[meeps]

Hi,

So the other day I was mulling over an idea in my mind. I plan on moving my system onto the floor to make some room on my desk, and I wanted to make a stand for it instead of lying it on top of an ugly piece of wood. So I thought to myself, why not make a cooling box out of it? In theory, I'd have the top of the box completely open with a 200mm intake on the front pulling in cool air from the floor into a 'chamber'. The 2 intakes and the intake of my PSU would then have un-restricted air to pull from instead of struggling to get air from the 1/2" spacing below the bottom of my case.

I threw together some preliminary dimensions in an attempt to visually see the size of this thing. Keep in mind 1" of the overall height would be dedicated to closing off the gaps on the sides of the case, and 1" of the overall width is so that the sides would be able to wrap around the case in order to block the gaps.

There is one question I'd like to have answered before I even think about fabricating this contraption: Does this idea even seem like a feasible option to enhancing cooling? Or would it be an entire waste of money and time with no actual benefits?

Thanks!

[Pvt.Dancer]

I could see it helping. but would think while you might see a slight drop the biggest thing would be keeping more dust and other junk out which is always nice. either that or you could mod the case to so you could mount more fans to the bottom of the case pulling that air in. just a thought cause in my mind unless you have some fans pulling more air up and in out of that box i wouldn't really see it helping.

[rdimaggio11]

or you just could put a dust cover on it...

[muddocktor]

I take it that your case is going to sit part way down in that box, right? If so, you will need to make the box a bit longer than the case itself so the front fan intake isn't restricted on the case. And I really don't know if it would help get better temps unless you have carpet the computer case would be sitting on without the box. If you do have carpet, then it might help a bit.

It would make a good experiment to see if it does help though. I don't think I've seen anyone here trying this idea out.

[rdimaggio11]

what i was thinking. on the antec 902 case it has the 4 fans on the fround right , well it has that dust gard why not make it look like that to trap the dust from going in to the box

[meeps]

Originally Posted by muddocktor

I take it that your case is going to sit part way down in that box, right? If so, you will need to make the box a bit longer than the case itself so the front fan intake isn't restricted on the case. And I really don't know if it would help get better temps unless you have carpet the computer case would be sitting on without the box. If you do have carpet, then it might help a bit.

It would make a good experiment to see if it does help though. I don't think I've seen anyone here trying this idea out.

It would sit about an inch deep into the enclosure, but it won't restrict airflow. The front intake gets air starting about 1 1/2 inches up from the bottom which is entirely closed off due to the case design. The tiny gap shown in this picture is not an opening to the intake, just covered in plastic.

http://img.neoseeker.com/v_image.php...=2423&image=17

Originally Posted by rdimaggio11

what i was thinking. on the antec 902 case it has the 4 fans on the fround right , well it has that dust gard why not make it look like that to trap the dust from going in to the box

I see where you're coming from, but my case actually already has filters in the bottom/front/top, except I took the tops out because they're generally useless for exhausts.

If I were to go through with this experiment, I'd remove the bottom filters in an attempt to let the bottom intakes and PSU breathe more freely and put a filter in front of the 200mm fan.

[rdimaggio11]

Originally Posted by meeps

It would sit about an inch deep into the enclosure, but it won't restrict airflow. The front intake gets air starting about 1 1/2 inches up from the bottom which is entirely closed off due to the case design. The tiny gap shown in this picture is not an opening to the intake, just covered in plastic.

http://img.neoseeker.com/v_image.php...=2423&image=17


I see where you're coming from, but my case actually already has filters in the bottom/front/top, except I took the tops out because they're generally useless for exhausts.

If I were to go through with this experiment, I'd remove the bottom filters in an attempt to let the bottom intakes and PSU breathe more freely and put a filter in front of the 200mm fan.

yes correct , but maybe some mesh for the filter to trap the dust before it goes to the case or where it goes!

[meeps]

Originally Posted by rdimaggio11

yes correct , but maybe some mesh for the filter to trap the dust before it goes to the case or where it goes!

Ha that's what I meant by filter, I guess I wasn't thorough enough in my explanation. Thanks though!

[ssjwizard]

If the 200mm fan you select moves less air than your have intake fans your going to restrict the flow. If I were going to attempt something like this i would remove the bottom case fans and seal the case into the hole fairly well. Something as simple as weather strip could make the seal and be easily removable. In this situation you could put a whole bunch of fannage at low speed to handle your intake. Ive been playing around with a few of these larger fans lately, the only stuff ive found over 140mm that seem to have any guts at all are the silverstone AP181s. Mind you I havn't tried any 200mm fans but the 160, 250, and 360mm fans that I tried all lacked that really solid flow you would want here. If location would allow you might consider 2 ap181's on the long side. 230cfm with some improved pressure could possibly improve your overall cooling situation.

Well whatever your decision good luck!

[ssjwizard]

Oooh ya I just thought up an alternate design for this you might consider also. The AP series are directional fans. If you made it a dual chamber, 3-4" top chamber with the fans mounted blowing vertically into the fan holes on the bottom of the case+PSU. the bottom chamber would be your air plenum. If you simply leave the back/front of this section open/filtered you would have unrestricted intake.

[meeps]

Originally Posted by ssjwizard

Oooh ya I just thought up an alternate design for this you might consider also. The AP series are directional fans. If you made it a dual chamber, 3-4" top chamber with the fans mounted blowing vertically into the fan holes on the bottom of the case+PSU. the bottom chamber would be your air plenum. If you simply leave the back/front of this section open/filtered you would have unrestricted intake.

Thanks for all of your input and time creating that design for me with whichever program you used, but I'm going to disappoint you. I kind of dropped the idea because I don't have money to really test this experiment out to it's fullest potential and I don't want to create something half-assed (Which I probably would). So I decided to just make some sort of stand that has a bottom piece of wood, some sort of stands in the 4 corners (metal piping maybe?), and a kind of holder for my case with a cutout for the intakes to grab air. It'd probably only be 5 inches in height instead of the projected 11.

Thanks though! I feel like you could definitely make a sweet 'cooler box'!

[ssjwizard]

No sweat it only took about 10 mins to whip up that design.

If you use threaded pipe(you can have most heavy wall pipes threaded) they make a square base used for mounting pipe. It basically has 4 screw holes on the corners and a threaded socket in the middle. They are fairly inexpensive ~$2-3 depending on the pipe size. Black iron pipe(the stuff used for gas lines) is plenty strong enough for your application and very inexpensive.

Alternately you can pick up a 3' piece of sanded poplar 2x2" which would be fine for your application also. They will even cut it to length for you at homedepot/lowes. all you would need is a clamp and some good wood glue(Personally I like titebond 2) and your set to build no tools required.