hehe - not sure if it has been done - air cooling idea.

WJA96 · 19 Feb 2007 at 15:59

I think you maybe don't quite get what the picture you posted is - it's a big air intake - hence my suggestion of the tunnel. I don't know of anyone doing anything on air cooling like your second illustration, but the Zalman Reserator and Cape Cora are good examples of passive external water coolers that sit outside the case.

SteveOBHave · 19 Feb 2007 at 16:11

WJA96 said:
I think you maybe don't quite get what the picture you posted is - it's a big air intake - hence my suggestion of the tunnel. I don't know of anyone doing anything on air cooling like your second illustration, but the Zalman Reserator and Cape Cora are good examples of passive external water coolers that sit outside the case.

Oh your talking about the butterfly blower mounted on the engine that is half hanging out of the bonnet of the funny car. Thanks but I am well aware of what the picture is and the engineering surrounding it.

To quote myself and the intention of the mod:

"The idea is to cut a hole in the side of your case and have a huge HS hanging out"

and

"I am talking about having some of the components on the outside of the case..."

The Zalman and the Cape Cora being water cooling don't fit the bill - this is an air cooling mod. Honestly I appreciate the attempt to help but you have the wrong end of the stick.

Mekrel · 19 Feb 2007 at 17:28

The problem would be with airflow, none really exists outside of a case unless near a desktop fan etc. Thats why case fans are there to induce some kind of flow. The car in your example with have plenty of flow as the air turbulance caused by the speed it travels.

WJA96 · 19 Feb 2007 at 17:35

If you think about it, it would be staggeringly difficult to achieve in practice - even with fans. If the cooler had to be clear of the case and still make contact with the CPU IHS, it would have to be at least 20cm tall. So either you need massive heat pipes or a simple gigantic block of something conductive. I don't think it's the sort of thing you could just knock up at home. And the picture of the tower case with coolers sticking out both side would be even more difficult to achieve. Not impossible, but extremely difficult.

SteveOBHave · 19 Feb 2007 at 21:03

Mekrel said:
The problem would be with airflow, none really exists outside of a case unless near a desktop fan etc. Thats why case fans are there to induce some kind of flow. The car in your example with have plenty of flow as the air turbulance caused by the speed it travels.

The fans attached to the HS produce the localised airflow over the fins, there is significantly more ambient cool air outside the case so I think that it could potentially make some difference. I think a more real problem is what WJA96 pointed out - how big the HS needs to be.

The Photoshopped image was just to clarify a bit. I think if I actually did it there would be two options open for the mod:

1. Raise the motherboard higher up in the case or
2. Use something like this:

hardc0re_tid · 20 Feb 2007 at 11:42

SteveOBHave said:
1. Raise the motherboard higher up in the case or
2. Use something like this:

1. Heat rises so its beter if the mobo is lower, or even better mounted upside down - BTX (the cpu is at the bottom of the case)
2. why use such a small case with restricted airflow?

WJA96 · 20 Feb 2007 at 12:07

hardc0re_tid said:
1. Heat rises so its beter if the mobo is lower, or even better mounted upside down - BTX (the cpu is at the bottom of the case)
2. why use such a small case with restricted airflow?

Given that he/we are proposing cutting a 6"-9" square hole in the top to let the CPU cooler stick through, I don't think airflow is going to be a problem.

SteveOBHave · 20 Feb 2007 at 12:37

WJA96 said:
Given that he/we are proposing cutting a 6"-9" square hole in the top to let the CPU cooler stick through, I don't think airflow is going to be a problem.

He has a valid point - you still need to keep the voltage regulators and mosfets cool...

hardc0re_tid · 20 Feb 2007 at 14:33

SteveOBHave said:
He has a valid point - you still need to keep the voltage regulators and mosfets cool...

not to mention a hot NB, SB and graphics card, with restricted airflow things will become hot hot hot.

personally i dont see the point in having your heatisnk sticking outside your case, okay, if done right it will look 'pretty' with its led fan wizzing away but come off it, lets all spend 80-90 quid on a case to go and cut holes in it...yea right!

IMO there are better ways to go about cooling to keep everything inside the case:

1. for example (something im planning on doing) front case fan, same height as cooler and a cooker hood/tumble dryer hose used to draw cold air through the front to act as a 'wind tunnel' with an exhaust fan drawing the hot air out.

2. as i said before, have no case, if your going to have bits sticking out here and there then go the whole way and have a gheto rig

just my 2p tbh

WJA96 · 20 Feb 2007 at 14:42

ROFL. If it was me I'd use an aluminium chassis and mCubed Borg heatpipes to cool the chipset. The PWM/MOSFETs don't need cooling really.

SteveOBHave · 20 Feb 2007 at 15:31

hardc0re_tid said:
not to mention a hot NB, SB and graphics card, with restricted airflow things will become hot hot hot.

personally i dont see the point in having your heatisnk sticking outside your case, okay, if done right it will look 'pretty' with its led fan wizzing away but come off it, lets all spend 80-90 quid on a case to go and cut holes in it...yea right!

IMO there are better ways to go about cooling to keep everything inside the case:

1. for example (something im planning on doing) front case fan, same height as cooler and a cooker hood/tumble dryer hose used to draw cold air through the front to act as a 'wind tunnel' with an exhaust fan drawing the hot air out.

