How about an upside down system for better cooling?

Q

Quartz-1

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
May 20, 2011
Messages
4,257
Imagine a system with the motherboard at the top of the case, facing down, and a large - thus quieter - fan at the bottom of the case. Say 200mm or 240mm diameter. Obviously none of the standard CPU heatsinks would work, but could you make one? Would standard GPU heatsinks work?
 
Standard GPU and CPU heatsinks will work, CPU ones will just have reduced effectiveness.

What is your reasoning that it would work better? Is it because heat rises? Fan directed airflow is far more powerful than any kind of convection airflow, so the heat rising argument doesn't mean much. You can fit a far larger fan on the side of the case than on the bottom in standard tower cases anyways.
 
The motherboard itself would block heat and airflow rising.

You would end up with hotter motherboard components at the very least.
 
In a system with fans, as stated, "heat rising" would mean nothing even in a system with a single low speed 120mm fan, it would be over powered, proper air flow is of far greater importance. Now, if you want a totally passive system, the story changes, however being upside down would hinder this flow of hot air and would actually heat soak the mobo and other parts as the air rises around it to escape, having the mobo on the bottom of the case would be more ideal.
 
BlueFireIce said:
In a system with fans, as stated, "heat rising" would mean nothing even in a system with a single low speed 120mm fan, it would be over powered, proper air flow is of far greater importance. Now, if you want a totally passive system, the story changes, however being upside down would hinder this flow of hot air and would actually heat soak the mobo and other parts as the air rises around it to escape, having the mobo on the bottom of the case would be more ideal.
Click to expand...

Even with fans, the motherboard being upside down will cause the motherboard components to be hotter unless you have enough fans to blow enough air across absolutely everything.

AND on top of that, have you ever used a case that doesn't have any exhaust fans near the top of the case? Even with a huge amount of airflow through the rest of the case, the top of the case gets heat soaked. Adding a single fan hole and fan in the to of the case can drop case temps by a good 20F or more.

Having a motherboard upside down is going to cause the same type of issue as a case with no exhaust in the top of the case.

It might be ok if you have airflow going across everything on both sides of the motherboard and have a very well exhausted case, but it would have to be a pretty custom setup and would not be worth the time or expense to set it up for that type of setup.

On top of that, you would need a support bracket for all add-in cards so they wouldn't work their way out of the slots.
 
cyclone3d said:
Even with fans, the motherboard being upside down will cause the motherboard components to be hotter unless you have enough fans to blow enough air across absolutely everything.

AND on top of that, have you ever used a case that doesn't have any exhaust fans near the top of the case? Even with a huge amount of airflow through the rest of the case, the top of the case gets heat soaked. Adding a single fan hole and fan in the to of the case can drop case temps by a good 20F or more.

Having a motherboard upside down is going to cause the same type of issue as a case with no exhaust in the top of the case.

It might be ok if you have airflow going across everything on both sides of the motherboard and have a very well exhausted case, but it would have to be a pretty custom setup and would not be worth the time or expense to set it up for that type of setup.

On top of that, you would need a support bracket for all add-in cards so they wouldn't work their way out of the slots.
Click to expand...

That's what I said?
 
Quartz-1 said:
Imagine a system with the motherboard at the top of the case, facing down, and a large - thus quieter - fan at the bottom of the case. Say 200mm or 240mm diameter. Obviously none of the standard CPU heatsinks would work, but could you make one? Would standard GPU heatsinks work?
Click to expand...

Honestly though, the Silverstone rotated cases like the Raven are probably closer to what you want/mean than an upside down system. They are really quiet and cool really well. Bonus points for years of clean and dust free installations. I have had mine for years, since the 2600K came out, and still has very little dust inside the case, like so little it still looks like a new installation.
 
cyclone3d said:
Yeah, trying to do too many things at the same time. The beginning of your statement was not quite clear I think.

I think I just read it the opposite of what you meant.
Click to expand...

I do that to some times.
 
ob1 said:
Honestly though, the Silverstone rotated cases like the Raven are probably closer to what you want/mean than an upside down system. They are really quiet and cool really well. Bonus points for years of clean and dust free installations. I have had mine for years, since the 2600K came out, and still has very little dust inside the case, like so little it still looks like a new installation.
Click to expand...

I already have a Silvertone FT05 - and a FT02 - and you're right about the dust! But this is purely a thought exercise in noise minimisation.
 
Quartz-1 said:
I already have a Silvertone FT05 - and a FT02 - and you're right about the dust! But this is purely a thought exercise in noise minimisation.
Click to expand...
Make a tube, square or rounded and mount the motherboard vertically near the bottom.
The heat rising up the tube will generate a lot of air flow, pulling cool air in the bottom.
The longer the tube the better to increase airflow.
Align components so they let air pass as unrestricted as possible to prevent slowing air flow.

There has been a case designed with this concept but with todays higher power components a longer tube is probably needed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top