tips and guide on airflow inside pc

adbp1

adbp1

adbp1

Associate
Joined
30 Dec 2007
Posts
2,054
Location
Oxonfordshire
Hi, im gonna build my own pc case/desk. after playing around in google sketchup for the past week and trying different case designs ive decided to build pc into my desk and save some space!!

airflow.jpg


as you can see in above picture i only have 2 fans. im planning on using coolit eco for cpu so picture isnt quite accurate!

my questions would be: is there a proper way to do airflow?
i wanna keep front and sides of desk/case plain with very little showing.

can anyone suggest better airflow.

thanks Ali
 
your desk is going to be the computer case? Nice. what about a fan from underneath? that way you still cant see it unless you poke ur head under.
 
Wow, that's pretty cool. Yeah, as makamiso says, you could leave the top fan at the right pulling in air and move the other one to the bottom left so that it pushes air out. That way, you will have an air current running through your "desk-case" (?) at all times.
 
i dont mind from underneath as like u say u wont see it, the psu has fan on bottom and im planning facing that downwards.
just not sure where to put fan underneath or if it would work any better than having the one on the back.

fan on right will be replaced with rad/fan for coolit eco.
so only left fan to play with!
 
This will make an awesome build log. Really like the idea. Is the top of the desk going to be glass allowing you to see all its glory?
 
I would be interested in flowing this too. I can't find it right now but there was a really nice desk/pc done before and it was all glass, looked great!
 
Looks good, but it might do better with some more/bigger fans IMO. Main thing to remember is to make sure the fans are not fighting each other, so in that setup, I imagine you would want the left fan to be blowing air in so it is not choking the GPU fan.

Also, it looks like you are using wood for the body of the desk - think carefully about how you mount stuff, as wood is resonant, so you need damping on the fans and drives.

Also, it would definitely be worth making the PC compartment removable without taking the glass top off the desk.

Final thought - isn't the H50 supposed to be better than the Eco?
 
wilko49 said:
Looks good, but it might do better with some more/bigger fans IMO. Main thing to remember is to make sure the fans are not fighting each other, so in that setup, I imagine you would want the left fan to be blowing air in so it is not choking the GPU fan.
Click to expand...


I was thinking on using 140mm fans, the gpu is passive cooled (not gpu in pic! that was for reference in size)

wilko49 said:
Also, it looks like you are using wood for the body of the desk - think carefully about how you mount stuff, as wood is resonant, so you need damping on the fans and drives.
Click to expand...
was gonna mount everything onto rubber before seating it down so should stop vibrations

wilko49 said:
Also, it would definitely be worth making the PC compartment removable without taking the glass top off the desk..
Click to expand...
im gonna build trial run first see how it goes as desk in pic is my old desk at mo so dont mind playing around!

wilko49 said:
Final thought - isn't the H50 supposed to be better than the Eco?
Click to expand...
ive seen mixed reviews saying 1 is better than the other so not sure, i just went for eco on the price of it!
 
Last edited:
Would it be feasible to add another piece of wood infront, leaving a decent amount of space and then mounting fans pushing in the front.

You'll get airflow and it would still look plain from the front.

Probably a bit too much though if you want the dvd drive and switches at the front? Along with taking up a lot more room.

Does that even make sense haha?
 
sounds like you thought that through pretty well! The only advice i can think of then, is make sure that air is flowing through the entire case. Maybe a bottom mounted intake on the right hand side, and back mounted exhaust on left?
 
UnworthyBean said:
Would it be feasible to add another piece of wood infront, leaving a decent amount of space and then mounting fans pushing in the front.

You'll get airflow and it would still look plain from the front.

Probably a bit too much though if you want the dvd drive and switches at the front? Along with taking up a lot more room.

Does that even make sense haha?
Click to expand...

makes perfect sence. might havea play around as i do have space for my legs to sit underneath!
use cardboard last night to play with my desk to check sizing!!
 
Being a drummer I rattle all over my desk, also my seat is just lower enough to roll slightly under the desk. When I stand up sometimes the table gets a jolt where one of the arms rises up into it.

So for that, I gonna have to say "Im out". haha, no really, the banging I do, Id kill a HDD and loosen a huge heatsink in no time!

Though UnknownLobsters "The Desk" is pretty slick!
 
adbp1 said:
can anyone suggest better airflow.
Click to expand...
Hello adbp1,

I would suggest a *positive* pressure airflow set-up, that is one where more air is being blown in than is being blown out

  • 180mm In/120mm Out
  • 120mm x2 In/120mm Out
  • 120mm In/Passive Out
Design a good fan-filter system for the front intakes so cleaning is easy, If there is space you could have the intake underneath the desk blowing air upwards and giving a cool blue under-desk lighting! :p

Akasa AK-F1825SM-CB 180mm

£9.99 inc
 
You want to blast air in and out past the GPU and CPU, so make sure you have enough there. It may be an idea to put some fans in the middle to get it moving, because the area is so big, air pressure will not get air moving enough, it just needs some encouragement to stop pocketing. I think you should put in a compartment for the motherboard area so you can get air moving in and out of there ASAP.

Oh, you simply have to put a glass or acrylic top on that desk!!
 
design #2 on its way !!

3 compartments, fake front like unworthybean mentioned and.........acrylic top section to see motherboard!!!!

will post in an hour or so when im done playing
 
looks good (and great idea), just make sure its easy to get access to once assembled - remember youll have to clean out dust etc,etc every now and then :)
 
I'd suggest just two fans, one on left of desk and one on right, if you used something like the big boy 200s youd get an awesome wind tunnel effect
Reason I say this is it will ensure airflow over everypart of mobo etc then, with original design the air will flow shortest path and the fron part of mobo prob wouldnt get any (decent) cooling
 
To be honest I would be inclined to do seperate cooled compartment build sections, PSU in one, drives in the other, mobo in middle. With front to back cooling with quiet 120 or 140 fans, 2 at front of mobo two at back as an example.

I would also look into component decoupling and cabinet bracing, as the resonant behavour of the wood and component vibrations may prove noticeable and intrusive at a different level/note than a small wel braced case.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom