aviationwiz,
Thank you for starting this topic and delivering great info.
This is the thread I have been looking looking for as I'm trying to understand the optimal way for cooling cases. I'm looking forward to your next guide.
blakerwry wrote:
1) Case cooling: good and proper directional air flow is most important here... having air come in at a specific location and having it exit at a specific location are very important.. That way you're getting an in-flow of cool air and exhausting the hot air... not just blowing hot air around.
Typically you will want to get a PSU that blows outwards(located at top rear), and have a case fan located at either the bottom front of the case or next to the PSU at the top rear. Air should exit at the top of the case and air should enter at the bottom.
Thank you! This seems to be essential, IMHO. I have a Gateway that I have been trying to cool. While the exterior case looks good, the lower front has extremely poor in ventilation. The plastic opening comes nowhere close to the inner grill where air should be pulled in. A removal of the plastic cover completely (it pops off) creates a 5-6 degree drop in temp of my hard drive, according to
DTemp.
blakerwry wrote:2) Case cooling(continued): using rounded or "chopped" ribbon IDE/Floppy cables will prevent the flow of air from being blocked. You can also try to lay flat ribbon cables along the bottom or sides of the case so that they wont impede the flow of air.
Again, thanks. Will check into this.
blakerwry wrote:3) While your guide shows how to cool a computer, it doesn't make much mention of how to cool while being quiet. I think a second guide might focus on that aspect more... like using larger, slower fans... temperature monitoring using motherboard monitor (
http://mbm.livewiredev.com)...
Yes, definitely!! I have two fans I purchased specifically for their CFM vs. dB level:
Vantec Stealth 9cm and an
Enermax RPM Adjustable Fan Series UC-8FAB 8cm, but I am seriously looking for other candidates so you recommendations are appreciated. Not that the ones I currently use are bad, just that I'm sure some people have some that are much better.
blakerwry wrote:4) For a future guide you might want to talk about what types of cases and PSU's are going to be conducive to effective cooling...
Again, great idea. I intend to build my own computer someday and this will be essential in choosing the PSU.
blakerwry wrote:some cases have piss poor cooling while others (that may be of similar price) have excellent cooling... same goes with PSU's.. cheaply made PSUs are often louder and produce more heat than a quality unit.
I had always assumed the more expensive, the better the product. Glad to know that this isn't the case (no pun intended).
blakerwry wrote:On a side note, I would like to recomend Speeze/Spire CPU coolers. The WhisperRock III and falconRock I and II are better than the thermaltake's and cost much less... In the US
www.newegg.com sells speeze/spire products...
Cool, looking into them
I will be taking thermodynamics next year. I've already heard that dynamics is pretty tough too.
- the field of cryptical potentials and boundary conditions 
and those wonderful Maxwell relations that give you the handy-dandy identities that seem to be made specifically for the problem at hand (but find the right one...). 
