Desiging A PC Build - How to deal with airflow and heat

[Steve W]

Are there any good documents on airflow and cooling for PC builds?

ten years ago my power supply would have been 200W now its 550W. Big step
up in power requirement.

But the case design is largely unchanged (I am using a new case BTW), video
card now has a fan, CPU has its own fan which sort just swirl the heat round
and round inside a hot box!

I've added a fan to the case - but that's an ignorant attempt at doing
something it feels right should be done. I'm running just one 250Gig SATA
with space either side and that runs hot - need another what are the rules
from the heating consideration point of view? Can I stack them together and
let them really hot? What is "really hot" anyway?

 

[Rod Speed]

Are there any good documents on airflow and cooling for PC builds?

ten years ago my power supply would have been 200W now its 550W. Big step up in power
requirement.

But the case design is largely unchanged (I am using a new case BTW),
video card now has a fan, CPU has its own fan which sort just swirl
the heat round and round inside a hot box!

Quite a few cases move external air over the cpu HSF.

I've added a fan to the case - but that's an ignorant attempt at doing something it feels right
should be done. I'm running just one 250Gig SATA with space either side and that runs hot

Yeah, some do. Decently designed hard drives dont in that situation.

- need another what are the rules from the heating consideration point of view?

Best to leave a spare slot between the drives and have a fan moving air over them
if they dont run cool enough as measured with the SMART temperature of the drives.

Can I stack them together and let them really hot?

Nope, that usually results in early drive death.

What is "really hot" anyway?

I dont like to see the SMART temperature over
40C even if the drive manufacturer allows that.

 

[Geoff]

I dont like to see the SMART temperature over

40C even if the drive manufacturer allows that.

Well if rod doesn't like it, better obey him, rod knows more than all
manufacturers put together . . .

-g

 

[Steve W]

Quite a few cases move external air over the cpu HSF.


Yeah, some do. Decently designed hard drives dont in that situation.


Best to leave a spare slot between the drives and have a fan moving air
over them
if they dont run cool enough as measured with the SMART temperature of the
drives.


Nope, that usually results in early drive death.


I dont like to see the SMART temperature over
40C even if the drive manufacturer allows that.

Thanks Rod - that's a very helpful - the disk is a MAXTOR 250GB SATA - any
reccomends for same functional spec but cool running?

TIA

Steve

 

[Dave]

Are there any good documents on airflow and cooling for PC builds?

ten years ago my power supply would have been 200W now its 550W. Big
step up in power requirement.

But the case design is largely unchanged (I am using a new case BTW),
video card now has a fan, CPU has its own fan which sort just swirl the
heat round and round inside a hot box!

I've added a fan to the case - but that's an ignorant attempt at doing
something it feels right should be done. I'm running just one 250Gig SATA
with space either side and that runs hot - need another what are the rules
from the heating consideration point of view? Can I stack them together
and let them really hot? What is "really hot" anyway?

OK, first, you want airflow inward to match, or exceed airflow outward.
Your power supply will have a fan or two drawing air outward. So if you add
case fans, you should start by adding one to pull air inward. Case fan
number 2 should also be pulling air into the case. If you add three case
fans, then the third one should be located near the power supply, sucking
air out of the case. Another thing to remember is that you generally want
cool air entering from a low position and hot air exiting from a high
position.

Oh, while most video cards have a fan, they don't all have one. Probably
10% of video cards on the market are passively cooled, meaning just a huge
heatsink (or 2 or 3) but no fan. Unless you are a hardcore gamer or intend
to overclock the video card, I would suggest you buy a passively cooled
video card. The cooling fan on a video card is often the LOUDEST component
in a PC.
http://www.gigabyte.us/Products/VGA/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2226

Many will say that you need a cooling fan just for the hard drive. I think
that's overkill. The only hard drives I've seen that failed were ones in
external enclosures that build up a lot of heat. To keep your system quiet
and reliable, I'd suggest two hard drives, with one being used (at least
half of it anyway) as a backup for the other one. See Acronis True Image.

You're right to be thinking about cooling now. It's not hard to cool a PC
case. What is difficult now is keeping the case cool AND QUIET. Read
reviews, find quiet case fans. They are worth the extra money. Find a
quiet power supply. You should be investing in a high-quality power supply
anyway, so a quiet one won't cost more. Get a passively cooled video card.
Find a mainboard with NO fan on the northbridge chips. If you plan this
right, the only fans you should have running are the quiet one(s) on the
power supply, the fan on the CPU (no way around that, without water-cooling)
and a couple of ultra-quiet ones on the case. And your system will stay
nice and cool. -Dave

 

[Rod Speed]

Thanks Rod - that's a very helpful - the disk is a MAXTOR 250GB SATA

Yeah, thats one of the ones that gets hotter than the best drives.

