Cooling overclocked rackmount case

[ds11]

Hello everyone,

I'm cooling a rackmount PC and am presenting some options for critique. Could you please give me opinions on the best way to cool this case? It will be housed inside of a shockproof road case.

Option 1: Cool front to back. I have dust filters that add significant air resistance. The top of the case is grated (just the back 1/3).
Should I cover this so all air is pulled through?



Option 2: Cool back to above at back. This would use fans racked on the back of the road case, right on top of the PC. The fans would be directly above the case fans, and would be moving air in the opposite direction. Could this create an air loop outside of the case at the back, causing the heated air to be pulled back in, or would it rise fast enough to not be caught in the case fans' intake?



Option 3: If the front to back heat sink won't fit in my case (if it's too tall), I'll be forced to use the horizontal one. (blowing up). Would it be better to let it blow out the top and to the back with external fans racked above, or to cover the top air escape and blow it out the back of the case (facing resistance from the CPU fan blowing up?



Thanks everybody!

 

[Automata]

It will help to know what case and hardware you are using, exactly. If you aren't use what the case is, pictures will do just as well.

With high speed deltas, filtering the air will not hurt the airflow too much. Servers, traditionally, pull in cold air through the front and exhaust out the back. When the servers are in the rack, there is no space above/below/beside the server, so the back and front are the only place for the air to move.

 

[ds11]

Thanks for the reply. I realize I included a lot of information, but if you read my post thoroughly, I explain that I have the option of sending air out the top and also racking fans above the PC case.

Basically, it's a 4u case. Open front with dust filters. One side has drives and the other is open, so I could add one fan there. i7 2600k. I haven't purchased a heat sink yet because my different options use different types. Air holes on the lid at the back 1/3 of the case. Two 80mm fans at the back.

I have my options, but am interested in answers to the text questions in bold and which of the 3 options will be best.

Thank you!

 

[ds11]

 

[Automata]

Sorry, I'm answering calls at work and had to skim over your first post.

Option 1: This is what I would use and I would not cover the vents unless they pulled in a significant amount of dust/particles.

Option 2: It would likely pulled in the heated air and create a loop. While it probably wouldn't cause the system to overheat, it isn't an ideal situation. Additionally, you lose cooling for devices in the front of the case and on the motherboard.

Option 3: If you are using high speed fans, a fan pushing up/down on the heatsink isn't going to be a problem. It will be quickly pulled out the back of the case.

 

[ds11]

Thanks! For the front fan, would a single 80mm be ok, or would 120 be better?

 

[Automata]

If you can fit a 120, that would be better overall flow.

 

[ds11]

Thanks! I'm hoping to go with option 1 if I can fit such a cooler inside my case. I'll have measure. If I have to go with a horizontal one, would my back fans be sufficient to pull the air out? You mentioned speed. Each of the two is 80mm, 1500 RPM, 20.2 CFM. I went with these because they're rated at 17.6 dBA

 

[ds11]

For the 120mm, I'd go with the same line to achieve the quiet performance.

RPM:
1000 RPM (+/-10%)
Air Flow:
36.87CFM / (62.61m3/hour)
Noise Level:
18 dBA

 

[Automata]

Those are going to be way too slow to cool an overclocked system in a cramped server case. Look at Delta fans. Servers can't run quiet in small cases and be expected to live very long, let along an overclocked one.

I would look at the EFB, TFB or PFB series Delta fans.

Something like these:
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/de80pfulhisp.html
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/de12tfexhisp.html

I personally own three of those 120mm TFB fans.

 

[ds11]

Those fans are pretty loud...

thanks for letting me know I'll need something more powerful.