Compulab has introduced its new Airtop3 passively-cooled desktop platform, which is aimed at commercial and industrial users looking for a high-performance passive PC. The Airtop3 combines high-end, high performance components with significant expansion capabilities (e.g., operate up to seven displays, integrate up to five SSDs, etc.) as well as compatibility with Compulab’s proprietary FACE customization modules. Compulab will sell its Airtop3 machines in different configurations targeting a variety of applications.

Just like predecessors, Compulab’s Airtop3 relies on the company’s natural air-flow (NAF) cooling technology that places each component into a specially-designated passively-cooled area, does not require any active fans and is therefore absolutely quiet. For this fanless system Compulab refined its NAF technology in a bid to increase maximum TDP of the PC all the way to 300 W (something the company has learnt from its Airtop2 Inferno aimed at gamers).

The advanced cooling system enabled Compulab to equip the system with any CPU up to Intel’s eight-core Core i9-9900K (or future Xeon E CPUs), any graphics card up to NVIDIA’s Quadro RTX 4000, up to 128 GB of DDR4 memory, up to two M.2-2280 SSDs, and up to four 2.5-inch storage devices.

Furthermore, the Airtop3 also supports an advanced set of connectivity technologies, including two GbE ports (Intel i210 + Intel i219), 802.11ac + Bluetooth, 4G/LTE, eight USB 3.x Type-A ports, one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, three RS232 ports, three display outputs, audio connectors, and so on. Customers who need additional GbE ports, USB connectors or NVMe SSDs can purchase Compulab’s FACE expansion module or an NVM3 storage adapter that supports M.2-22110 and NF1-30110 SSDs (featuring up to 9.5 GB/s throughput in RAID mode).

Since Compulab’s Airtop3 is aimed not only at regular home/office/professional environments, but also on commercial and industrial applications, the manufacturer may equip it with components rated for extended (-20°C – 70°C) or industrial (-40°C – 70°C) temperature ranges.

Initially Compulab will offer its Airtop3 with Intel’s Core i9-9900K, Core i7-9700, or Celeron G4900 processors. The list of graphics cards offered with the system includes NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti as well as NVIDIA’s Quadro RTX 4000. The Airtop3 barebones system with the Celeron G4900 will start from $999.

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Source: Compulab

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  • AshlayW - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - link

    >Fanless
    >9900K

    Oh dear...
  • shabby - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - link

    I wonder if it'll throttle into triple mhz numbers.
  • bryanlyon - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - link

    The previous version did well, LTT even did a review of it that was quite positive.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4R-EsiyRk0
  • IndianaKrom - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - link

    The one reviewed on LTT has an i7-7700 (non k) which is a 65w quad core. I can get my 9900k to pull 190w load at stock clocks and voltage...There is no way they are going to pull that off passively without significantly reducing performance (it will be fine for short bursts).
  • mczak - Friday, April 26, 2019 - link

    Motherboards are free to ignore the TDP limit on those cpus, but they don't have to. Hence I bet this one doesn't, so the cpu won't pull more than 95W. Obviously this will make it a bit slower, but not by all that much actually.
    That said, 95W is still a lot for passive cooling, and I wonder if it can really sustain this, especially in somewhat warmer environments, or if it has to throttle.
  • Nichronos - Sunday, April 28, 2019 - link

    Article is misleading, its gonna be Core i9-9900, Core i7-9700, or Celeron G4900 non-K 65W variants! They will probably include the 35W T models in later times...
  • plewis00 - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - link

    This sounds largely implausible. I bought a Panasonic Toughbook CF-33 the other day, that has an i5-6300U in it as well as a cooling fan - so despite having a chunky metal case and internal airflow to dissipate the heat it still needs assistance for 15W TDP. How do they make this work with an i9 desktop chip and high end GPUs?
  • PeachNCream - Friday, April 26, 2019 - link

    I'd like to see these things ship with U-series processors and mobile graphics like the MX150 or just use the iGPU for more cost effective systems that do not suffer from fan failures. I have a 14-inch Dell Latitude e5440 with a Haswell U in it and even after disabling CPU turbo in the BIOS, setting the max clockspeed to 80% in power management, setting Intel's iGPU to always run in max battery mode regardless of whether or not its plugged in, AND being outfitted with a larger heat pipe due to the presence of a GeForce GT 720m that I do not use at all, the cooling fan still sometimes steps up to speeds that are audible which annoys me given how quiet my HP Stream 11 is as it lacks any sort of active cooling.
  • peevee - Monday, April 29, 2019 - link

    Ribbed radiator with vertical ribs for stovepipe effect can easily achieve 30x cooling efficiency compared to a laptop.
  • stanleyipkiss - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - link

    I would actually buy this if it had a regular GeForce -- and if I got assurances that there is absolutely NO coil whine.

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