To place cooling fans or not to place cooling fans.....

[garnerb350]

I was comtenplating on whether or not to place cooling fans in my upright arcade build.
I want the cabinet to be enclosed, because of fear of my wife's cats and also my daughter. Plus I think that if I am going to build a cabinet, It needs to be complete.  As I sit and ponder,  with that much space and the only heat will be from my CPU and monitor and marquee light....do I really need to install cooling fans....or just install vents?

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[javeryh]

Are you putting a computer case inside with it's own cooling?  If so then I don't think you need anything else on top of that.

[Sardu]

Just leave an opening on the top/back.  You won't see it and you can attach an exhaust fan if you want.

[garnerb350]

Are you putting a computer case inside with it's own cooling?  If so then I don't think you need anything else on top of that.

I'm not taking apart anything....taking the tower and placing it in the corner...Monitor sitting on moniter shelf above.

[southpaw13]

I would still have a cooling fan at the top to pull out the hot air...

[HaRuMaN]

Are you putting a computer case inside with it's own cooling?  If so then I don't think you need anything else on top of that.

Where would the hot air from the case go?  Into the cabinet of course...

[javeryh]

Are you putting a computer case inside with it's own cooling?  If so then I don't think you need anything else on top of that.

Where would the hot air from the case go?  Into the cabinet of course...

yeah but an average cabinet is quite spacious inside to where I don't think it will be an issue.  I don't have ventilation in my mini cab and every time I open up the coin door it is very cool inside and I've had the cab on for 6+ hours at a time.  I don't know... I mean a fan/vent wouldn't hurt but I don't think it is vital with the computer tower in there...

[DaveStall]

I think it depends on several factors.  What kind of computer is it?  A newer 45nm chip is going to dissipate less heat than an old P4 or AMD XP CPU.  What is the ambient temperature of the room like?  How big is the space you will have the computer in?  I am guessing everyone will have different answers and thus different cooling requirements.  I know my cabinet gets very warm inside.  I am running an AMD XP2800+ which dissipates something like 96W.  I have found that running the computer caseless results in better CPU and motherboard temperatures, so I didn't end up adding exhaust fans.  If you need to keep the computer in a case, you will know soon enough if you need exhaust fans if you start getting heat related system errors.

Dave

[Portnoy]

I placed 2 small fans in the top of my cab, not so much for the PC but for the monitor. The CRT gives off quite a bit of heat and for an extra hour of work it was well worth the piece of mind for me.

P

[leapinlew]

JaveryH and DaveStall are correct.

Your setup may be different. You can put a fan in and be safe, or you can put some vents in and see how it holds up. On my full size cabs, I just use vents, but I make sure the computers I put in aren't heat machines. I've recently started using the low power consumption atom processors. But if I used a core2 duo with a high end video card and was drawing a lot of juice - I'd be more inclined to put some fans in to assist.

In my bartops, I always use some sort of cooling.

[DaveStall]

JaveryH and DaveStall are correct.

Your setup may be different. You can put a fan in and be safe, or you can put some vents in and see how it holds up. On my full size cabs, I just use vents, but I make sure the computers I put in aren't heat machines. I've recently started using the low power consumption atom processors. But if I used a core2 duo with a high end video card and was drawing a lot of juice - I'd be more inclined to put some fans in to assist.

In my bartops, I always use some sort of cooling.

How is the Atom working for you?  I have been itching to build an Atom based system, but I haven't seen many reports on how MAME runs on them.

If I had to put a new system together for a cabinet right now, a E7200 paired with a G31 based board would be a nice low power system (<100W total I would guess).  I don't think heat would be much of a problem there either.

Dave

[garnerb350]

Reason why I'm asking, is that I'm trying to keep cost down to a minium and people's hand me downs....but yet blow everybody's mind when they come over..."You BUILT an ARCADE!!!" SWEET!... I'm using common sense when it comes to understanding computer knowledge...The computer is just a factory Dell Dimension 4600, 80 gig, 1 gig RAM...The Monitor is a 21' Dell Trinitron....and the cab will have the flourensnt light, speakers, subwoofer...and probley will have LEDs for coin lights when i get a coin door. I HAVENT BUILT THE CAB YET....I'm just doing the planning. and just needed imput from the "pros" ( you guys)....

[SirPeale]

At minimum you're going to want some vents.  Some slots routed out to allow warmer air to pass out, and something below to allow cooler air in.  Heat rises, so a lot of the ventilation will take care of itself, as long as you allow it to.

[garnerb350]

That one thing for sure I am going to place....VENTS....I've got some old air duct vents that i was going to paint and place on the cab. I just wasn't sure if Fans would be necessary.

[leapinlew]

How is the Atom working for you?  I have been itching to build an Atom based system, but I haven't seen many reports on how MAME runs on them.

