Overheating fanless Scooter Computer

A few months ago, inspired by The Scooter Computer, I bought a fanless Intel Broadwell 5257u computer. I set it up as a Core OS Docker host, but quickly discovered that I didn't actually have much use for Docker or Core OS. Recently I tried to repurpose it as a low-end Windows 10 game box. That unfortunately ran into heat-related stability issues. Windows 10 worked fine as long as I didn't try playing 3D games. Playing 3D games like Counterstrike GO would crash after 10 to 15 minutes, with a very hot heat sink. Fiddling with BIOS settings and drivers didn't make a difference.

I guess the lesson to learn from this is, when buying a fanless computer, not to get the highest powered available CPU. Safer to get the lowest power CPU that meets your performance needs. Or just get a fan. :-P

Comments

Bryan McNett said…
I bought this "scooter computer" late last year:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Windows-Mini-pc-i7-Barebone-HTPC-Intel-Nuc-Fanless-Computer-Broadwell-5Gen-Core-i7-5500U-i5/32469493729.html

...and I've had no problems at all so far. Haven't tried to run Windows or GPU-heavy games yet though.

This was the first time since the 90's that I've had a new machine and didn't think once of installing Windows to it. There hasn't been much for me to miss, except the headaches.
January 28, 2017 at 8:30 PM
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