Solid State Computers: How to Choose a Solid State Industrial PC

A solid state computer is a computer with no moving parts: it is cooled passively instead of by fans, stores data on flash memory such as an SSD or eMMC instead of a spinning hard drive, and in industrial designs keeps internal cables to a minimum. With nothing to spin, wear or work loose, it resists dust, shock and vibration and needs little maintenance.

The term is easy to confuse with a solid state drive, which is only the storage part; our FAQ on what an SSD is covers the drive itself. When choosing an industrial PC for edge computing, the real decision is between a solid state design and a conventional system with fans, discrete GPUs and spinning disks. A solid state industrial PC uses a fanless chassis, solid state storage and integrated components, often with energy-efficient embedded processors and industrial-grade parts rated for wider temperatures. A conventional system can deliver more performance, but it has more parts that wear, needs more maintenance and may struggle in harsh conditions. This guide explains what makes a computer solid state, compares it with a conventional PC, covers storage and cooling options, and shows how to choose one for the workload.

Each type of industrial PC has its own advantages, and the right choice depends on the application. The table compares the two approaches.

For example, a compact solid state industrial PC suits monitoring and controlling IoT sensors at a remote oilfield, where durability, low power and resistance to harsh conditions come first. A high-performance industrial GPU computer, by contrast, may be essential on a vehicle running machine learning for real-time object detection, where heavy processing and fast decisions are needed. Our guide to active vs passive cooling looks at the trade-off in more depth.

An industrial PC with a solid state design is built for durability and minimal maintenance. Three design choices take out the moving parts and the weak points.

Manufacturers and integrators use these techniques together, replacing hard drives with solid state storage, soldering components such as memory to the board and removing internal cables, so the computer withstands continuous shock and vibration. The advantages of fanless computers FAQ sums up the benefits, and our guide to the benefits of fanless computers covers them in detail.

Flash storage removes the most fragile moving part, but not all flash is equal. For a computer that runs around the clock, check the interface, the temperature rating, the endurance and what happens when the power is cut.

Our FAQs compare eMMC vs SSD and SSD vs HDD, and explain power loss protection and SSD TBW endurance ratings. Our guide to M.2 key types explains which slots take which drives. Some fanless systems state that a wide-temperature SSD is needed below 0 °C, which is worth checking for any cold site.

A typical solid state industrial PC uses natural convection to remove heat without fans. The chassis is usually aluminum, a good conductor, with external fins that add surface area. Heat from the processor or GPU travels to the chassis through heat sinks, heat pipes and thermal pads, and then into the surrounding air, where warm air rises and cooler air flows in to replace it in a continuous cycle. Removing moving parts improves reliability, cuts noise and suits places where dust, vibration or maintenance access are a problem.

Our guide to how a fanless PC works follows the heat path step by step, and the heat pipes FAQ explains the part that does most of the work.

Passive cooling sets a ceiling on processor power. Three approaches extend it while keeping the core of the computer solid state.

Passively cooled industrial PCs with external fans

For high-performance edge computing, adding an external fan to a passively cooled industrial PC can help where cooling becomes the limit. The fan blows across the outside of the sealed heatsink, so it removes heat faster and lets the computer hold its performance without throttling under heavy or continuous load, while the electronics stay sealed from dust. The fan is a moving part that needs occasional checks, but it sits outside the sealed chassis, away from the electronics.

Solid state industrial PCs with conduction cooling

Conduction cooling couples the computer to a larger conductive surface. A flat heat spreader replaces the fins and mounts directly against a cabinet or enclosure wall, which becomes an extended heatsink. That keeps the inside of the cabinet from heating up and puts less stress on the computer. Our guide to electrical enclosure cooling shows how conduction-cooled computers suit confined, sealed and waterproof enclosures.

Industrial GPU computers with external PCIe cassettes

GPU computers with a PCIe cassette hold the GPU or add-in card in a separate compartment of the chassis with its own heat path, connected to the main computer over PCIe. That keeps the GPU’s heat away from the processor and other components and protects them from dust. With damping brackets, these systems run AI inference, deep learning and real-time processing in places with continuous shock and vibration, such as on vehicles; see our edge AI computers and industrial GPU computers.

Low-power embedded processors and good thermal design let solid state industrial PCs hold stable temperatures under continuous load. The processor’s power is the main thing to match to the chassis, because every fanless chassis is rated for a maximum processor power at a maximum ambient temperature; our guide to TDP explains the figure.

Two Vecow SPC-9000 builds show the choice in practice. The SPC-9100-165U is fanless, with a full finned heatsink, and is rated from −40 to 75 °C with airflow. The SPC-9200-135U swaps the heatsink for a fan sink, rated from −40 to 70 °C, for packaging lines and vending machines under constant load. Both use the same I/O, so the cooling becomes a choice for the site rather than a redesign.

Reliability claims depend on more than moving parts. Our guide to MTBF explains how failure rates are calculated, and our fanless mini PC guide covers the smallest solid state systems. In practice, our rugged fanless PC on a smart factory floor runs real-time AI inference with no moving parts.

These computers show the solid state approach at different power levels. We configure, image and test each one, with industrial storage fitted to suit the site.

Browse fanless industrial computers for the full range, or rugged GPU computers for higher-power AI.