Akasa's Turing: A Passively-Cooled Chassis for Intel’s Bean Canyon NUC
by Anton Shilov on February 8, 2019 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Desktop
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Passive Cooling
- Chassis
- Cases
- Akasa
Akasa is prepping an aftermarket chassis for Intel’s 8th Gen "Bean Canyon: NUC systems. The Turing chassis will allow Intel’s NUC 8 ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) computers to be converted to fanless systems, eliminating the noise that they produce.
Intel's Bean Canyon NUC systems are based on the company's 8th Gen Core i3/i5/i8 processors, which offer two or four cores as well as Iris Plus Graphics 655 (GT3e) iGPU. Theu are designed for users who need better graphics performance in a very compact form-factor. Apart from a 28 W CPU, Bean Canyon PCs also pack up to 32 GB of DDR4 memory, an M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA SSD, a 2.5-inch storage device, a Thunderbolt 3 controller to plug in an external graphics or storage sub-system, a 802.11ac Wi-Fi solution, and just about everything else that one comes to expect from an UCFF PC. Needless to say, the compact system packs a lot of heat, and as a result it uses a blower-based cooler in order to keep it in check
However Akasa has decided to do one better, and is putting together a chassis for Bean Canyon that allows the NUC to be converted into a passive, silent system.
Akasa is already known for its Galactico chassis (its scheme is depicted below) for Intel’s Skull Canyon NUC aimed at users seeking for UCFF gaming PCs. Based on the pictures of the Turing case published by FanlessTech, the upcoming chassis for Intel's Bean Canyon uses the same principle as its predecessor: it has a large CPU heat exchanger featuring multiple heat pipes that transfer heat from the processor to massive radiators. While the Galactico features two aluminum radiators located on the sides of the chassis, the Turing features an additional radiator above the CPU as well.
Quite naturally, Akasa’s Turing and Galactico chassis make Intel’s NUC systems considerably larger than they originally are, but they eliminate all the noises that these PCs produce. Furthermore, they retain all the I/O ports that the computers have, including GbE, USB Type-A/Type-C, TB3, HDMI, DP, audio, microSD, and even antennae fitting holes.
According to FanlessTech, Akasa will launch its Turing chassis shortly. Pricing is uknown, but it is likely that it will be comparable to a ~$200 MSRP of the Galactico.
Related Reading:
- Intel Officially Launches Bean Canyon NUCs with Coffee Lake-U Processors
- Intel’s Crimson Canyon NUCs with Cannon Lake CPU & Radeon dGPU Available for Pre-Order
- The Intel NUC8i7HVK (Hades Canyon) Review: Kaby Lake-G Benchmarked
- Intel NUC8i7HVK (Hades Canyon) Gaming Performance - A Second Look
- The Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK mini-PC Review
Source: FanlessTech
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PeachNCream - Monday, February 11, 2019 - link
"I guarantee you it'll throttle as I mentioned below about the fanless NUCs and those are with weaker gpus."Nope, it won't. Reply
Death666Angel - Friday, February 8, 2019 - link
This can be useful for someone who wants an off the shelf solution to a totally silent, maintanence free system with a bit of power and does not mind the larger size. Or for hazardous environments with lots of dirty, dust and whatever buildup where no moving parts can survive long. Replynpz - Friday, February 8, 2019 - link
The lower spec i5 and i7 fanless Zotac NUCs all throttle under sustained load, and that's with the low powered 620 hd gpu and not the much higher powered iris 655 with edram cache Replycfenton - Friday, February 8, 2019 - link
How much noise does a NUC usually make? I have an old 35W Ivy Bridge USFF computer from HP and it's really quiet. I assume NUC's would be even quieter since they are a lot newer and tend to use lower TDP CPUs.Still, I love the idea of a completely passively cooled system with no moving parts. Reply
npz - Friday, February 8, 2019 - link
Disappointingly load at stock fan settings for the Intel branded NUCs. Speaking from experience with the previous gen Pentium and Kaby Lake i7 nuc. Maybe if you don't have sensitive ears like mine you can tolerate it, but I assume the stock fan curve, which will get louder beyond the audible high pitch idle, is to prevent overheating and in such a tiny box. Replycfenton - Saturday, February 9, 2019 - link
That's too bad. I have a Zotac mini PC and it's the same way. The fan is just way too small and it makes a high pitch noise anytime there's any load on the system. It lives in a closet now. That's why I was so impressed with the old HP machine. It's nearly silent at idle and not annoying even at full load. Replywintermute000 - Saturday, February 9, 2019 - link
USFF form factors is considerably larger than a NUC Replycfenton - Saturday, February 9, 2019 - link
That's fair. It fits nicely under my TV, so I don't need it to be any smaller. I guess you couldn't bolt it onto the back of a monitor like a NUC, though. ReplyABR - Saturday, February 9, 2019 - link
"chassis make Intel’s NUC systems considerably larger than they originally are..." Yo, how about putting some dimensions in the article, or even ONE photo with something in the frame to compare it to? Reply1_rick - Saturday, February 9, 2019 - link
Look at the last couple of pictures. You can see in each one a plate in the middle containing the I/O. That plate's roughly the size of the NUC itself. Reply