Cooling Custom Arcades??

[Kampfflieger]

If i put a motherboard without case inside a custom arcade, maybe it don't heat like if where inside the PC Case.
I'm open to good suggestions to cooling a custom arcade, beforehand thanx!!!

[rsoandrew]

That's my plan too. I figure that as long as there are some type of vents in the back and some on the top of the cab, natural convection will take care of the rest. I

[rsoandrew]

That's my plan too. I figure that as long as there are some type of vents in the back and some on the top of the cab, natural convection will take care of the rest. I

[Tilzs]

just cut some slots in the back for some vent slots and mount a pc case fan. You might want to have a couple slots with a couple of fans, maybe one blowing in and one out.

Monitor is going to generate most of the heat, and remember heat rises.

[FoX]

Yea...a fan pulling in cool air low and one expelling hot air uptop should be sufficient

[Stingray]

I put one fan inside the cab blowing across the processor heat sink. I then put another fan on the other side of the motherboard blowing the air out of the cab. This seems to keep everything nice and cool.

-S

[spystyle]

I recommend using 120mm computer fans connected to  the 5 volt line on the molex (instead of 12)

This results in very quiet cooling (who wants to hear the roar of computer fans when playing their arcade?)

also check www.pricewatch.com for a Zalman cpu cooler to quietly cool the processor.

In my opinion a quiet computer is an essetial part of keeping authentic (real arcade machines don't have roaring CPU fans) but cooling is also essential, so many 5 volt fans keep your cabinet extra groovy.

Dig it?
Craig

[Minwah]

I have a Zalman noiseless PSU.  The fan only comes on when required, and only to the required (low) rpm, so it is *very* quiet.  The PSU can also control the speed of other fans, so I have a Cooler Master regular case fan controlled from it (that spins slow+quiet too).  The only fan that really makes any noise is the CPU (blower) fan, which I can manually slow down to whatever speed I like (comprimise between noise/cooling).

[DaveJ-UK]

I can recommend the Zalman range of silent cooling solutions too.

I have their pure copper heat sink / fan on my CPU. It barely makes a whisper, even at full speed.

[AmericanDemon]

If you are planning to use the cabinet as a full on media center too, then stick a water cooling kit in there and sit back and watch it cool down.  

[paigeoliver]

A few notes on this stuff.

I used to decase my computers in my Mame cabinets. I stopped doing it once I got a good look at the insides of several modern PC based arcade games. Every single one still has the computer inside the case.

So, keeping the computer in the case IS correct.

As long as your cabinet has SOME sort of ventilation then you will be fine. My (slotted) decased Athlon 650 powered micro-mini had NO ventilation, and it did get a little warm inside, but no warmer than the inside of any normal computer.