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Thread: "Open" case cooling

  1. #1
    Ex-MSFT Paul Adams's Avatar
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    "Open" case cooling

    In all my years of building PCs, the extent of "modding" I have done is only replace stock fans (CPU, NB & case) and once used watercooling (Zalman Reserator thingy).

    I am looking at a simple first project which will result in a chassis where the components will not be in an enclosed space (imagine a standard case with a vertically-mounted mobo and the side panel removed).

    In a closed environment the air flow is created with intake and an exhaust fans.
    Sometimes systems with inadequate cooling end up overheating and a workaround is to remove the side panel and point a standard desk fan at the components.

    So, if I make a chassis where the design is basically "always open", what is the best way to achieve cooling?

    In intake at the bottom on one side, and an exhaust on the top, to attempt to provide a flow?
    Or would the lack of an enclosure make that fail, and I would be better with multiple fans powered from the mainboard pointing at it?

    In this setup, I can imagine dust buildup might become an issue, any tricks to avoid that, or just resolve with regular maintenance?

    Any input much appreciated
    ~ I have CDO. It's like OCD except the letters are in alphabetical order, as they should be. ~
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    Pork & Beans Powerup Phage's Avatar
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    Re: "Open" case cooling

    There appears to be two schools of thought here.
    1) Everything hanging out in the breeze a la Antec Skeleton.
    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Antec...air-enclosures)
    2) The 90-degree cases which vent at the top rather than the back such as the Raven RV01
    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Silve...ow-Kit-w-o-PSU

    Assuming that the maqnufacturers of cases have done research into heat tranfer I suspect that you're right. In order to get a good convection current going, some form of enclosure may be required.

    Anything open to the elements with an airflow is going to be a dust magnet. I can't see an easy way out of that. A couple of cans of air would be a good investment.
    http://www.businessitonline.com/5-st...le-400ml.bprod
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  4. #3
    Senior Member Pob255's Avatar
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    Re: "Open" case cooling

    umm are you talking about a test bed type setup?

    ie something like this?


    If so then you should look at the Antec skeleton
    http://www.antec.com/Detail.bok?no=672
    Large top fan blowing down

    Basically in a fully open case like this there's noware much for hot air to get trapped, so extraction fans are of little use, what you want is fans blowing onto the components to force more cool air over them.
    Fans with high air flow and narrow air flow cones (which means higher rpm and more noise) would be best suited to the task, point them at the hot spots, try not to have cross/opposing air flows.
    (high static pressure fans useally have narrow air flow cones)

    Here's something you could consider, you could have a bank of fans, then make some air ducts out of some plastic piping (local diy store) and duct the air to the hot spots.
    Also should help extraction, as a way to bring hot air to the fan.

    . . . That gives me an idea . . . Paint all the pipes copper or brass and we have the beginings of a steampunk case there.

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    Pork & Beans Powerup Phage's Avatar
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    Re: "Open" case cooling

    Quote Originally Posted by Pob255 View Post
    Paint all the pipes copper or brass and we have the beginings of a steampunk case there.
    ^^ This. You know you want to.
    Society's to blame,
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    Re: "Open" case cooling

    remember that a case also provides a level of sound insulation so an open case will be noisier than a closed one.

    If you were using passive cooling then I think an open case would be a good idea but with fans i don't think it would work any better than a closed case. Will also get dusty real fast.

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    Re: "Open" case cooling

    @Phage - thanks, basically the conclusion I had arrived at.

    @Pob255 - in essence it will behave like a testbed, only a bit "prettier"
    Same principle, though, that the PSU & HDDs will not be in the same space as the mobo to raise the ambient temperature there.

    @Flewis - hopefully with the case being open there should be less need for fans, and so less noise to be concerned about.

    I have an old, unused system that I have stripped to bits for my project, and if all goes well the design by its nature will be "modular" enough to be able to swap out the mobo and/or PSU independently, so can be used for my main rig.

    It's an Asus A8N SLI Premium with the heatpipe doodad, so the only fan on the mainboard is on the CPU itself - the graphics card in the system is also passively cooled.

    Cheers for the input, all
    ~ I have CDO. It's like OCD except the letters are in alphabetical order, as they should be. ~
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    Re: "Open" case cooling

    Quote Originally Posted by Pob255 View Post
    . . . That gives me an idea . . . Paint all the pipes copper or brass and we have the beginings of a steampunk case there.



    More details about the computer are in this article:

    http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/case...nkenstein-pc/1

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    Senior Member Pob255's Avatar
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    Re: "Open" case cooling

    Sorry Kat for me that case is a steampunk fail, only a couple of the bits of crap stuck to the outside of the box actually has any function other than "crap stuck to a box to make it look pretty."

    While actual brass is better than plastic painted to look like brass, having all the pipes and such do something is important.
    Even something simple like air ducting or hiding all the wires inside pipes, gives it that fuctionality that's so often missing in steampunk stuff and it's a massive arguement that rages on steampunk forums.
    Ok at the same time my sugestion of using plastic not actual brass is another big arguement that also rages, so I'll just drop the whole subject.

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    Re: "Open" case cooling

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Adams View Post
    @Flewis - hopefully with the case being open there should be less need for fans, and so less noise to be concerned about.
    but hd's and disc drives still make noise which will be more audible than in a standard case.

  13. #10
    Ex-MSFT Paul Adams's Avatar
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    Re: "Open" case cooling

    Quote Originally Posted by Flewis View Post
    but hd's and disc drives still make noise which will be more audible than in a standard case.
    The HDDs & PSU will be in a separate, most likely enclosed space underneath - also I'm going to play with suspending the drives in some cunning way, and having the PSU raised to avoid reverb.
    ~ I have CDO. It's like OCD except the letters are in alphabetical order, as they should be. ~
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