One power adapter to rule them all

Power is crucial for any build. Power is more important than cooling. We're officially campaigning for a Seasonic power adapter for the NUC and Thin mini-ITX motherboards. Here's what it could look like. It's wild that you still can't easily buy a NUC or Thin mini-ITX power brick from a reputable brand. If yours gets lost or breaks, you're pretty much forced to roll the dice on dodgy, no-name generic options. Who's with us? 

Built for temps, not for shows

Built by John J. Motzi for image processing, this custom-made PC features an open, framework-style case constructed from aluminum extrusions salvaged from a mining rig. It is fully passively cooled by utilizing large DIYAudio.com heatsinks and Streacom DB4 cooling units to dissipate heat from its 65W Intel i7-8700 CPU and 47W Nvidia Quadro P1000 graphics card. This design looks a bit rough, but it absolutely shreds. Performance over aesthetics any day.

The most feature-rich N150 PC yet

Protectli always delivers. Their Vault Pro VP2440 is a compact, networking-focused mini PC powered by the quad-core Intel N150 processor and open-source coreboot firmware. It's equipped for advanced routing and security with two 10GbE SFP+ cages and two 2.5GbE RJ-45 ports. Housed in a sleek all-aluminum chassis, the hardware supports up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM, features 32GB of onboard eMMC, and includes an M.2 NVMe slot for $519.

Best NUC mod ever ?

As FanlessTech approaches its 15th anniversary, it's a great time to look back at our favorite PCs featured over the years. Like this amazing NUC featuring a MakerBeam aluminum structure, custom 3D printed CPU mounting brackets, and the Arctic Alpine AM4 Passive CPU cooler. So simple, yet so perfect.

Source: GitHub 

Rockchip has entered the chat

Finding a Rockchip CPU inside a consumer mini PC is unexpected, as these ARM-based chips are traditionally reserved for single-board development boards or specialized industrial hardware. The graphics and intelligence tasks are handled by an integrated ARM Mali-G610 GPU alongside an embedded 6 TOPS NPU, offering hardware-accelerated 8K video decoding and modest AI capabilities. Despite this atypical silicon choice, the system boasts desktop-class connectivity including multiple USB ports, HDMI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and dual Ethernet. Price is a little problematic, though. At $430, it's as expensive as Intel N100 or N150 systems, which are more flexible in terms of RAM, storage, and OS choice.

The perfect case

We'd love to see a chunky fanless case (think Mac Studio size) with massive cooling fins, that would support both the NUC and Thin mini-ITX motherboard. This would be a premium product, priced around $300. What do you think?  

Akasa's beefiest Pi case yet

The Akasa Fermi CM5 is a slim 1U fanless aluminum case designed specifically for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 paired with the CM5 IO Board. It features a passive cooling design with a custom thermal module that supports up to a 10W TDP silently (the Fermi CM5 could easily handle the Intel N150). The 185 x 93 x 43.6 mm enclosure offers full access to all on-board I/O connections while providing internal clearance for an M.2 NVMe SSD, hardware expansions, and a 40-pin Raspberry Pi HAT.

Source: Akasa 

Astro imaging PC

Courtesy of Cosmic Curiosity

Solid i5 option

At $539, this fanless Windows 11 Pro PC feels like a bargain these days. Powered by an Intel Core i5-1235U processor with 10 cores and 12 threads (up to 4.4GHz) and featuring a stylish heatsink case, the system comes with 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a 512GB SSD. Connectivity is excellent, boasting dual 2.5G LAN ports, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, dual HDMI, DisplayPort, and a Type-C port for up to a four-screen display setup.

Heatsinks are works of art (part 2)

By assembling a landscape from components that are often hidden away inside PCs and server racks, or discarded as e-waste, the sculpture reminds us that the digital world is built on a massive physical infrastructure, which may currently be spinning out of control. 

Source: Kristian Kragelund