I’m considering a GMKtec Evo-X1 which sounds great but according to reviews doesn’t, uh, sound great. Everyone says the same thing - very noisy fans.
I know little about cooling but this device meets my needs and I’m wondering if it might be possible to either replace the fan(s) in it with something quieter or some other means of better cooling it. Is this a thing people do? Looking at it, seems like replacing the fan shouldn’t be too hard, though I don’t know how much difference that would make.
on my Minisforum NAB9 (i9-12900hk with massive 85W PL2 boost) I ultimately bought a usb powered fan and added it to the bottom to increase air flow. These Chinese Mini’s tend to use proprietary can connectors, but ask the manufacturer
Thanks. After posting the Evo-X1 went out of stock and I have a nasty feeling when it comes back it wont be for the same price so I’m looking at alternatives. But I’d still like one. Thanks for the heads up about the fan connectors. I guess I’ll just take my chance. Hopefully I can rig something up if it’s noisy.
That’s the auxiliary fan for the SSDs. My Evo T1 has one very similar to this one and I can say that it’s not the bulk of the noise, it’s barely audible.
The most noise comes from the axial fan on the other side that blows through the fin stack.
Replacing the axial fan is not going to be easy to replace and I think the noise is part of the design and can’t be designed out of it. Unless you’re willing to tear it apart and custom build something to keep it cool.
In mini PCs the main noise maker is the CPU fan, it makes a high-ish pitch whirr. It looks (and sounds) like a laptop fan and is embedded in the cooler on the other side of the board.
It’s nearly always custom/proprietary and cannot be easily replaced. I mean yeah sure you can usually remove the mini PC board from the case, run it naked and slap a normal PC CPU cooler on the CPU chip with zip ties or something, but then it looks like a frankenstein thing.
I had one of GMtec earlier PCs with modest Ryzen 5800H, and it ran hot. Replaced the tiny 40x40 fan with Noctua first but wasn’t happy. Given my PC was in a closet in the entertainment cabinet, I just stripped the board out of the case and ran generic 120 mm fan by USB on a jerryrigged Thermalright heatsink.
