Mini PC, fan or fanless? - Forums

I’m replacing a rather slow mini PC (fanless) with a faster CPU. This will be at a remote observatory.

I am considering a Geekcom i7 CPU with fan cooling or another fanless model.

Any thoughts on which is better for an observatory? Greg, the manager and tech at HCRO says people use both there.

Thanks,
Jerry

The one correct answer is of course: it depends. Fans CAN cause vibration, the question is though if it then will impact your imaging. A lot depends on where you mount your mini-PC: on the (handlebars of the) scope, on the dovetail bar, on a leg of the tripod? Fans can be very quiet, which may be an indication of less vibration, but not necessarily so. If you get a mini-pc that does cause some vibration and you want to eliminate it, you may want to consider alternative ways of mounting the mini-pc, maybe using dampening material. Or you could investigate replacing the fan. In normal PCs fans are quite easy to replace but in mini-PCs it may be harder as the manufacturer may have used a custom model to fit into the package.

So I wouldn’t rule it using PCs with a fan, but give it some thought where you mount it and if you can replace the fan or not.

If your PC is mounted on the moving scope, I definitely would go for a fanless system b/c of potential vibrations. Even if your new PC runs smoothly, it may not do so over the years as dust and flies and bugs assemble on the fan. In the various fora, you find reports on camera cooling fans going shaky over the years, your PC is likely to do the same. CS Matthias

Fanless all the way, fans will obviously draw in air and more importantly lots of dust with it, so if it’s in a dusty environment which a lot of remote observatories are, then bad choice. Also the spec you mention is wayyyyyyyyy overkill to run an imaging set up 👍🏻

I haven't pulled the trigger yet but am debating between an ASUS NUC 13 rugged fanless and a Mele quieter 4 series fanless. Mainly for dust/moisture reasons.

Both should be enough to run Windows and Nina. The NUC is more expensive.🤔

AstroÅmazer · Aug 31, 2025 at 09:16 AM
I haven't pulled the trigger yet but am debating between an ASUS NUC 13 rugged fanless and a Mele quieter 4 series fanless. Mainly for dust/moisture reasons.
Both should be enough to run Windows and Nina. The NUC is more expensive.🤔

The thing I have with NUCs is that they are powered with 19V as opposed to the more common 12V. I don’t like bringing in an extra power adapter. That’s what I like about the Mele series, they are 12V and you can just plug them in to almost any powerbox.

Tomvp · Aug 31, 2025 at 09:22 AM
AstroÅmazer · Aug 31, 2025 at 09:16 AM
I haven't pulled the trigger yet but am debating between an ASUS NUC 13 rugged fanless and a Mele quieter 4 series fanless. Mainly for dust/moisture reasons.
Both should be enough to run Windows and Nina. The NUC is more expensive.🤔
The thing I have with NUCs is that they are powered with 19V as opposed to the more common 12V. I don’t like bringing in an extra power adapter. That’s what I like about the Mele series, they are 12V and you can just plug them in to almost any powerbox.

Agreed, but many of the NUC will run fine from 12v, and strangely the Mele mini PC’s will actually take up to 20v via power delivery (see spec sheet) and work better with about 14v, the USB ports are underpowered at 12v, yet they only supply they PC with a 12v supply.. 🤔🤔

But do you really need a faster PC? What do you use it for?
If it is only for image acquisition then you should not need too much computing power.
I have been using a mini PC for several years now, to run all the software needed during imaging sessions and I have never felt the need for more pover. I keep it mounted on the tripod and it runs at 5V. It works just fine.

AstroStew · Aug 31, 2025 at 09:29 AM
Tomvp · Aug 31, 2025 at 09:22 AM
AstroÅmazer · Aug 31, 2025 at 09:16 AM
I haven't pulled the trigger yet but am debating between an ASUS NUC 13 rugged fanless and a Mele quieter 4 series fanless. Mainly for dust/moisture reasons.
Both should be enough to run Windows and Nina. The NUC is more expensive.🤔
The thing I have with NUCs is that they are powered with 19V as opposed to the more common 12V. I don’t like bringing in an extra power adapter. That’s what I like about the Mele series, they are 12V and you can just plug them in to almost any powerbox.
Agreed, but many of the NUC will run fine from 12v, and strangely the Mele mini PC’s will actually take up to 20v via power delivery (see spec sheet) and work better with about 14v, the USB ports are underpowered at 12v, yet they only supply they PC with a 12v supply.. 🤔🤔

I have a Quieter 3 and I don’t think it even supports PD. I have a 12V 2.1mm to USB-C cable and run it off my Pegasus Powerbox and that works fine, no issues with USB.

