I would think that anything that would keep air moving at all around the hot
parts would be good enough to keep it reasonably cool.
Here's a link to a picture of a computer mounted in a frame as an attempt at
a useable work of art.  This might be along the lines of what you could do
to keep a computer cool.
http://www.humboldt.edu/~sll9/images/eMonet.jpg

One thing that would be nice are fans that only turn on when they are
needed.  That way they only run for a minute or so then shut off.  Of course
you would probably need to put in much higher capacity fans.  The case fans
you buy, really don't move that much are.  I would guess that with that you
would then have to deal with heat fluctuation that could possibly kill your
computer over time.

Brian Cluff

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Dayley" <adayley@adtron.com>
To: <plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us>
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 5:04 PM
Subject: Re: When is a case no longer a case? (was Re: scorpions vs dust
bunnies


>
> 8 hard drives would do it!  Convection ain't enough when 8 mechanical
> heaters are running.
>
> Actually, as I wrote my response, I wondered if driven circulation would
be
> needed in some cases.  You answered that question.
>
> If you mounted the mother boards on the wall with no case around them, as
> Bob suggested, would a ceiling fan in the room provide enough circulation?
> Just a random wondering thought...
>
> Alan
>
> At 04:38 PM 4/23/2001 -0700, you wrote:
> >I have definatly found that if I leave the case off my machine at home it
> >will eventually overheat.
> >I guess 2 processors, 8 hard drives and a voodoo 3500 all build up quite
a
> >bit of heat and with the sides open the heat will tend to just stick
around
> >in the case for a while,  but with the sides on the 4 fans that I have in
it
> >can turn it into a wind tunnel and get the heat out of it.
> >
> >My guess is that if all you have for fans in your case is the CPU fan and
> >the power supply fan, you are better off with the lid off your case, but
if
> >you have some extra push/pull fans in your case, you should put the lid
back
> >on so they can do their job.
> >
> >Brian Cluff
> >
> >
> >
> >________________________________________________
> >See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail doesn't
> post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail.
> >
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> >
> >
> >
> /------------------------------------------
> |Alan Dayley             www.adtron.com
> |Software Engineer       602-735-0300 x331
> |ADayley@adtron.com
> |
> |Adtron Corporation
> |3710 E. University Drive, Suite 5
> |Phoenix, AZ  85034
> \-------------------------------------------
>
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