Interesting method of high CFM air cooling w/ low noise

[Jmichael484]

I'm starting to get annoyed with fooling with those case fans with puny CFM ratings but then when you switch to the mammoths your room sounds like a fleet of helicopters landing. Well this may sound a bit overboard but what if you placed one of those fans about 2 feet in diameter (or larger) underneath your house, attach flexible pipe to the back, somewhere along the way attach a transitional peice to convert the pipe to the size of an 80 mm hole like case fans, run in up through your floor, (lol, didn't think of this cuz I already have a round cut out in the corner of my room), and running to the back of your computer to one of the 80 mm case fan holes. This way you'll get a hell of alot of hot air out of your case without worrying about the noise of the motor since it's outside. You could also use this method for blowing air into your case but you'll have to work with the filtering on the fan so no dirt gets inside your case. My friend said he read something similar to this a while back so if I'm not the first one to think of this idea, then, well.......I'm not. So can yall tell me what yall think about this? thx

[Alex99]

If you're gonna go through all that trouble, why not just go ahead and install 10 high speed 120mm fans in your case and put your computer down in the basebment, then buy some really long kybrd/monitor/mouse cables to connect to your room.

[Diggrr]

Just use a blower on the tube. You can get them at www.mcmaster.com
They are made for doing just what you propose
Build a box to hold a furnace filter with the blower inside and a hole for the exiting tube.

I think a 2 foot fan would get too much backpressure to work well,if at all, but a blower would work fine. You could probably get rid of all the case fans too.

Have fun

[nil_esh]

Originally posted by Alex99
If you're gonna go through all that trouble, why not just go ahead and install 10 high speed 120mm fans in your case and put your computer down in the basebment, then buy some really long kybrd/monitor/mouse cables to connect to your room.

That's exactly what I was about to say..

If you have another PC, you could use a remote access program instead of the cables (though it wouldn't be the same), such as VNC:
http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/

[Katana Man]

Remote software is not the answer. It will work well for reading email, browsing the web, etc... but it will not work for games.

You need a KVM extender. These come in many different flavors.
I've tried 2 of the Cat5 KVM extenders. Most people would not see the video quality loss, but I do, especially at 1024 @ 85hz refresh. These Cat5 solutions generally go for $300-500.

Extending the mouse and keyboard is very easy. The trouble is the video. It's very hard to maintain good video quality. This is because of the electromagnetic and radio interference that the long cables will pick up. Fiber KVM extenders is the way to go. They are not affected by interference. Problem is, they go for $2000+

I've been studying the KVM technology for the last 8 months. I'm currently looking into using DVI LCD monitors and extending with DVI cables. DVI handles the extending much better than standard SVGA cables. Problem is, the cheapest 50 foot DVI cable I found was over $600 !

[Diggrr]

Hey Katana, When my comuter was on the floor next to my desk, I had to use a 12 foot extension for the monitor cable (only size I could find locally). To solve the interference problem, I used aluminum furnace tape wrapped around the cord and grounded at one end. It worked very well, and got rid of the 'wobblies' in the picture.

Furnace tape is actually just thin flexibl aluminum with an adhesive backing and a shiny finish. Very conductive, easy to apply, and available at the local hardware. No reason you couldn't use it on all the cords, and ground them to the case.

[TruckChase!]

I get nasty image quality with a kvm... it was bad enough to make me go out and buy a sony monitor with 2 inputs. I've never tried what you mentioned there diggr, that's a good idea. I wouldn't want my main computer in a closet somewhere tho since I have to switch cds and such in and out all the time.

Regardless, I think the "home cooling system" is kind of a good idea. It would be a hell of a lot of trouble, but if you were that dedicated to do something like that I'm sure it would rock by the time you got it done. I've wanted to try something like that (external air induction) for awhile since I live in Minnesota and it's below 60 degrees f here for at least half the year. (high of 15 degrees f today :) )

[Tbird man]

heres an idea for the cd/floppy prob. (though not cheap) you could have a usb, or better, SCSI drive box and run cables to your computer as for floppys...who uses floppys anymore anyway even win XP uses a bootable CD.

oh and BTW if you used a blower you could have it suck air out of your case (like the central vacuum cleaners) but you would have to worry about sealing up any non filtered holes.

[Katana Man]

Yes, USB extending is the perfect solution for keyboard, mouse, CDROM, etc..

The trick is video. If there was a way to extend video relatively inexpensively, I'd be very happy. Don't be fooled by many of the KVM specs out there, if you look closely, most won't mention refresh rate. I've noticed that they work well at 60hz refresh, but soon as you go 85hz the picture gets wavy and you'll also get a "ghosting" effect.

[TruckChase!]

Actually, I had a prob with mice thru the KVM as well. Some KVMs don't support a higher than standard input rate. Be sure to check the specs before you purchase one. (if you do)

[Tbird man]

If it's the EMI creating the problem than the idea of shielding it with aluminium tape would work great. what you are doing is creating a Faraday cage, the EMI will be absorbed by the tape. you could also try steel conduit but the problem there is the plugs.
i am suprised nobody makes shielded extentions perhaps the cable itself would generate interference...well there i go thinking out loud.

and Truckcase! coulden't you just use a USB hub and keybord/mouse and not a KVM(and not to sound dumb but what exactly is a KVM i have an idea but i am not sure)

here is another idea though quite expensive why not an HD tv and a component A/V hookup

[Katana Man]

Were you using a PS2 mouse? Once I find a good video solution, I'll be using a USB extender like one of these:
http://www.gefen.com/products/extendit/new_kvm_usb_extenders_switches/

Extending a USB hub x amount of feet is the answer to peripheral extending.

Tbird man, there are a ton of so called "tripple" shielded video cables out there. They just don't work very well at a high refresh rate.

[Jmichael484]

what did diggrr mean by too much back effect

[Diggrr]

Back pressure. A regular fan can blow alot of air, but with almost no pressure. There aren't enough fan blades to keep air pressure high enough to send air through such a small tube.
That's where a blower outperforms a fan. 60 fan blades can keep pressure on the tube, so the air flows through it.

[Jmichael484]

so is he really saying i should just use a blower (as in the ones they sell at radio shack) instead of my grand idea?j

[Ohgr]

why not move to the moon? I hear its cold up there :rolleyes:

[dreadlord79]

In a word, Yes. You should go with a blower if you really are wantibg to put yourself through this. Why not just go with H2o cooling? It's very quite and doesn't cost to much. You're idea is cool though. One this I would do if I was doing this; take the top of the case off or at the least, cut a BIG hole in it so the case doesn't explode! ;) Show some pics of the finished product and the temp drops to the system, if you would be so kind.

[NeoMoses]

Here's my idea that is very similar. I'm going to cut a hole through the drywall and into the attic next to my room, then duct the cool air directly onto my cpu. during the winter, the air temps should average around 30F/0C in the attic. so, i should be able to lower my case/cpu temps quite a bit. I'm gonna use a blower out of an automobile heater. I'll keep you'all posted on how it works out.

[Jmichael484]

oh my, i've struct some enthusiasm. But you said duct the cold air from the attic...hold it-isn't the air in the attic hot as hell?
Sure if I finish the projectI'll include some pics, and naa, not h2o cooling.........yet

[Diggrr]

At my house it's -8C right now. Plenty of cooling power in my attic.
Summer is when it gets hot and he'd have to look elswhere for cool air.