Any thoughts on Hard Drive coolers?
- Thread starter racketboy
- Start date
Scared0o0Rabbit
Established Member
check out newegg.com they have a huge selection of expensive to cheap cases. Though you may have to drill and thread holes for the AT formfactor motherboard that you have there.
at the moment I thinking about using the existing case
put 2 blowhole, grills, and fans on the top part of the case -- one above the floppy bay and one of the HD bay.
That way those fans can get more fresh air blowing in and the power supply fan inside can blow the warm air out the back
sound good?
put 2 blowhole, grills, and fans on the top part of the case -- one above the floppy bay and one of the HD bay.
That way those fans can get more fresh air blowing in and the power supply fan inside can blow the warm air out the back
sound good?
Scared0o0Rabbit
Established Member
I suppose that could work, generally though you'd want to blow hot air out the top, but you don't have any other air intakes.
Scared0o0Rabbit
Established Member
umm... ideally you want all teh fans on the same side to blow the same direction. The only concern with ahving them blow cooler air in and letting it exhaust out the back is that you are then fighting physics to get teh cool air not to rise.
Huh? Why do you have to fight physics to prevent cool air from rising? Cool air tends to go down, not up. Hot air rises.
Anyway, if you really want, just punch some holes in the front and put an exhaust fan on the top near the back. As Rabbit said (before the confusing remark) you don't generally want to push and pull air on the same side, especially with such a small case and without a specific need to do so. If you pull air out the back, and there are holes/slits/whatever in the front, air will get pulled in through the front. So between the PSU fan and another fan on the rear of the top (80mm should fine) you should have enough air getting pulled out to cool things down.
Now, it certainly helps to have cool air actively getting pushed in through the front (via a fan), but your PC doesn't appear to be loaded with stuff. As someone else pointed out, HDs can get quite hot during normal operation, and it doesnt kill them. So unless you've got like 2-3 HDs crammed together with nowhere for the heat to go, some simple exhaust should reduce the case temp so you don't have to worry. I always space out HDs anyway, and make sure my case has adequate airflow. HDD coolers are generally not needed, although if I had a 15k RPM SCSI drive I'd consider putting it in a 5 1/4 bay cooling solution.
with the sound card on one side and the PSU on the other, there isn't any room to but rear fans.
as mentioned earlier, side fans are also out because of case structure.
so top-front is the only option.
Would it make sense to just have a fan above the HD and just a vent w/ no fan above the floppy bay?
as mentioned earlier, side fans are also out because of case structure.
so top-front is the only option.
Would it make sense to just have a fan above the HD and just a vent w/ no fan above the floppy bay?
For reference, here are some new pics that are actually of my box
http://racketboy.zpoc.com/systemfront.jpg
http://racketboy.zpoc.com/systemopen.jpg
http://racketboy.zpoc.com/systemclosed.jpg
http://racketboy.zpoc.com/caseshell.jpg
Now you can see the drive trays etc.
I'm thinking about maybe cutting out the metal of the floppy tray (the empty one) so I can blow straight down onto the CPU -- so I can safely overclock it a bit.
I dug up an extra CPU fan of mine. It just barely has enough room to above the hard drive. I don't need a whole lot of clearance, do I?
http://racketboy.zpoc.com/systemfront.jpg
http://racketboy.zpoc.com/systemopen.jpg
http://racketboy.zpoc.com/systemclosed.jpg
http://racketboy.zpoc.com/caseshell.jpg
Now you can see the drive trays etc.
I'm thinking about maybe cutting out the metal of the floppy tray (the empty one) so I can blow straight down onto the CPU -- so I can safely overclock it a bit.
I dug up an extra CPU fan of mine. It just barely has enough room to above the hard drive. I don't need a whole lot of clearance, do I?
Scared0o0Rabbit
Established Member
You said that's a compaq? They actually gave you access to the multipliers and stuff in the bios? X_x that's fairly(VERY) unusual for them.
Scared0o0Rabbit
Established Member
Erm... I guess you're right... that's where that stuff usually is... I've been spoiled lately with abit boards. In any case, I'm surprised compaq actually has overclocking stuff on there.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, QUIT USING A SHITTY AT CASE AND GET A NORMAL ONE! Just fucking get an ATX case it'll save you all this grief. The reason ATX became so popular was because it was actually decent. I'm just saying I know you're on a tight budget but you're only hurting yourself since it's gonna be hard to find parts which fit an AT case nowadays.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, QUIT USING A SHITTY AT CASE AND GET A NORMAL ONE! Just fucking get an ATX case it'll save you all this grief. The reason ATX became so popular was because it was actually decent. I'm just saying I know you're on a tight budget but you're only hurting yourself since it's gonna be hard to find parts which fit an AT case nowadays. [/b][/quote]
<rant>
what parts am I going to have to get???
all this box is going to be is a server and MP3 player
I'm not gonna need any other parts.
The only thing I'm going to do is add ventilation.
Once this thing dies, THEN I'll get a nice case, get a new mobo, processor, and move in my HD. OK???? Is that alright with you?
My wife's tuition is $2000 a MONTH so I seriously can't afford to spend much on stuff like a case right now. And don't get me started on my $900 a month for my 1-bedroom apartment, car payments/insurance, and all that other crap. When you start living on your own, maybe you'll understand this.
Like I said before, this is just a project for me to learn and have fun.
I'm trying to be creative with limited resources, not just taking the easy road.
My "nice case" will be included in my upcoming PC project -- a "real" pc for video/photo editing. When I start on that, THEN you can talk to me about cases
</rant>
If that's all your using it for, dont bother OCing. Especially not unless you put a better HS (w/ a fan), if you can fit it. If possible, lower your soundcard (I cant see the slots clearly in those pics) and put an 80mm exhaust like i said. If not, then just put a small intake above your HDD like you planned. As long as the fan isnt noisy, there shouldn't be a problem. That should be enough airflow, especially since i think it'd be fine as-is, without any work.
