Concerned about cooling

imjouster

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Jun 15, 2013
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So we are getting ready to move into a new office (we are a growing cabinet shop/home design center) and we are going to be building a couple of new computers, I already have most of the specs decided on. And unfortunately they will be fairly warm systems. To compound the problem, my boss is insistent on the cabinets in the new office having spaces for the computers to sit inside them so they are out of sight. That's going to mean these computers are in enclosed spaces with next to 0 airflow. My boss has given me the go ahead on creating a vent hole on the side of the cabinets to exhaust the heat under the desk (computer will be in the cabinet next to desk).

I need to know what the best option is for running a cooling system for the computer is. My original thought was to just create hole in the side of the cabinet for a 200mm fan and attach the fan to the inside of the cabinet covering the outside with speaker cloth to keep it from looking tacky. But I'm unsure how much the speaker cloth would hinder air flow. So my other thought was to buy one of these metal grates and attach it to the outside http://www.amazon.com/140mm-Black-Steel-Honeycomb-Grill/dp/B0093ONBAU. But I have heard that these can really mess with the air flow as well.

My other dilemma is if I need to create another hole towards the front for an intake. I'm going to be adding extra case fans to the computers themselves, and will have an aftermarket cpu cooler. But planning on running i7 6700ks and at least in one computer a 980ti (possibly a 1080 instead). So if you have any suggestions on a good way to keep these guys cool, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Jeremy
 
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snurp85

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May 6, 2009
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the honeycomb grill will be fine, but definitely have an exhaust fan for the cabinet. An intake hole in the cabinet is advisable, but not essential since its not airtight to begin with and with an exhaust fan you will create a negative pressure inside that should automatically draw air into the cabinet from the cracks. Worst case scenario is you add intake hole after the fact if you notice the graphics cards running hot
 
I'm kinda surprised he wants to hide them ... a new business wants to make a splash and some attractive PCs in plain view, to my eyes, give the impression that you guys are tech saaavy and likely know ya way around CNC equipment. I have seen some nice grilled cabinets set on desktops (one at each end) with bookshelves in between with air exhaust thru top and / or rear

If the desks are placed against a wall, rear exhaust would be simplest and most effective....120v cabinet fan racks (Tripplite) can be used connected to a Powerstrip so that user needs to turn on power strip before turning on PC. You definmitely do not want this air exhausted towards the user.

As far as grilles, any decorative grille will usually be listed by % open area.

This is an idea that every but who's handy with a table saw and router has entertained and pretty much always regretted. You'll be needing to clean dust out of the PC at least every 3 months ... extracting those PCs out of the cabinets under the desk, taking off the side panels, removing the fan filters, getting under there with air cans or compressor will get old very fast.


 

imjouster

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Jun 15, 2013
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I completely agree with you on having the computers out in the open, it would be a whole lot easier on me haha. But for whatever reason he is concerned with people walking into one of the rooms without anyone being in there and trying to steal a $1500-$2000 computer. Personally, I'd rather have them up on the desk showing them off (heck, we get comments with our current set up all the time, and that's just because of the sizes of monitors that we use (between 37" and 46" tvs for the main monitor plus at least 1 23" secondary monitor). And I think adding the computer would enhance it. But he's pretty set against it, so I'm stuck with problem solving the computer inside the cabinet idea.

I'll look into the Tripplite fans, all I've looked at before this is just rigging up case fans to make them work however I needed. The Tripplite fans sound like they might be a better option. I'm still going to hound the boss about putting the computers on the desk, but we are just about out of the design phase now, so getting him to change his mind now is very doubtful.

 
Many cabinets are recessed at the bottom and a 4 inch trim strip resides there. Couldn't a slot be placed on the front inside floor of the cabinet or just not have the floor of the cabinet extend all the way to the front cabinet door?

The other question is whether you really need all that processing power. Would a CPU and GPU of lower TDP's serve you adequately? I read that the K processors self overclock to some extent and therefore run hotter than their non-K versions. I understand that you can turn off this overclocking feature in the BIOS, however.
 

imjouster

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Jun 15, 2013
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You're correct, most cabinets have an area for a toe kick. Ours typically have a 3" recessed area that is 4 1/2" tall, but for these cabinets instead of using a toe kick, we are going to be using baseboard that actually extends out from the face frame of the cabinet ~1", basically this picture is one of the desk areas that we will have.
http://postimg.org/image/cuj6lq8w7/

As far as processing power goes, I'm actually a little on the concerned side if I'll have enough haha. We are running everything from autocad which is childs play, to full blown revit models (cpu hungry) and very soon will be doing full kitchen and home renderings via 3dsmax/blender. As well as doing walk throughs with showcase. So definitely need all the processing power we can get. Thought about just going and buying 2 or 3 boxxxes (by the way, what on earth would be the plural of boxxx???) but that's just a little more than we are willing to spend at this time.
 


I see. If you can you might want to wait for Pascal which might be more efficient than the current Maxwell cards.
 
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