Tomvp · Aug 31, 2025 at 03:19 PM
AstroStew · Aug 31, 2025 at 09:29 AM
Tomvp · Aug 31, 2025 at 09:22 AM
AstroÅmazer · Aug 31, 2025 at 09:16 AM
I haven't pulled the trigger yet but am debating between an ASUS NUC 13 rugged fanless and a Mele quieter 4 series fanless. Mainly for dust/moisture reasons.
Both should be enough to run Windows and Nina. The NUC is more expensive.🤔
The thing I have with NUCs is that they are powered with 19V as opposed to the more common 12V. I don’t like bringing in an extra power adapter. That’s what I like about the Mele series, they are 12V and you can just plug them in to almost any powerbox.
Agreed, but many of the NUC will run fine from 12v, and strangely the Mele mini PC’s will actually take up to 20v via power delivery (see spec sheet) and work better with about 14v, the USB ports are underpowered at 12v, yet they only supply they PC with a 12v supply.. 🤔🤔
I have a Quieter 3 and I don’t think it even supports PD. I have a 12V 2.1mm to USB-C cable and run it off my Pegasus Powerbox and that works fine, no issues with USB.

I think it does, check the spec..👍🏻

I’m very much if it works, don’t fix it guy but I understand the urge to tinker. In any case, for a remote install, it’s a no brainer to go fanless. Why court more issues?

AstroStew · Aug 31, 2025 at 03:46 PM
Tomvp · Aug 31, 2025 at 03:19 PM
AstroStew · Aug 31, 2025 at 09:29 AM
Tomvp · Aug 31, 2025 at 09:22 AM
AstroÅmazer · Aug 31, 2025 at 09:16 AM
I haven't pulled the trigger yet but am debating between an ASUS NUC 13 rugged fanless and a Mele quieter 4 series fanless. Mainly for dust/moisture reasons.
Both should be enough to run Windows and Nina. The NUC is more expensive.🤔
The thing I have with NUCs is that they are powered with 19V as opposed to the more common 12V. I don’t like bringing in an extra power adapter. That’s what I like about the Mele series, they are 12V and you can just plug them in to almost any powerbox.
Agreed, but many of the NUC will run fine from 12v, and strangely the Mele mini PC’s will actually take up to 20v via power delivery (see spec sheet) and work better with about 14v, the USB ports are underpowered at 12v, yet they only supply they PC with a 12v supply.. 🤔🤔
I have a Quieter 3 and I don’t think it even supports PD. I have a 12V 2.1mm to USB-C cable and run it off my Pegasus Powerbox and that works fine, no issues with USB.
I think it does, check the spec..👍🏻

The 3C does through the ‘real’ USB-C port, my 3Q doesn’t. But they do have power specs from 12V to 23V.

Jerry,

As you are probably learning, the number one consideration for anything that goes to a remote observatory is reliability. I never mount my PCs on the OTA so size is less of a concern for me. I use fan-less rugged industrial-level PCs that I got through On Logic. This is the closest to what I use: https://www.onlogic.com/store/nuvo-7000e/. These systems are certified to operate over a wide temperature range (-25C - 70C) and they have worked really well for me. The one thing that they might struggle with is running TheSkyX, which requires a pretty amped up PC to run smoothly. I always max out memory and SSD space to future-proof my systems. I keep a mirrored NUC-12 in my spares cabinet in case a PC ever goes down.

I recently bought one of these for processing: https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-um890pro and I am very impressed with it. It is blazing fast and it runs VERY cool. I can’t feel it get even slightly warm! I loaded it up with maximum memory and it was only around $700 and I then dumped a second 4TB SSD as a data buffer. If I were going to use a NUC style PC, this would be the one.

John

I’m a big fan of the AOC T8 Plus PCs. Very small form factor, ridiculously light (lighter than Mele I believe), faster processor than the Mele, and stays MUCH cooler than my old Meles. It uses a fan but it’s almost inaudible and doesn’t make any vibrations at all.

I have 4 of them and I’m selling two of them soon. I’m keeping two, one to setup permanently (like you would with the CEM70-NUC), and the other as a backup. The other two I’ll sell.

The T8 Plus PCs are made by others like AceMagic and GMKtek, not just AOC. Check them out!

John Hayes · Aug 31, 2025, 04:20 PM
I use fan-less rugged industrial-level PCs the I got through On Logic. This is the closest to what I use: https://www.onlogic.com/store/nuvo-7000e/. These systems are certified to operate over a wide temperature range (-25C - 70C) and they have worked really well for me.

That’s a great recommendation, John. I can vouch for OnLogic systems as well—I personally use an HX500 https://www.onlogic.com/store/hx500/ in my remote observatory. It runs all the other subsystems (roof, all-sky camera, weather sensors) in a rack, and at any time it’s also ready to connect to the telescope system itself as a redundant backup. It’s especially good here where summer temps often average 40 °C+ and higher indoors, yet the fanless design just keeps on going. After all, it’s a very efficient system. With the 35 W limitation it’s not meant for really heavy tasks, but for managing observatory systems or telescope control it’s absolutely great.

