how many people mount there computer hardware directly to their cabinets?

[magnus]

im very new to this and i've been looking around researching and stuff and i came across this one site where they mounted there hardware directly too the cabinet. My questions are....

Do alot of people do that?

and is it safe for the hardware? like as far as cooling and dust is concerned? i dont know, something about a wooden case seems dissettling to me. maybe its just a mental thing...

i'm considering trying it....

[SOAPboy]

i used to think like that.. years ago..

once you learn a bit about hardware, you realize they can take ALOT more than it seems..



in fact, a friend of mine, ran his old pc on top of his desk in a milk crate..


mine right now is just sitting in the cabinet, waiting for some mounting things to show up (thanks)..

[magnus]

i guess i'll give it a try. a huge cabinet does seem like it'll stay cooler than a metal case. seems like dust might become a problem, thou.

[Sasquatch!]

i guess i'll give it a try. a huge cabinet does seem like it'll stay cooler than a metal case. seems like dust might become a problem, thou.

It's easy to think that, but you'd actually be wrong.  A case that has proper airflow will cool a PC better than if it's just "open", because you'll be able to direct that airflow in the most efficient manner for cooling.

[SOAPboy]

i guess i'll give it a try. a huge cabinet does seem like it'll stay cooler than a metal case. seems like dust might become a problem, thou.

It's easy to think that, but you'd actually be wrong.

[danny_galaga]

mine is mounted directly to the cab. but being a cocktail i didnt have much choice!

here's a thread on cooling probs:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,23080.0.html

i just had a good look inside mine. it's been up and running since about march and only a small amount of dust is in there. and most of that looks like MDF dust! so if i'd cleaned it better there'd be virtually none

[Lilwolf]

It usually takes more space to mount without a case... because you have to find spaces for everything.... Case will put the drives / powersupply right over the mother board...  I've done it both ways.  Its safe to do. 

Take note about cooling.

It will only cool better if the air in the cabinet itself has outside airflow.  You have a heater with a fan on it.  Good airflow or bad, you will still heat the entire cabinet air supply in some amount of time.  A case will force air flow over your entire motherboard (which is good)... But forcing hot air over components doesn't help all that much.

Put a fan on the top of your cab blowing out and some air holes on the bottom... Or somethign similar.   I am planning (haven't done it yet) to add a fan at the bottom blowing over my motherboard and power supply.. And air holes at the top... But what I REALLY want is a quiet PC / power supply with all the fun stuff... or a water cooled...  Would be cool to have a quiet arcade... but I don't have 100-200 bucks for the project.

[SirPeale]

I've done it too, but with all-in-one motherboards.  When you're working with video/sound cards sticking out of the slots, you need to secure them somehow.

[danny_galaga]

it will depend on if magnus wants to build an upright or cocktail i guess. if i build an upright i think i would leave it all in the case. in my cocktail it took heaps less room to have all the parts go where ever they could fit. and mine has onboard sound and video too so that makes a difference. we were looking at it the other day to see if i could put a sound card in there as my onboard one doesn't seem to work every time. i don't have enough room to even put in a card- the rotating monitor would crash into it!

[magnus]

Im gonna build a cocktail cabinet for sure. i also have alot of hardware so keeping everything cool is gonna be an issue probably cuz this isnt gonna just be a mame cab. most of my hardware consists of drives. i have a raid setup and 2 other drives, i'll remove my disk drive. i'll probably just use the harnesses in my case to mount the drives and pci slots. i've pretty much already got an idea of how im gonna mount everything, its cooling and dust that im concerned with.

i have a huge case with all this hardware in it now but im not really sure how cool the case is after extended run time.