explain this term? I read, "use slower" "runs slower"?
Is this a noticeable "slower" that would not work with Reaper?

Im not running anything but Reaper and some plugins with a interface. No MIDI, no movies , no video games, nothing else and keep the surfing and emails on other computers.

The Mini Fanless Pcs seem interesting, also cheap at $200 or so. Save some deskspace too!
 
Check the specs on the processors. There should be two numbers, there is a base frequency and a turbo frequency.

Take an I3-14100 4Cores - 3.5MHz base speed and 4.7MHz turbo with a 60 watt base power and 110W max turbo power consumtion, Max Memory 192GB with 2 memory channels. This is your standard desktop processor.

An N100 which is a often found in Mini PC 1.7MHz base and 3.4MHz turbo frequency. 6W base and 25W turbo power consumption. Max Memory 16GB single channel.

In benchmark testing it will run at about 25 to 50% compared to the I3-14100. It will be roughly equal to my 4th gen I5-4570, That runs Reaper, but you're limited to 16GB. You're missing out on roughly 8 to 10 years of improvements. My newer Lenovo with an I5-12400 will be twice as fast on single core, an about 4 times faster on multicore processing and can handle 128GB of memory. I had room to add an extra drive, it's got a CD/DVD built in and it's quiet.

There is a site called CPU Monkey which has most processors benchmarked for single and multicore including video processing. Look at the processors in the unit you're looking to buy.
 
I bought one for a lighting controller, clipped it to a touch screen monitor and forgot about it. Sure it has a ‘slower’ processor but its faster than the four year old one i used to use for music! 16g works for memory. The only problem is that it has limited ins and outs, so you just have to plan. Direct connection of a small size, bit capacity external drive and a hub for low demand devices like the keyboard, mouse and other silly stuff. Usb C connections for transfer rate, and away you go.
 
With a 10 year old tower you could probably throw a ball of paper and hit a faster computer
but...
I agree with Talisman. A quick glance at CPUBenchmark.net or a similar site would be worth it.
That particular site is easy to use and allows you to flag CPUs for comparison, laying them out in an easy to read grid.

If you're happy with your setup, other than the fan noise, you might find you can set a custom fan curve for recording to keep them slower and quieter.
There's plenty of free software that'll let you monitor temperatures and set custom fan curves.

A good clean of the fans, intake/exhaust grills, and CPU heatsink can make a huge difference too, if there's a build up of fluff and dirt.
If you're confident it would probably even benefit from renewal of CPU thermal paste.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top