Outdoor/weatherproof PC?

Da_Big_Jeff

Da_Big_Jeff

Da_Big_Jeff

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Devon
Wanting to run a PC based on the Asus atom mobo (Asus AT5NM10-I) Which has a passive heat sink. Going to run 4 gig of ram and a 5400rpm 2.5" hard drive. The PSU will probably be a standard ATX desktop unit.

It is going to be 'inside' a small observatory which will probably give protection from direct rain but ambient temps and humidity will be as if it were outside. It wont be on 24/7 and will probably be fully shut down during the day and cloudy nights.

So I have had a look at some in car PC cases but most seem to be intended to fitted in the boot of a car and I'm sure are not hardy enough as far as moisture is concerned.

A completely sealed metal case with covers for the backplate and connectors seems to be the way forward.
Has anyone done an outdoor PCs or have any ideas and words of caution? Any pointers towards cases or suppliers(within the rules). Not adverse to DIY using metal so any relevant build logs anyone knows of would be great.
 
I'd go the way of a waterproof metal case with covers. I think you'd be hard pushed to find an actual case designed for your needs, cheap would be even more difficult.
 
if its gonna be completely sealed, is heat gonna be an issue?

if you get a sealed metal case, is there any way of attaching something onto the cpu heatsink to make it come into direct contact with the case (effectively turning the whole case into a heatsink)
 
Id just be careful of condensation building up inside a metal case, especially with heat being generated from the inside and no ventalition. Deffo something to take into consideration.
 
Ok after some thoughts I have come up with some solutions.

Sealed case seems to be the way forward as although components such as the HDD can operate at upto 95% humididty (:eek:) this is non condensing, which it would be. This does give a problem with heat the from the processor and PSU.

Firstly the PSU. Using a picoPSU fitted to the MOBO that accepts DC from an external fanless 'power brick' that can be out side the case as is or removed from the plastic case and fitted internally and heat sunk to the case. 80 watts sould be more than enough to power the MOBO RAM and HDD.

HDD can just be fitted to the inside wall of the case so as to act like a heat sink.

Now the tricky bit. Getting the heat from the processor to the outside of the case. I could remove the pre fitted heatsink mount the MOBO 'upside down' to a case panel with a heat sink block attached to the case panel (please don't make me MSPaint it and just nod and pretend to understand :)). The bonus from this method is that the case would be above ambient tempretures and thus reduce the chance of condensation. This does sound like a crazy, impractical and probably, unworkable option.

The second option is to mount the components as is inside the case but to make the case passively get read of the internal heat via fins and large outside surface area. Condensation may be an issue but I could design and mount the case as to allow for wicking of drips around and past the components. But would this work practically as a thermal solution?

The most realistic option does seem to be using a Corsair H50-1 on the atom and mount the radiator outside the case allowing a seal around the tubing. This should be able to be run without a fan as the atom on the board I want to use only puts out max 30 watts of heat. The only issue is the mounting. Will there be enough clearance around the processor and enough surface on the cooling block to cover the die. Thermal epoxy should hold it on if it will go on.

Any more input is really appreciated.
 
The H50 does sound like the best bet, with the rad outside the case. However I think it's unlikely that the block will cover both the cpu and chipset on the motherboard. :(
You could try comparing images of the H50 mounted in a case and the Asus AT5NM10-I's heatsink, to try and work out how big the H50 would be when mounted on the motherboard (perhaps using the length of RAM slots or PCI-E slots as a reference).

You could, if the block doesn't cover the chipset, bung a couple of smaller heatsinks on there, as that's unlikely to give out that much heat. The Swiftec MC21 heatsinks are designed for MOSFETs but could be used on the chipset if there's enough room left over from mounting the H50.
This doesn't however allow the heat from the heatsinks to get out of the case, which could cause issues. :(


Be very interested to see what you come up with in the end. :)
 
Have you considered "All Terrain Grade" (ATG) as an option. They are not cheap but meet all of your requirements?


Rgds
Binty
 
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