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From: DanoWeir on 23 Jun 2008 21:55
Hey there, had a problem that's got me stuck, thought I'd shoot it out
and see if anyone could help.

My girlfriend has a homebuilt PC, which she keeps in the 'comp cubby'
that came with her desk, i.e. a small area under the desk where your
tower is supposed to go. Unfortunately, this cubby gets absolutely
zero airflow, so despite the fans (one on power supply, one for case
itself and the fan on the heatsink), the computer is overheating and
often shutting off erratically.

Yes, I realize the simple solution is to store the tower elsewhere,
but she doesn't want to do that (girlfriend logic is perplexing). SO,
I've been charged with solving this problem.

Simply: Is there any way to cool a comp that's in a tight spot, and
receives little airflow?

I did a quick search over at Newegg.com, and saw 'water cooling' and
'hard drive heatsinks', but I'm quickly moving out of my knowledge
zone, and don't want to waste money on something I don't need. If you
can help at all, I'd appreciate it. Cheers!


Dano
From: Sjouke Burry on 23 Jun 2008 22:32
DanoWeir(a)gmail.com wrote:
> Hey there, had a problem that's got me stuck, thought I'd shoot it out
> and see if anyone could help.
>
> My girlfriend has a homebuilt PC, which she keeps in the 'comp cubby'
> that came with her desk, i.e. a small area under the desk where your
> tower is supposed to go. Unfortunately, this cubby gets absolutely
> zero airflow, so despite the fans (one on power supply, one for case
> itself and the fan on the heatsink), the computer is overheating and
> often shutting off erratically.
>
> Yes, I realize the simple solution is to store the tower elsewhere,
> but she doesn't want to do that (girlfriend logic is perplexing). SO,
> I've been charged with solving this problem.
>
> Simply: Is there any way to cool a comp that's in a tight spot, and
> receives little airflow?
>
> I did a quick search over at Newegg.com, and saw 'water cooling' and
> 'hard drive heatsinks', but I'm quickly moving out of my knowledge
> zone, and don't want to waste money on something I don't need. If you
> can help at all, I'd appreciate it. Cheers!
>
>
> Dano
Perforate/remove any surface invisible from outside.
Start with the bottom, then the backside, then the side
partially hidden under the table surface.
Then put extra holes/fans in your computer, where you have
removed/perforated the most of the obstructing sides.
Then cross your fingers and hope that you get better performance.
From: "nobody >" on 24 Jun 2008 00:34
DanoWeir(a)gmail.com wrote:
> Hey there, had a problem that's got me stuck, thought I'd shoot it out
> and see if anyone could help.
>
> My girlfriend has a homebuilt PC, which she keeps in the 'comp cubby'
> that came with her desk, i.e. a small area under the desk where your
> tower is supposed to go. Unfortunately, this cubby gets absolutely
> zero airflow, so despite the fans (one on power supply, one for case
> itself and the fan on the heatsink), the computer is overheating and
> often shutting off erratically.
>
> Yes, I realize the simple solution is to store the tower elsewhere,
> but she doesn't want to do that (girlfriend logic is perplexing). SO,
> I've been charged with solving this problem.
>
> Simply: Is there any way to cool a comp that's in a tight spot, and
> receives little airflow?
>
> I did a quick search over at Newegg.com, and saw 'water cooling' and
> 'hard drive heatsinks', but I'm quickly moving out of my knowledge
> zone, and don't want to waste money on something I don't need. If you
> can help at all, I'd appreciate it. Cheers!
>
>
> Dano

Get out your trusty 1 inch holesaw and proceed to cut holes anywhere in
that cabinet that's not visible from the front.