Works good for classics, and jukebox.

[Bluedeath]

My PC cpu (65w Athlon x2 4200) keeps an average cpu of 40~45 celsius degrees even in the most stressful situation (the psu fan makes more noise than the cpu one that gives only a very light whisper), im'm plannig to install 2 12cm "silent" fans behind the upper back vents just to be sure, is not the cpu heat that scare me is the reliability of the hard drive.
I'm not usiing a case but rather i'm mounting the motherboard on the PCB bracket of the cab.   

[divemaster127]

I have 2 vents cut in the top & then used some of the happ arcade fans they are huge & made out of diecast metal for exhaust fans.  The downside is they are noisy
dm

[Bluedeath]

Do you guys thinks that is possible do remove the fan from an atx PSU if i remove  it form the case, is going to be mounted into the cab anyway so there shoud not be any safety issues on having the psu opened.

[M.Lanza]

There's a reason that the power supply has the fan, so you should probably leave it alone.

[FrizzleFried]

Arcade Machine = what you are building

Arcade = a location with many arcade machines

Sorry...pet peeve...

Anyway... do yourself a favor and add a single exhaust fan toward the top OR if there is venting in place at the top add an intake fan at the bottom.  Simply add a grill if you're worried about the cats.

I can assure you that cabinet gets hot...when I open my CP after my MAME rig has been running for a while I can feel the heat that comes out from the CP and that is with a fan running.

EDIT: BTW,  you plan on adding a couple fans to your PC case that is going to be sitting INSIDE your cabinet?   

Seems sort of counter productive.  Why blow hot air from inside the cabinet in to an enclosed case?  Take those fans,  mount them to the cabinet door or one as an intake through the cabinet door blowing toward the PC and one as an exhaust at the top of the cab...then take the sides off the PC case.  All you need the case for is the mounting locations for the PCB, HD, etc....no need to have the sides on...

PERSONALLY,  I prefer mounting my computers for mame rigs to a piece of plywood that gets mounted to the side or bottom of the cab....it makes for real easy removal and provides maximum airflow.

[Blanka]

Most cabs are pretty tall, thus good for making a passive heatpipe. The heat will cause natural circulation. Just put holes at the proper locations.

[Bluedeath]

PERSONALLY,  I prefer mounting my computers for mame rigs to a piece of plywood that gets mounted to the side or bottom of the cab....it makes for real easy removal and provides maximum airflow.

Good idea, i think that I'll do the same is the 5 mm plywood OK for that? does it bent or deform after some use?.

to @ garnerb350.

Sorry for hijacking your topic. 

Put 2 "silent" <1000 RPM speed 12cm (4,7 inch) inside the cab,  just for heat extraction, behind the vent grills(if you don't have vent grills in your cab make them ASAP)  if you want to keep the PC case inside the cab just remove all the panels and keep the case structure only no fan except the psu and the CPU ones (and the video card unless your has a passive heatsink) .


To explain you better: I use to keep the case of the PC on  my desk without the side panel the components keeps so cool that CPU fan is so slow that i have to keep the fan speed alarm turned off, the only noise that you can hear is from the video card fan. If a close it after a while it seems to be on carrier takeoff bridge (maybe I'm a bit exaggerating but it gives you and idea of the difference of noise). the mobo that I'm installing into the cabinet is now sitting on my desk and the fan the temp is very low, when you touch the heat sink you can barely feel any heat.

 
trust me you don't want a closed case into you cabinet

[FrizzleFried]

One of my cabs uses 3/8" plywood,  another uses 3/4" left over MDF...  I use standard PCB "stand offs" that have machine screws for the PCB end and holes to screw in a wood screw on the other.  I use an L-bracket or two to support the power supply and I usually just rip off a HD cage from one of my spare cases to mount the HD to the wood.

[Bluedeath]

thanks, do you use a 3.5 or a2.5 hdd? (I won't go off topic anyome i promise)

[FrizzleFried]

I use what is on hand...in my case a standard 3.5 is usually what is on hand.

[CheffoJeffo]

PERSONALLY,  I prefer mounting my computers for mame rigs to a piece of plywood that gets mounted to the side or bottom of the cab....it makes for real easy removal and provides maximum airflow.

[garnerb350]

A good friend of mine stopped by last night and gave me an old DIRTY 350 w power supply and I spent 3 hours cleaning the sob. ( I've never seen greasy dust)...I turned it on and I had 2 80 mm fans hooked to it and I had to get down and look to see if it was working ( so quiet)...

My original intent was to hook up 4 fans and have two blow one direction ( IN) and the other two blow out, and another hook up with LED lights to light the coin inserts for the coin door.

My main intention is to have my cab set up to where if needed , I can "plug and play " components  i.e. monitor, computer, etc. and replace if needed.