Beelink SEi8 questions

teebup

Hi there,

I have a SEi8 with a Intel i5 8259U 2.3GHz CPU and 8GB ram and I have a couple of questions.

Ideally, I would like the unit to be silent, it sits on my desk, however the fan powers up and down all the time, its very distracting. I have wondered about getting a fanless case for it, something like those made by Akasa, has anyone done this or similar?

Alternatively I would be happy if I could limit the fan spinning up and down. What is the best way to do this?

I seem to be on CB1D_FV106 in terms of the bios, and 1.04 in terms of EC version, are these the latest? I could not find anyway of checking on Beelinks website.

Thanks for any help.

c_codrut

I can tell you what I did in that regard. I changed the processor power management  settings and limited the maximum processor power state at 85%. You can play with different settings from there, 87, 90......and find the right balance between performance/noise. Obviously you should note that this is going to limit the performance of the device, the max frequency will not be 3800Mhz but much lower. But the mini pc will be dead silent, most time passive cooling and just sometimes the fan will spin but at very low rpm, you will not hear it.
I use this mini pc as media center in my bedroom and 85% of power is more than enough for my needs.
I know not everyone will be satisfied with degrading the performance but depending on your needs this method might very well work for you too.

teebup

c_codrut replied at 2022-11-08 00:26
I can tell you what I did in that regard. I changed the processor power management  settings and lim ...

Thank you. Would you mind confirming how you set the beelink to 85%? I am happy to loose the performance, perhaps even more. I am using it to run music filters for my music system. I have tried lots of settings, but the one I am aiming for does not need lots of power.

c_codrut

Sure,
Open windows settings, in the search box type ''edit power plan'', in the window that open look for ''change advanced power settings'', scroll down to ''processor power management'', press ''+"" and open the options, you need to modify ''maximum processor state'' from 100% to whatever percent you desire.  
If you wish, share the results regarding noise here.

teebup

Ahh, slight issue then as I am running ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS.

c_codrut

teebup replied at 2022-11-08 02:36
Ahh, slight issue then as I am running ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS.

I don't know how to do it in linux but at a fast search on google it seems it's possible with a line of command that has the same effect as in Windows.

''It's easy to do the trick in Ubuntu Linux via the LimitCPU tool. LimitCPU is a simple command line tool that monitors a process and makes sure its CPU usage stays at or below a given percentage''

You should investigate this.

teebup

Thanks, I will read further.

I had already been trying this approach with an extension you can add from Gnome called CPU Power Manager. Even when I set the CPU to only run at 25% of normal, with a maximum of 35% and no turbo boost, the fan still spins up. Temps always seem about the same, 45c.