I think you're missing the distinction between 'cpu fan' and 'cpu cooler'.
Not at all. Note I intentionally made no distinction by saying "without cooling".
I ran fanless on my E8400's cooler for two years.
I am afraid you are missing the distinction. Fanless is not the same thing as "without cooling". I am sure you still had a decent heatsink attached, hopefully with a proper layer of TIM (thermal interface material), and adequate air flow through the case. That's "cooling".
Totally "passive" CPU coolers (no fan) have been used for years, though typically not on an enthusiasts board. Truly passive cooling (that is, a heatsink
designed for use without a fan) is suited for home theater PCs, where the roar of CPU fans while watching a movie is unacceptable.
If you ran with a heatsink "assembly" (heat sink + fan packaged as a unit) without the fan, and kept your temps well managed then I congratulate your on choice of cases. But I would caution you - motherboard designer's
intentionally surround the CPU socket with other heat sensitive and heat generating devices so they can take advantage of the OEM heatsink's fan. Passive cooling (and some alternatives, like water cooling) can result in stability problems in those circuits.
So, with my
entire sentence used
IN context, instead of out
, I stand by what I said,
A CPU should NEVER be run without cooling so it is a common setting in the BIOS Setup Menu to shut down when the CPU fan drops below a specified RPM.