MAME Cabinet cooling fan question

[JIves]

Have built a typical MAME cabinet.  Built it large enough so that I will simply place the PC in its original housing within the cabinet.

I have two good size holes in the cabinet for speakers (concealed, of course) that should allow ventilation...

Here's the question: since the PC is in its original casing with operable fans, will I need extra fans on the cabinet itself?  I plan on leaving the system on the majority of the time.  My personal feeling on the issue is that the regular chasis fans should be good enough, since their should be adequate ventilation, but I'd be interested in hearing what others think, and hearing about experiences with similar issues...

Please copy responses to JimIves@earthlink.net

Thanks.

- Jim

[slug54]

Jim
I would put  2 fans in your cab 1 at the top blowing out
and 1 at the bottom blowing in. If you don't eventually
all the air in your cab will be heated form your monitor and the exhaust air from your PC. If you have ever seen a pc that is in a computer desk that has a door but has no cut out in the back the air gets really hot quick.
buy a couple cheap louvered vents and a couple  of fans.
                             Jeff

[darkmanx]

err  i think my last post on this disappeared but...i suggest what slug said, and in addition think about leaving the cover off of the case, and putting some screen like you would use on windows over the vent holes you made. this should keep out most of the dust and whatnot.

[1UP]

And keep the screens clean!

[Deefish]

I put three of the large radio shack fans in mine. Two blowing in at the bottom and one in the top blowing out. They where horribly loud! So for the time being I built in a switch to turn them on and off. I think it also depends where you are. If you are north where its alot cooler, you probably dont need much cooling. If you are in a hot humid climate you will need as much as you can stand. If I have the sound up and my cab (4.1 surround) I cant here the fans. I like to leave a game up and running all the time and if I turn down the volume to watch tv I can hear the fans all the way upstairs!! ( I really need a seperate game room) You really dont want your processesor to overheat. If its just a Pentium. I wouldnt worry to much, But a P3 or better will need it! Hope that helps.

[Eddie Fantastic]

I dismantled and mounted a 9" deskfan at the rear of mine after one crazy idea. It has variable speed too, everything stays cool with that baby switched on. Only downside is you can't hear a bloody thing when it's on  but you do have a feeling of being trapped in a wind tunnel.
Installing it also taught me the importance of respecting electricity. To be honest I quite enjoyed having 240 volts pumped through my body, what spoilt my new found high was the missus shouting at me to be more careful. "Don't worry love, I actually quite liked it" I managed to blub from my foetal position on the floor.
I'm now rethinking the idea and I leaning toward multiple smaller fans.

[darkmanx]

after being shocked by a monitor that wasnt discharged properly i cannot stress enough the importance of safety around electricity.

i was shocked, and at first i could not move at all. its the strangest sensation, you can feel the energy pump through you and you are totally helpless. fortunatly for me there was a chair behind me which i tripped over while being shocked which is what i think caused me to be let go. needless to say i was thrown clear across my apartment. the pain wasnt terrible, but the whole left side of my body was in some decent pain. i easily could have been killed though, i know its a fluke that i survived it.  

please please be careful around electricity!! it will strike when you dont expect it and thats it. anyway i really wouldnt suggest trying to rewire a fan.

if your going to have a power strip in your cab you can always use a little desktop fan. alot of people complain that they are not powerful enough and too noisy. get a vornado brand fan. i have one that has lasted me about 6 yrs so far. the thing is maybe 6" and it is POWERFUL.

more powerful than big box fans 5 times its size. and its quiet as hell. as a test i put mine inside my coin door and put it on. my cab still has big areas that arent closed off so theres plenty of an opening for sound and i can barely hear it.

[IndyJones1023]

Check out my ventilation idea. http://www.westg8.com/emugasm/

[Frobozz]

If you hunt around on the internet a little, you can find some good suppliers of industrial fans for various housings.  

Some of these are quite good, taking a multitude of voltages, and many sizes.  Some I saw even had a surface bevel (like a speaker grill) with filter attachment.

Good sites also list the amount of noise the things make in addition to the amount of airflow (cfm) it can move.

Being industrial fans though, they tend to be a little pricy.  Mostly depends on what you're looking for though.

[G Smith]

I was looking to see if they made 8mm fans that were powered by usb connection.  I thought it'd be nice to have a couple of them in the cabinet (and maybe one blowing dust on me while I play )

Does anyone know if these exist?

[JustMichael]

8mm fan?  I don't think they would do much at all.  That is awefully tiny!  That is about 1/3 of an inch.

[G Smith]

8mm fan?

[ddebuss]

I'd suggest against the idea of leaving the case off the system.

[darkmanx]

err every computer i have ever had has had the case left off of it while running for long periods of time.

[BASSOFeeSH]

PC cases DO get better airflow when the case is covered.  

Think of it like a straw.  When you suck air out the top, the drink travels up from the bottom.  If you put  a huge hole in the side of the straw you won't be able to pull anything up the straw.

[Elkor]

Under ideal conditions it is better to leave the case cover on.  However most people do not keep their computers under ideal conditions! Most home pc's I see are on the floor (sometimes carpeted) or jammed under a desk against the wall (sometimes even in a small cutout in the desk w/no rear ventilation at all).  These conditions can actually create more heat with the case cover on as there is no adequate supply of cool air available to intake (don't even get INTO not cleaning filters on fans that have them!).  In situations like this, the case cover off combined with a good quality heatsink fan combo will actually exahst hot air to the room and draw in cool air from the ambient room which will be cooler than the hot air that would have been trapped inside the case.

That being said, the matter of should you keep the pc in the case really depends on the design of your cab.  Remember, the purpose of intake and exahst fans in a pc case is to draw in cool air and get rid of hot air, if your cabinet performs this function and the air inside is relatively cool (and this should be a consideration, not only for the health of the pc but the monitor as well) you may be able to get away with leaving it in the case (as this would be convienent for most users).  if the air in the cab is substatially warmer then the abient temp, you may be better off adding a couple of fans to the cab and pullin the pc out of the case.

Regardless, try to keep the PC at the bottom and make sure there are some vents to let in cool air at ground level.

(also keep in mind that all cpu's aren't created equal and some get a lot hotter than others (as well as being more or less susceptable to thermal failure))

-C

[BASSOFeeSH]

One thing I'll say for Intel chips.....they won't burn out easily on you(but they may shut themselves down though).

[Johnny Andersen]

Hi Guys,
Take a look at the following article to take control over your fans.      
I'm shure it can be used in an Arcade Cabinet


- Johnny

[Johnny Andersen]

Sorry Guys,
Forgot the link!!
http://www.pcpowerzone.co.uk/articles.php?id=11

- Johnny

[Beley]

If you guys are looking for quiet fans that push a lot of air , forget normal bladed fans and go for the "squirrel cage" type of fans which use an impeller as opposed to a propeller. The only draw back is that they are more bulky then a standard fan, but that shouldnt be a problem in a cab


if you live in canada a good place to get them is Princess auto

[Lilwolf]

Since heat rises.

couldn't you just drill a whole at the top....and put one fan on at the bottom blowing in?

I thought this would be enought myself

[darkmanx]

im sure it would be enough most of the time. but on a hot summer day with all that money invested in the equipment i would rather go overkill on cooling.