Ducting ? is it worth it ?

[jackal2513]

I am wondering if ducting is worth it ?

my system is such that theres not much airflow but what air intake there is.... well it would be nice to get it to go:

1) on the NB
2) on the Moboard mofstes (those littel chips that get hot)
3) onto teh hard drive enclosures


eventually i will have 3 front mounted intake fans (120mm and x2 80mm), and x2 top mounted intakes (120mm) - all these will be bolted straight onto WC radiators but instead of letting the air come out into the general open case... maybe i shoudl duct the rad opening to the NB and mofsets etc.. ? Would this be a worthwhile thing to do or is it better to let air circulate naturally ?

I heard that Dell use some clever ducting system in their machines ? anyone know what this is ?



regards



Rich

 

[rogerdugans]

Ducting can be a great way to control airflow and improve temps by a huge amount.
OEM pc makers have been doing it for years and while there are many things to make fun of with OEM pcs, their duct designs work very well at low noise levels.

BUT- balancing airflow is still a must unless your duct runs in, to a component and directly back out:
Only solutions I have seen this with are some radiators in water cooled systems- intake ducted to rad and then out of the case.

More common are ducts that bring air directly to a component- cpu, video card, etc. and then release the air to the case where it must be exhausted out by another fan. 5 Intake fans (3 of which are 120mms!) is a LOT of intake air and may cause very high case temps if you do not have about the same cfm for the exhaust fans; you may want to consider switch one radiator to exhaust to help balance airflow without needing 10 fans

As far as ducting air onto specific areas of the mobo- yes, that works, although I have only done it in for the cpu, and ram. In air cooled systems I let the HSF exhaust cool the mosfets but with a water cooled system ductingmay be a good idea.
Another alternative I have used in watercooled systems is internal case fans that force airflow over hotspots: ram and mosfets in particular- the internal fans can be run at lower voltage for silence and still keep the airflow moving the way you desire.

 

[jackal2513]

ho wcan the case temp get high if i have cold air constantly coming into the system ?

Can you explain teh balance between intake and exhaust ?

Im hopefully getting a fanless PSU so wasnt planning on doing much with teh exhaust side of things. Having said that, one rad will be adual 120mm rad and will be in teh roof of the case so i could make this into an exhaust setup instead but it will most likely be really inefficient drawing how air all teh time ?

 

[DrSpanky]

Dude you have intake to bring cool air from out side of you case inside your cause and you have exhaust's to take the hot air out,

hot air rises so you will want the exhausts on the roof of your case takeing out the hot air

and then u want air intake low down at the bottom of the case if u have like high power intake low down and own a cat or a dog u may want fan filters to stop the hair comeing in the case

with the use of ducting u can direct air to a certain place in the case e.g from out side the case to the cpu fan, instead of the cpu useing the warm air at teh top of the case to help cool it

 

[RedDeathDrinker]

Ducting is excellent, in the right places. However, if you get too keen, too much can ruin the airflow in the case.

The best duct (IMHO) is a small straight duct from the side of your case to the fan on top of your heatsink, taking cool air and blowing it over your AMD space heater.....

 

[penquissciguy]

What do people recommend to use as ducting material? Some obvious choices would be dryer vent and PVC pipe. Does anyone have any experience with these or any other ducting materials? Also, would a hole saw work ok to make the vent hole for a side duct? I don't have access to a Dremel, unfortunately.

Ken

 

[iD10t]

hole saw works. Its' just a bit sloppy. And you can use just about anything for a duct as long as it doesn't touch anything and isn't flammable.