Technical Data Of Power Supply

The external power supply of the Foxconn mini-PC

The little fan (highlighted in the picture) makes a big noise

Cooling System And Heat Levels

The cooling system of the E-bot is based on a CPU cooler that conducts the thermal power generated over three copper heatpipes to a finned block where 3.6" (92 mm) fan takes care of cooling. On the chipset of the motherboard there is another fan intended to cool the SIS chip.

The only hardware component that got more than 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius) in our test was the memory module. Everything else stayed cool. But the cool factor comes at a price, because after an initial 44 decibels, the noise level rose quickly to over 50 dB(a). It is not the CPU fan that is responsible for this noise, but rather the external power supply. This contains a small 0.79" (20 mm) fan for cooling. Even after the E-bot is switched off, the fan keeps running until it has cooled off. According to our one-hour stress test, the fan kept running for another 10 minutes at full rotation and at 54 decibels. A generously dimensioned and passive power supply would have been better here, and would have surely placed the machine among the front-runners. This puts the Foxconn mini-PC far behind because of the high decibel values.

The long power cable makes it possible to let the power supply drop below the table, but that just moves the source of noise instead of eliminating it.

The 92 mm fan is pleasantly quiet at first

Nice to see: The finned block has three heatpipes running through it

Even after an hour, the mini-PC keeps a cool head, or a cool interior

The grief is all the fault of the external power supply