CS
Luka

I have mele quieter 4s 32go ram, I am happy with it. It is mounted on the dovetail of my RC10. I run sharpcap pro , nina, I am able to navigate internet while shooting and access it with remote desktop from another pc. Sometime I shoot with 2 RC in the same time one with color cam and the other in mono. The color setup has a mele 4s 16go , I use the remote desktop to access it within the mele 4s 32go and my laptop at home to access the mele 4s 32go. Works fine and I can manage 2 scope in the same time from laptop this way. (I use a wifi router to connect everything).

Jerry,

I am running a Ryzen 6800U Beelink mini PC, not mounted on my CDK14.

I will be taking this rig to HCRO shortly. Has plenty of processing power (faster than my i5 laptop) and very thrifty on the power.

The quieter 3, had one, got very hot, never liked that, and it was very slow.

Pete

I am finishing up a build using a Quieter 4C for local control. It gets very hot just running the usual S/W suite, NINA, PHD2 etc. Core temps peak out in the upper 80s C indoors and I am concerned about temps when I move it outdoors here in Cen. FL.

So I stuck some 80X40 mm heat sinks from Amazon on the backside and it dropped the average core temp down 10 to15 C. I’ve got a little Noctura fan I am going to stick on it next to see how much that will lower it.

Although the units do throttle to manage the core temps, running consistently hot will affect the lifetime. But when you move to the NUCs and the necessary fanned cooling, they have a lot more components to fail in it.

I just upgraded my imaging pc to a Beelink SER5 i7 16T 32 GB DDR5 RAM for the size of it I cant belive it. It actually stacks pix in a very resoanble time….. Thats just a benchmark for the power of this litle thing but the i7 needs a lot of cooling and the fan runs a lot. I have mine sitting on memory foam on my tripod with exit fan facing downward and north because the OTA is not often near the north side of the mount.. I run a Pegasus Astro Powerbox to hook everything up USB 3.1

Previous to that I had a beelink 12s Intel N100 chip 4T 16GB RAM its was also very cabaple maybe not for stacking good for capture. I only changed it out because I built an observatory and now the 12s runs enviromental sensors all sky cam roof control. SER is 19V or 15V I can run Stellerium, pixinsight live stack NINA plugin, PHD2 NINA efortlessly with it. Very very impreseed with it. But I wouldnt mount it on a OTA. If you wrap your devices with a Pegasus Astro Power Box Advanced ( The longest product name in the universe including welsh lanuage) or something simular then you only have a power cable and 1 usb cable its very very tidy and make tear down set up so much quicker. I might be crazy but I wouldnt have any type of heat source near my OTA because of thermal convection currents in the tube or around it… there is enough turbulance with out making more even if its microscopic.

I have 4 Meles and still use a 2Q and 3C for capture. NINA / PHD2 / ASCOM hardly require any system resources, even while capturing 62MP files. I keep the 4C with the N150 chip for more outreach purposes where I may try live staking or planetary capture. I haven’t found a need where I need more power than even an old Mele and the fan-less design is great. The only software I know that won’t work well on a Mele is Sky-X.

I use these fanless PCs: https://www.minix.us/z100-0db

I don’t want any moving parts which can break and cause me a 2+ hour drive to go fix it. They make more powerful ones now. I don’t want/need anything more powerful, though. They’re rated for extreme temperature ranges and have been trouble free in my observatory at both my piers for a year and a half.

Something I would like to test is guide puls latency vs computer spec

Tony Gondola:
I’m very much if it works, don’t fix it guy but I understand the urge to tinker. In any case, for a remote install, it’s a no brainer to go fanless. Why court more issues?

There are advantages and disadvantages to both fanless and fans. Numerous people at the observatory where my scope is use both. My current computer is slow and it's not about tinkering. If the computer I am using were working fine I wouldn't change it.

SkyHoinar · Aug 31, 2025, 02:54 PM
But do you really need a faster PC? What do you use it for?
If it is only for image acquisition then you should not need too much computing power.
I have been using a mini PC for several years now, to run all the software needed during imaging sessions and I have never felt the need for more pover. I keep it mounted on the tripod and it runs at 5V. It works just fine.

This is not always true. If you use a program like TheSKyX to control your mount- there is a prerequisite CPU/graphics speed that is necessary. The TheSkyX is calculating in realtime everything and that can impact performance if the PC cannot keep up. This is exactly what happened to me. (TheSkyX has a performance meter which measures the “Hz” of its heartbeat…if too low, not good).

I wouldn’t add any potential source of vibration to an imaging system that wasn’t 100% required.

As the computing power requirement for imaging is low, I simply couldn’t justify having a fan cooled machine attached to my mount or scope, as it really isn’t a matter of if it vibrates badly enough to cause problems, its when..

If, however, my mount was on a 6~8” diameter concrete pier, I would have no issues having a fan cooled PC on the pier, as a vibrating fan is never going to be enough to disturb a pier like that…

I use the MeLe Quieter 3C and have a MeLe Quieter 4 C here, ready to upgrade eventually…