Random Thoughts - Part Deux [NO POLITICS]

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Cole

It's like a gun. I'd rather have it and need it, than not have one and not need it.

Hmmmmm.... That's not how the cabinet is designed to operate. They may not look like it but cabinets and internal components are laid out specifically with airflow in mind. You don't want to blow cold air in. Always pull hot air out.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Andrew025

Helps it slide better

I can't quote your unicode emoji.

Oh, and...

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Cole

It's like a gun. I'd rather have it and need it, than not have one and not need it.

Dang, Cole, you sure did butcher that saying .......


humfrz

[Sarlacc]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Hmmmmm.... That's not how the cabinet is designed to operate. They may not look like it but cabinets and internal components are laid out specifically with airflow in mind. You don't want to blow cold air in. Always pull hot air out.

If only that were so. I've tinkered with puters since Commodore had a bright future. Laptops, desktops, workstations, servers, rack blades. I've built many of them from parts. And the component manufacturers' lack of a holistic approach to airflow has bewildered me since the beginning. It looks like the need for heat dissipation comes as a surprise, every time.

In a typical gaming PC the CPU has a fan, the graphics card(s) has a fan (each), the power supply has a fan, and the cabinet needs to provide cold air to all of those in addition to cooling the chipset, the RAM and the drives.

My general advice to gamers wanting to build their own computer:
- Don't go for liquid cooling unless you absolutely have to. It's expensive, hard to get right, and usually unnecessary.
- Get a big tower with lots of empty bays and lots of air ducts.
- Replace puny boxed CPU fan with big heavy duty fan.
- At least 3 cabinet fans, as large as you can fit. Suck in front and side, blow out back and top.
- Invest in a programmable fan controller with at least 2 sensors, one of them for mounting under the CPU heatsink. This will keep the fans running on low RPM with low noise under "normal" operation conditions.

[Ashikabi]

Originally Posted by Sarlacc

If only that were so. I've tinkered with puters since Commodore had a bright future. Laptops, desktops, workstations, servers, rack blades. I've built many of them from parts. And the component manufacturers' lack of a holistic approach to airflow has bewildered me since the beginning. It looks like the need for heat dissipation comes as a surprise, every time.

In a typical gaming PC the CPU has a fan, the graphics card(s) has a fan (each), the power supply has a fan, and the cabinet needs to provide cold air to all of those in addition to cooling the chipset, the RAM and the drives.

My general advice to gamers wanting to build their own computer:
- Don't go for liquid cooling unless you absolutely have to. It's expensive, hard to get right, and usually unnecessary.
- Get a big tower with lots of empty bays and lots of air ducts.
- Replace puny boxed CPU fan with big heavy duty fan.
- At least 3 cabinet fans, as large as you can fit. Suck in front and side, blow out back and top.
- Invest in a programmable fan controller with at least 2 sensors, one of them for mounting under the CPU heatsink. This will keep the fans running on low RPM with low noise under "normal" operation conditions.

You can get closed loop liquid systems that aren't that costly and many motherboards offer advanced fan controls.

[Cole]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Dang, Cole, you sure did butcher that saying .......


humfrz

You Americans don't get to watch much Trailer Park Boys, huh?

[Ashikabi]

Originally Posted by Cole

You Americans don't get to watch much Trailer Park Boys, huh?

It only recently got popular because of Netflix

[Sarlacc]

Originally Posted by Ashikabi

You can get closed loop liquid systems that aren't that costly and many motherboards offer advanced fan controls.

I know :-)
I just don't recommend inexperienced builders fiddling with liquid cooling systems. These advices are mostly for them, after all. The advanced guys don't need nor ask for my opinion.
The on-board fan controllers I've worked with have two problems in common:
- They can not control all of the cabinet fans in addition to the CPU fan.
-They rely on control software that hogs CPU and only works with Windows. (I encourage people to try Linux in a dual boot configuration. Having all the fans blasting at full throttle all the time kind of ruins the experience.)

[Ashikabi]

Originally Posted by Sarlacc

I know :-)
I just don't recommend inexperienced builders fiddling with liquid cooling systems. These advices are mostly for them, after all. The advanced guys don't need nor ask for my opinion.
The on-board fan controllers I've worked with have two problems in common:
- They can not control all of the cabinet fans in addition to the CPU fan.
-They rely on control software that hogs CPU and only works with Windows. (I encourage people to try Linux in a dual boot configuration. Having all the fans blasting at full throttle all the time kind of ruins the experience.)

Pretty sure my last Mobo had a controller for case fans. You can get external controllers too. Pretty sure Corsair makes one. It might have a physical knob/switch though. I'd have to look it up

[Ashikabi]

Originally Posted by Sarlacc

I know :-)
I just don't recommend inexperienced builders fiddling with liquid cooling systems. These advices are mostly for them, after all. The advanced guys don't need nor ask for my opinion.
The on-board fan controllers I've worked with have two problems in common:
- They can not control all of the cabinet fans in addition to the CPU fan.
-They rely on control software that hogs CPU and only works with Windows. (I encourage people to try Linux in a dual boot configuration. Having all the fans blasting at full throttle all the time kind of ruins the experience.)

Pretty sure my last Mobo had a controller for case fans. You can get external controllers too. Pretty sure Corsair makes one.

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/corsair-commander-mini

[Sarlacc]

Originally Posted by Ashikabi

Pretty sure my last Mobo had a controller for case fans. You can get external controllers too. Pretty sure Corsair makes one.

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/corsair-commander-mini

Yeah, that's a programmable fan controller, like I was talking about :-)
Except that one is internal and only compatible with Windows, it seems.
I like the flashy external ones like this:



https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16811992005

[p1l0t]

Originally Posted by Sarlacc

Yeah, that's a programmable fan controller, like I was talking about :-)
Except that one is internal and only compatible with Windows, it seems.
I like the flashy external ones like this:



https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16811992005

I gotta build a new tower it's been YEARS!

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

[Ashikabi]

Originally Posted by Sarlacc

Yeah, that's a programmable fan controller, like I was talking about :-)
Except that one is internal and only compatible with Windows, it seems.
I like the flashy external ones like this:



https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16811992005

I've never looked into them. Just saw the Corsair in an email like a year ago. Before that I didn't know they existed. My 1500$ computer isn't nearly beef enough to need something like that though. I have a big ass closed loop cooler for my CPU anyways so most of my heat is getting dumped anyways. I could see it being important for multiple video cards where they are jammed so close together with poor airflow

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Cole

You Americans don't get to watch much Trailer Park Boys, huh?

Nope ...... never heard of it, but, I looked it up. Looks to be funny .....


humfrz