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PC Basic Case Air Circulation.
Crazy Cooter:
What setup do you have for the computer? You may not need a fan system that "robust". I've built several computers and only had issues with a Duron 600 (@1Ghz) and a T-bird 700 (@950Mhz) where something "drastic" was needed for heat control. All others that I have built have run relatively cool and only used simple fan systems. FWIW, The duron actually made it up to almost 1.2Ghz with a water cooled setup, but now is used as a 850Mhz mp3 player with only 2 fans (one on processor and the one on the power supply.
patrickl:
The cooling issues described here aren't overly "robust". If you want robust cooling ... a while back I bought a HP LH3000 NetServer. This thing has so many fans (IIRC 6 x 12cm and 1x9cm) that I (almost) needed to put blocks in front of the wheels to keep the thing from moving! But at least the temperature inside the case rarely goes more than one or two degrees above room temperature.
Crazy Cooter:
My cousin had a case that was like that. It had like 5 fans normally and then at LAN parties he used a house fan with the side removed. VERY poor case design IMO. I disagree with that linked article though. They say that that layout is a minimum and that you should have more airflow out of the case than in.
1- "will give you the ideal minimum fan setup"
2- "All though this is sufficient for un-overclocked computers, it won't do for one that is overclocked."
3- "Use equal or more cfm's(cubic feet per minute) of fans exhausting out, than air going in"
1- I believe the minimum airflow (CFM) can be achieved with a 120mm fan intake in the lower front and the power supply fan exhausting out the top rear for most cases. A good way to keep an eye on things is with a program called "motherboard monitor". It will run in the background and can display the temp inside the case and the cpu for motherboards that support it.
2- See above and reference my previous post.
3- I do the opposite and here's why: If your exhaust cfm exceeds the intake, your case becomes a vaccuum. It will draw in air through other areas like your cd drive. If your intake cfm exceeds the exhaust, you create a positive pressure within the case and you push air out through gaps like your cd drive. Assuming you use a filter material on the intake fan, you can push cleaner (less dust) air out, rather than pulling dirtier (more dust) in.
That's how I've always approached air cooled setups. ;)
TIPS
--------
*Larger fans typically move more CFM with less noise.
*Monitor your temps under full load (SiSoft Sandra or 3d games are a good test bed)
*Intake CFM > Exhaust CFM
*Filter the intake air & Clean the case occassionally.
GGKoul:
If your overclocking.. then the more fans the better...
If your not, the standard, 1 front intake & 2 rear should be fine.
patrickl:
--- Quote from: Crazy Cooter on September 27, 2004, 12:21:02 pm ---...
3- I do the opposite and here's why: If your exhaust cfm exceeds the intake, your case becomes a vaccuum. It will draw in air through other areas like your cd drive. If your intake cfm exceeds the exhaust, you create a positive pressure within the case and you push air out through gaps like your cd drive. Assuming you use a filter material on the intake fan, you can push cleaner (less dust) air out, rather than pulling dirtier (more dust) in.
--- End quote ---
Yeah that's a very good remark. The HP NetServer I was talking about basically acts like a windtunnel. It has 4 of 12cm fans in the middle sucking air through the front and expelling it backwards. This way it sux the air through the machine (over the hard disks and out through the power supply). This design does work real well in keeping everything really cool. Especially the hard disks (5 high speed scsi disks) run remarkably cool.
No wthe point is: I know I'm supposed to keep these meachines in a clean environment, but the CD unit and such get covered with dust.
On the other hand won't the dust just go in another way and settle on the inside of the case? (I agree that's better than it being inside the CD player of course)
I also have a few rack mounted servers and these have one (or two) 12cm fan(s) at the front with dust filters behind them. Another option would probably be to vacuum the room once a year (or more even) ::)
I think the best design is the one with only a single fan though. As krick described. I have some desktop computers like that. (The power supply fan air intake is ducted over the CPU) The're silent (only one fan) and still run pretty cool. The're just 1Ghz though (dunno how such a design would translate to a 3+Ghz CPU with faster harddisk and heat producing videocards). Modern computers need better cooling than older computers do. I'd say it's pretty hard to give a general design that works in any situation.
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