should i worry about overheating in a cabinet?

[villa22]

ok i have a 2.4 gig vaio with 2 hard drives a 10 gig running the os and a 160 gig that BTV writes recorded shows to. all sitting in a 4x4x2 tv cabinet with a cable box and other electronics, mostly turned off.(note no tv in that case) i took the side off the vaio but its a bit warm in that cabinet, i just had a hard drive fail from being on for a long time as a external usb drive that never spun down after about a month it was toast. now its warrentied replacement is the above mentioned 160 gig drive. long story short how hot is too hot, do two drive side by side need a fan, does the cabinet need a fan?

[merrypig]

Run MBM5 for a little and see what temps you're reaching.

My thresholds would be something like...

1/ disks running over ~55 deg C constantly (use S.M.A.R.T to get results if your drive supports it)
2/ Ambient (case) over 40C and rising steadily
3/ cpu running over 70deg C core.

The key thing - is the ambient temperature rising. IF so then their isn't enough airflow to move the heat out of the case. Then it's just a matter of time before all the other temps reach the failure point.

[Atomike]

If you took the side of your case off, that could be part of the problem. Computer cases are designed to be CLOSED - the cool air flows in the front and sucks the hot air out the back. If you open the case, you may as well just tear out your case fans too. I don't understand where the "open case is cooler" logic comes from. Just out of curiosity, where did you get this notion?

[merrypig]

From the same 'internet reasoning' you appear to be using.

open or closed case is neither right or wrong. The only factor that is important is can the heat be moved away.

As long as airflow passes over your chips and out into the surroundings you will move heat away from the source. The reason why 'closed' cases are deemed more effective is that you can channel the air flow more accurately over hot spots. However, you will be surprised. The fans aren't always that efficient. If you have boards or cables obstructing the airflow then your fans will be twirling away and doing absolutely nothing. Instead, you will have a build up of heat inside your system. In this instance, and open case is definitely an improvement.

Why? Because the crux of the matter is going to be a differential between your chip and the ambient air. If you have a closed case, that heat has no where to go and will effectively be stored inside your case (dissipating via the metal chassis) - almost like a capacitor with a slow charge/discharge. With an open case, heat will move via convection away from your unit. A slight breeze will assist. It may not be as fast as a ducted airflow but it's better than static/still air.


So. before you get ready to shoot down either argument remember that you have to consider more factors than just case on or off. It is entirely feasible to run open case. Afterall, if you have a fan on your processor heatsink it will be moving that air away from the processor already. In fact, you will have less resistance to it open case due to the lower pressure inside the unit. When closed, and ducted via the rear vents/fans the heatsink fan will be working harder, or less efficiently to get the air away from the chip. You'll be relying on the rear fans to suck the air hard enough to pull it away from the cpu. In open space, it's a lot easier to move the air with the cpu fan. Plus you only have to get the heat a little way away for it to still be effective..

So, lets not be too hasty to criticise just because overclockers.com or whatever internet web site you 'researched' thermal design from says "thou shalt close your case".

[null_pointer_us]

Heretic.

[merrypig]

......

[bradpvr]

Originally Posted by merrypig

......

Agreed!

[merrypig]

lunatic.

[null_pointer_us]

pig.

[merrypig]

Thanks for your contribution. <click>

[villa22]

here i am asking a serious question and people start name calling!! ive discided that im going to put a fan in the back of the cabinet just to be safe, but ponder this should it blow air in or blow air out? as for the case lid sony is a bit messy with there stuff my vaio is very cloged with cards cables and wires. i always felt that more heat got out with the side open that by the fan, plus im always adding or removeing stuff. i was just sick when my maxtor drive the 160 gig burned up. i dont want that to happen again, will maxtor cover a drive twice? has anyone had a drive fail in that way as a enclosed external drive i was useing it a a network stand alone storage. it failed in the best possible way, i could read and copy all my file from it to another drive but could not write anything or format. the stupid drive thought it was working just fine but it would go throught all the step of a format, file transfer, or file name change but restart and all the same old files would still be there untouched. i dont think i will ever buy a maxtor again this is not the 1st maxtor drive fail on me.

[Bilar Crais]

Originally Posted by villa22

i dont think i will ever buy a maxtor again this is not the 1st maxtor drive fail on me.

I'm guessing you have a heat problem that you need to get control of. Heat kills...Maxtor or otherwise. I'd take MerryPig's advice and install some kind of harware monitoring software to get a feel for the climate in that box.
Motherboard Monitor 5 is great. Personally, I use SpeedFan. It's really easy to install and use, and requires no additional configuration to get hard drive temps.

http://www.almico.com/speedfan422.exe

[axarce]

Is there a way you can mount a fan or two within the cabinet. I have mine set up in an armoire with the TV and if I close both doors, it tends to get a bit warm. I usually leave one of the doors open and that's good enough. I have to cut a hole in the back of the armoire for the fan to blow the heat out. Overall, if you can definitely feel a temperature difference between the inside of the cabinet and the rest of the room, definitely consider a way of venting it or adding a fan to the cabinet or something.

Getting back to the armoire, I'm contemplating cutting a couple of holes in the back of the armoire and mounting a couple of fans in there. Then I could either run them off the PC power supply or just get a transformer and run them off of that.

[null_pointer_us]

Originally Posted by villa22

here i am asking a serious question and people start name calling!!

It was meant in fun:

heretic -> ...[website] says "thou shalt close your case"

pig -> merrypig

Originally Posted by villa22

ive discided that im going to put a fan in the back of the cabinet just to be safe, but ponder this should it blow air in or blow air out?

From an efficiency standpoint I don't think that it matters.

You need both intake and exhaust holes; just having one or the other will be largely ineffective.

If you only want to use one fan, I'd have it exhausting air out the back of the cabinet, which should be quieter.

Keep in mind that you must have decent space around the cabinet to get good airflow inside it.

[jdiff]

Originally Posted by axarce

Getting back to the armoire, I'm contemplating cutting a couple of holes in the back of the armoire and mounting a couple of fans in there. Then I could either run them off the PC power supply or just get a transformer and run them off of that.

Run them off an external power supply. Using the PC power supply will stress the PC more than necessary and make the power supplu even hotter than it would be otherwise.
You can get 12V 1A wall warts for $5 online or probably $10 at radio shack. A little splicing of wires and you're all set.