All new machines are coming in the ATX motherboard form factor which is,
overall, a good thing. They replaced the crappy old-style MB power connector,
machines can now soft-power off due to the P/S ALWAYS being in stanby mode,
etc. The problem now is cooling.
Go ahead, put your hand next to your ATX-based power supply fan and try
to feel air BLOWING onto your hand. You won't feel blowing.. you'll
feel SUCKING! With ATX cases, air is drawn in by the power supply fan
and blown over the CPU to "cool" it per the specification. The major
problems with this is:
The power supply itself heats the air..
The CPU, PCI cards, hard drives, etc all heat the air too..
The hot air must exit towards the BOTTOM of the case even though hot
air RISES! So, your computer case must fill with VERY hot air before
even the less hot air will begin to exit at the bottom of the case.
Dumb huh? What can you do?
What I have been doing for systems I build is to open up the power
supply itself and flip over the FAN in the power supply so air will
blow OUT. Now, hot air will rise and exit at it's highest point.
MUCH better!
Other cooling tips:
My Enlight ATX case has a removable plastic front plate (facade) which
has a muffin fan (towards the bottom of the case) that pulls air in
from the front and blows it over the PCI cards. Why do they do this?
Most PCI cards don't get too hot and if you DO have hot running PCI
cards, you are probably either a running RAID controller or overclocking
your box and should setup a FAN for that specific card (3DFX, etc) anyway.
So, since I have (2) 7200 RPM SCSI disks, I flipped the FAN over to
blow air OUT towards the front of the case. Next, on the inside of
the ATX facade, I placed two strips of duct tape just under the bottom
5.25" drive bay (between the plastic center post) that was the width of
the facade and no higher than the base of the plastic clip ledge that
holds the facade onto the case itself. Now, when the facade is put on,
air blows up from the PCI fan, up the facade plate, is blocked
by the duct tape, and now blows out over my 7200 RPM disks. Much
Better!
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(for this main page) since 8/28/99
The power supply itself heats the air..
What I have been doing for systems I build is to open up the power
supply itself and flip over the FAN in the power supply so air will
blow OUT. Now, hot air will rise and exit at it's highest point.
MUCH better!
My Enlight ATX case has a removable plastic front plate (facade) which
has a muffin fan (towards the bottom of the case) that pulls air in
from the front and blows it over the PCI cards. Why do they do this?
Most PCI cards don't get too hot and if you DO have hot running PCI
cards, you are probably either a running RAID controller or overclocking
your box and should setup a FAN for that specific card (3DFX, etc) anyway.