From: BigJim on 24 Jun 2008 00:55
get a new girl friend, problem solved........
<DanoWeir(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
news:297fb2f5-9caa-4eff-9b57-c8dffea29b0c(a)s21g2000prm.googlegroups.com...
> Hey there, had a problem that's got me stuck, thought I'd shoot it out
> and see if anyone could help.
>
> My girlfriend has a homebuilt PC, which she keeps in the 'comp cubby'
> that came with her desk, i.e. a small area under the desk where your
> tower is supposed to go. Unfortunately, this cubby gets absolutely
> zero airflow, so despite the fans (one on power supply, one for case
> itself and the fan on the heatsink), the computer is overheating and
> often shutting off erratically.
>
> Yes, I realize the simple solution is to store the tower elsewhere,
> but she doesn't want to do that (girlfriend logic is perplexing). SO,
> I've been charged with solving this problem.
>
> Simply: Is there any way to cool a comp that's in a tight spot, and
> receives little airflow?
>
> I did a quick search over at Newegg.com, and saw 'water cooling' and
> 'hard drive heatsinks', but I'm quickly moving out of my knowledge
> zone, and don't want to waste money on something I don't need. If you
> can help at all, I'd appreciate it. Cheers!
>
>
> Dano

From: Paul on 24 Jun 2008 02:57
DanoWeir(a)gmail.com wrote:
> Hey there, had a problem that's got me stuck, thought I'd shoot it out
> and see if anyone could help.
>
> My girlfriend has a homebuilt PC, which she keeps in the 'comp cubby'
> that came with her desk, i.e. a small area under the desk where your
> tower is supposed to go. Unfortunately, this cubby gets absolutely
> zero airflow, so despite the fans (one on power supply, one for case
> itself and the fan on the heatsink), the computer is overheating and
> often shutting off erratically.
>
> Yes, I realize the simple solution is to store the tower elsewhere,
> but she doesn't want to do that (girlfriend logic is perplexing). SO,
> I've been charged with solving this problem.
>
> Simply: Is there any way to cool a comp that's in a tight spot, and
> receives little airflow?
>
> I did a quick search over at Newegg.com, and saw 'water cooling' and
> 'hard drive heatsinks', but I'm quickly moving out of my knowledge
> zone, and don't want to waste money on something I don't need. If you
> can help at all, I'd appreciate it. Cheers!
>
>
> Dano

http://web.archive.org/web/20040201223228/http://www.chassis-plans.com/cooling_and_noise.html

CFM = 3.16 x Watts / Delta_T_degrees_F

That formula relates how much a device dissipating "Watts" will heat
up, compared to the room air. CFM might be interpreted as the amount
of air that should move through the case (and the cubby). My suspicion
would be, that the cubby should have forced air, either in the form of
butting the computer case fans up to the back of the cubby, then
cutting mating holes to accept their airflow. Or, if you want freedom
to move the computer around, with respect to the cubby walls, means
fitting a fan to the cubby itself. At some other point in the cubby, you
need an intake vent, and the intake vent has to have sufficient
cross sectional area (X * Y), such that the fan blowing the air out,
doesn't have to "sip through a straw". If you just had a fan, and
no intake vent, it would sound like what happens when you put your hand
over the intake on a vacuum cleaner hose.

Water cooling is fun, but doesn't solve all heat problems. Even if the
major hot elements in the computer (CPU, graphics card, maybe Northbridge
chip) had water blocks installed, there is still 50-60W coming from
some of the smaller emitters. And then you still need a flow of air,
although smaller, to remove that heat. Some people have used water
to "remote" a cooling problem (like having the water system outside
the computing room, for noise reasons). But then, you're probably looking
at $200 worth of junk, and unsightly hoses and a place to put the
radiator and fans.

In terms of fan types, if I go to the one good electronics store in town,
they have two types. DC brushless fans, from 40mm to 120mm, and running from
12VDC, are one type, and those are the ones used inside the computer
case for various purposes. But for venting the cubby, they also sell
AC 120V powered fans, some with rather large CFM ratings. Something like
that, AC powered, provides a means of powering the cubby fan, without
a power connection to the computer. But an AC powered fan will spin at
a rate related to power line frequency and number of poles, and generally
something like that will be on the noisy side. If the cubby is made of
particle board, it might even be resonant and amplify any extra noise
generated.

So your project will be a challenge, in terms of satisfying all parties
involved :-)

Now that the problem is recognized, something else you might consider,
is making sure there is a good backup plan in place. If the hard
drive has been "cooked", that might have shortened its life, in which
case you don't want to be faced with losing all data. Purchasing a
bare hard drive mechanism, and a good quality USB enclosure for it,
and *not* storing it in the cubby, may be a way to do a backup every
once and a while, just in case.

Paul
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