2. as i said before, have no case, if your going to have bits sticking out here and there then go the whole way and have a gheto rig

just my 2p tbh

Ok but if you have your CPU fan all encased with hooding/a hose then surely there is little difference to having the fan on the outside of the case? All you're going to do is put more in the way of cooling your NB, SB and GPU. I agree with the idea of having the hose direct to the front of the CPU cooler but the exhaust air is frequently needed to cool mosfets and voltage regulators which are commonly found around the CPU socket.

In regards to spending the money on the case then cutting holes in it, last I checked that was what was commonly known as modding. People frequently cut up their cases, it is certainly not some horror show of an idea.

The idea is to produce something different and yet still aesthetically pleasing. Hard to do when you have a "ghetto rig". I'm sure you could happily watercool the chipsets and still retain the interesting look. Going one further you could potentially also have the GPU part hanging outside the case and have a water cooling block surrounded but a shroud...

SteveOBHave · 20 Feb 2007 at 15:32

WJA96 said:
ROFL. If it was me I'd use an aluminium chassis and mCubed Borg heatpipes to cool the chipset. The PWM/MOSFETs don't need cooling really.

LOL you're a regular alternative cooling shopping list aren't you

Voltage regulators are frequently heatsinked and electronics always run better the cooler they are.

Note the large HS on the voltage regulators in the top right hand corner.

hardc0re_tid · 20 Feb 2007 at 16:27

SteveOBHave said:
In regards to spending the money on the case then cutting holes in it, last I checked that was what was commonly known as modding. People frequently cut up their cases, it is certainly not some horror show of an idea....

im all for modding but not to the extent to which i buy a new case and cut holes in it as soon as i open the box in which it came.

the same temperatures can be acheived by simple cooling methods such as the one i had mentioned - £10, if that, for hosing, your going to spend £60+ on a case and cut it up... not my cuppa tbh.

im not saying that the concept wont work, all im saying is that i dont see the point it it when the same result can be acheived in a more simple, less costly way

WJA96 · 20 Feb 2007 at 17:59

SteveOBHave said:
LOL you're a regular alternative cooling shopping list aren't you

I've mpretty much had them all. Very few work well, and even fewer are worth the money.

SteveOBHave said:
Voltage regulators are frequently heatsinked and electronics always run better the cooler they are.

I stand by my earlier statement. Mosfets and PWM regulators do not need to be cooled. Just because you can find a motherboard where the designer has extended the Southbridge and Northbridge coolers over the PWM controllers doesn't mean they need cooling. It just means the designer wanted a bigger heatsink.

There is a thread elsewhere where it was pretty much conclusively proved that you couldn't overheat these components, but naturally, I can't locate it just at the moment. :rolleyes:

WJA96 · 20 Feb 2007 at 18:00

hardc0re_tid said:
im all for modding but not to the extent to which i buy a new case and cut holes in it as soon as i open the box in which it came.

the same temperatures can be acheived by simple cooling methods such as the one i had mentioned - £10, if that, for hosing, your going to spend £60+ on a case and cut it up... not my cuppa tbh.

im not saying that the concept wont work, all im saying is that i dont see the point it it when the same result can be acheived in a more simple, less costly way

I think we left Kansas quite some time ago in this thread.

peetee · 21 Feb 2007 at 01:08

SteveOBHave said:
The fans attached to the HS produce the localised airflow over the fins, there is significantly more ambient cool air outside the case so I think that it could potentially make some difference. I think a more real problem is what WJA96 pointed out - how big the HS needs to be.

The Photoshopped image was just to clarify a bit. I think if I actually did it there would be two options open for the mod:

1. Raise the motherboard higher up in the case or
2. Use something like this:

Using that case and somehow incorporating an exhaust blower like fan. Not the type you lot are used to in pcs currently. Im talking about a long barreled one. For a college project i ripped a case apart and built a new front etc and skinned the insides and fiddled about with it, eventually adding in a VERY large exhaust blower from some heating system that i stole off my dad. Must hav been about 15-20cm inner barrel size, and well over 30cm in full diameter with the fins measured too. Full width of case too. Mounted where hdd cage usually goes, part of exhaust being shot at underside of graphics card, rest being pumelled towards processor , carrying exhausted heat towards the large fan in back of case. With a decent aftermarket cooler in that case Temps would have been ridiculously low. I think i might get it out of the cupboard when I go home.

SteveOBHave · 21 Feb 2007 at 08:20

WJA96 said:
I think we left Kansas quite some time ago in this thread.

Entirely

it was always supposed to be way out there. Thats the fun of modding, it doesn't always have to be efficient. If it does happen to be an improvement then BONUS!!!

SteveOBHave · 21 Feb 2007 at 08:21

peetee said:
Using that case and somehow incorporating an exhaust blower like fan. Not the type you lot are used to in pcs currently. Im talking about a long barreled one. For a college project i ripped a case apart and built a new front etc and skinned the insides and fiddled about with it, eventually adding in a VERY large exhaust blower from some heating system that i stole off my dad. Must hav been about 15-20cm inner barrel size, and well over 30cm in full diameter with the fins measured too. Full width of case too. Mounted where hdd cage usually goes, part of exhaust being shot at underside of graphics card, rest being pumelled towards processor , carrying exhausted heat towards the large fan in back of case. With a decent aftermarket cooler in that case Temps would have been ridiculously low. I think i might get it out of the cupboard when I go home.

Coolio - take some photos too