Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: urbecrisch on April 16, 2007, 11:15:33 pm
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I'm in the process of maming a CAB and I'm curious how many cooling fans, if any, are suggested coming out of the back of the CAB? I'm using a CPU in the original case but if I close the back of the CAB I'm wondering how hot it will get inside running the CPU which could possibly cause some real damage to my CAB and house!
If I need to add one or two fans, what is the best/cheapest kind that will work and where should I draw power from to run them?
If you have any PICS of your CAB w/fans I would like to see how they look.
Cheers!
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I kept a small area on the back of my cab open so that the PC PSU could vent the heat through the back.
All fans on your cab can easily be powered from the PC's PSU. Just splice the wires from a standard PC fan and extend them with a wire that is able to conduct 12v.
The only other fan I added is to the back of my Betson Multisync arcade monitor (see pic). I can say that I am currently going to change this fan to a style that you can control the RPM due to fan noise. It's a bit much for my taste.
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I've got two 120mm fans I pulled out of a Honewell rackmount enclosure. They move a hell of a lot of air but sound (and feel) like a P-51 ready for take-off! :P
Because of this, I rarely use them. I've also never had any heat issues with the pc's inside either of my cabinets.
If you are going to install a fan or two you may want to consider using a pot as a speed controller also. It's something I wish I would have done. This way I wouldn't have to run those noisy suckers flat-out or nothing.
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Thanks for the advice. Looks like I may not have to add any fans cause I have two open areas on the back top of my CAB and also one center bottom of CAB where an old power supply was removed. I'll keep an eye on it and add fan(s) if needed.
marlborroman13, what are the two pushbuttons on the back of your CAB for? Just curious as to what people do and what kind of buttons they hide. ;D
Cheers!
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The red is my power on for the cab and the black is reset. I accomplished this by wiring the button directly to the motherboard's PWON jumper switch and the black is a reset button that is also wired directly to the motherboard's Reset jumper. The rest of the cab is plugged into a Bits Limited Smartstrip located here http://www.bitsltd.net/ConsumerProducts/index.htm
Model #LCG3
That way the whole cab can be powered on by the press of the red power button. It also can all be shut down using Mamewah's "Exit and Shut Down" then presto the whole cab powers off.
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No fans other than the original CPU and power supply fans. The PC's are basically sitting by themselves in the bottom of the cabs with the case lid off.
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I've only got a PIII running with a CD ROM, HD, and RAM. I have no vents. Nice thing about running the old stuff (classics) is that is just doesn't get hot enough to care about. At least not for me. I think the longest actual "gaming" session was about 4 hours.
Of course, I don't run it constantly although it still turns on by itself every once in a while.
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The best way is to have one fan near the top blowing out and one near the bottom blowing in. Even small quiet fans will do a good job that way. Barring that, one near the top should do enough, except in the case where you've done something counterproductive like kept the PC in its case.
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one fan running over the MB which is attached to the side of the cab(inside of course) and a larger fan for the WG D9200.
Chapel
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No fans .... simply cut two vent holes in the back of my cabinet. One vent is for TV heat and the second vent is for the lower part of the cabinet (ie: computer), which turned out not to be really necessary ..... does not hurt thought .... ;D
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The best way is to have one fan near the top blowing out and one near the bottom blowing in.
I quit that design when my poor kitten got sucked up into the bottom fan with an experimental PC case. I got a beating from my ex that day. :scared
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How the hell does anything at all get sucked up into a 5v or 12v fan? They barely suck in dust. ???
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Only one on the Bat-Cade
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As of right now I think I'm going to leave the back open until I figure out what to do. I like unclet's idea about cutting some holes instead of powering fans. I can cut some holes in the removable back panel at a later date. I'll play around with the idea and see what works out best.
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How the hell does anything at all get sucked up into a 5v or 12v fan? They barely suck in dust. ???
I was fiddling around with water cooling at one point and, IIRC, I was using a 150mm fan for the cooling coils. Getting "sucked" up probably isn't an accurate description. I suspect she was screwing around with the blades that day. I didn't have the guard in place, so she simply got trapped between the blades and support pieces.
No trauma, she fell asleep inside the same PC the next day.