- any reccomends for same functional spec but cool running?

Some cases do have somewhere to mount a front fan so it
blows over the hard drives. That approach works pretty well.
If the current case doesnt, and you dont like the temp the
cpu is running at, it might be worth getting a new case that
has both a side vent to allow external air over the cpu HSF
and a fan for the hard drives too.

 

[Geoff]

Thanks Rod - that's a very helpful . . .

Rod knows all, we know nothing, do better next time to feed his ego.

-g

 

[comfort not speed]

Are there any good documents on airflow and cooling for PC builds?

KISS

You don't have to design anything.

All the works been done for you a long time ago.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129152

Best design for the price.

Yes, get the extra fan.

There's lots of good CPU coolers out there. Pick the one you like.
Thermalright, Thermaltake, etc, etc.

Ditto lots of good chipset coolers if you want to get into that.
swiftech, thermalright, etc.

Most all the hot video cards use the "shoot the hot air out the rear
of the pci slot" design these days. Doesn't get any better.

Good Luck.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

CPU has its own fan which sort just swirl the heat round
and round inside a hot box!

Don't worry about that since not all the heat possible is
drawn off in the 1st pass of the air. Not until the air temp
matches the temp of the heatsink will there be no heat
transfer. It's like artificial respiration - does the patient die
because you're blowing just carbon dioxide and nitrogen
into his lungs? No, bacause your "used" air still has unused
oxygen in it. Similarly, "used" air in the case still hasn't
reached the temperature of the heatsink, and circulating
it 'round 'n 'round past the heatsink in multiple passes will
aid cooling more than just one pass. As long as the case's
fans maintain the airflow through the case, the cooling will
be AT LEAST as good as it was with only one pass of air
past the CPU's heatsink. Bottom line - CPU fans do help,
and that is obvious.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Clint]

Be fair, will ya? That was a useful and polite post.

Clint

 

[Geoff]

One thing that will not change with rod is his ego. It will stay about twice
the size of Texas. He maybe helpful today but he will be back too his
****wit remarks soon.

A third alternative is he go annoy some other group. This group was fine
(better) without him.

-g

 

[Geoff]

Also, notice the short posts, which he probably puts up himself using
various logon methods then the reply, 'Oh yes, you were right rod', etc.

He has to win the all time insecurity reward

-g

 

[Bhagat Gurtu]

One thing that will not change with rod is his ego. It will stay about twice
the size of Texas. He maybe helpful today but he will be back too his
****wit remarks soon.

A third alternative is he go annoy some other group. This group was fine
(better) without him.

You be more ****wit kinded than him.

 

[John Doe]

Also, notice the short posts, which he probably puts up himself
using various logon methods then the reply, 'Oh yes, you were
right rod', etc.

You might be right. Some of the reply authors look fishy.

However. If you're right about Rod Speed going back to his old ways,
just be patient. Even if he is nym shifting and using sock puppets,
if he is forming intelligent questions and replying with useful
answers, it does no significant harm. Other members of the group can
be the judge of whether he is making sense. When he doesn't and they
questioned him, that's the real test.

 

[Geoff]

You be more ****wit kinded than him.

I know, rod said it already, never question him.

-g

 

[Rod Speed]

Some gutless ****wit desperately cowering behind
John Doe <[email protected]> who is actuallly

Mark Bender
509 Frost,San Antonio, TX 78201
(210) 734-3107

wrote just the puerile shit thats always pouring from the back of it.

 

[Geoff]

Wheeeeeeeeew, I was starting to worry, rod hasn't called anyone a ****wit
for a while . . .

-g

 

[John Doe]

A nym shifting tough guy wanna-be pathologically insulting troll.

See also:
(aus.legal,misc.consumers.frugal-living)
"123" <123 pam.com>
"Jim P Sharma" <jps nospam.com>
"joe" <joe wse.com>
"JohnH" <johnh jjss.com>
"Oscar Jones" <oj ojqw.com>
"Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa gmail.com>
"Sam Jones" <samjones wellp.com.ru>
"wqq" <qqr dre.com>
"wse" <wse wse.com>


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From:
<rod.speed.aaa gmail.com>
Newsgroups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Subject: Re: Desiging A PC Build - How to deal with airflow and heat
Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 20:27:22 +1100
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Some gutless ****wit desperately cowering behind
John Doe <jdoe usenetlove.invalid> who is actuallly

<A name, address, and telephone number snipped>

wrote just the puerile shit thats always pouring from the back of it.

 

[Rod Speed]

Some gutless ****wit desperately cowering behind
John Doe <[email protected]> who is actuallly

Mark Bender
509 Frost,San Antonio, TX 78201
(210) 734-3107

wrote just the puerile shit thats always pouring from the back of it.