PC in an enclosed space... will it work?

NoxTek

NoxTek

The Geek Redneck
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May 27, 2002
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I wasn't really sure where to put this thread, but I figure the cooling subforum is as good a place as any.

I'm thinking about putting together a little NAS box with a couple of 8TB hard drives and storing it in a very large cabinet space in the center of our house where the other network equipment is kept. It's basically an empty cabinet with closed doors, the space inside the cabinet is probably around 35 cubic feet. The only other thing down there would be an 8-port gigabit switch and a wall mounted 24 port patch panel.

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The PC itself would just be whatever spare parts I can put together, probably a Core 2 Duo E8500 or E6300 at stock speeds with an Intel stock cooler (or possibly one of those CoolerMaster 212s) on whatever cheap socket 775 motherboard I have laying around, a Seasonic S12 650w 80+ Bronze PSU, all inside a cheap Zalman case I snagged from a hot deal last year. Just onboard video, the only thing this box will do is act as a NAS device... I may even underclock/undervolt the CPU some just to save on power and reduce thermals.

Do you think it will work OK, or will it build up so much heat that it will cook itself in a week? I guess the only way to know for sure is to try.
 
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NoxTek said:
I wasn't really sure where to put thread, but I figure the cooling subforum is as good a place as any.

I'm thinking about putting together a little NAS box with a couple of 8TB hard drives and storing it in a very large cabinet space in the center of our house where the other network equipment is kept. It's basically an empty cabinet with closed doors, the space inside the cabinet is probably around 35 cubic feet. The only other thing down there would be an 8-port gigabit switch and a wall mounted 24 port patch panel.

The PC itself would just be whatever spare parts I can put together, probably a Core 2 Duo E8500 or E6300 at stock speeds with an Intel stock cooler (or possibly one of those CoolerMaster 212s) on whatever cheap socket 775 motherboard I have laying around, a Seasonic S12 650w 80+ Bronze PSU, all inside a cheap Zalman case I snagged from a hot deal last year. Just onboard video, the only thing this box will do is act as a NAS device... I may even underclock/undervolt the CPU some just to save on power and reduce thermals.

Do you think it will work OK, or will it build up so much heat that it will cook itself in a week? I guess the only way to know for sure is to try.
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It'll get warm in there, but how warm is a question of the insulation provided by the cabinet in question against the ambient temperature outside the cabinet.

In the conference rooms in my offices, the machines we have linked to the TVs on the walls are full-sized desktop workstations and they're crammed into cupboards under counters. I cringe every time I see them but they soldier onward.

For such a low-power system I wouldn't worry about it a bunch. If your temperatures get to be untenable, is this cabinet of yours something you'd wanna cut holes into?
 
NoxTek said:
I wasn't really sure where to put this thread, but I figure the cooling subforum is as good a place as any.

I'm thinking about putting together a little NAS box with a couple of 8TB hard drives and storing it in a very large cabinet space in the center of our house where the other network equipment is kept. It's basically an empty cabinet with closed doors, the space inside the cabinet is probably around 35 cubic feet. The only other thing down there would be an 8-port gigabit switch and a wall mounted 24 port patch panel.

The PC itself would just be whatever spare parts I can put together, probably a Core 2 Duo E8500 or E6300 at stock speeds with an Intel stock cooler (or possibly one of those CoolerMaster 212s) on whatever cheap socket 775 motherboard I have laying around, a Seasonic S12 650w 80+ Bronze PSU, all inside a cheap Zalman case I snagged from a hot deal last year. Just onboard video, the only thing this box will do is act as a NAS device... I may even underclock/undervolt the CPU some just to save on power and reduce thermals.

Do you think it will work OK, or will it build up so much heat that it will cook itself in a week? I guess the only way to know for sure is to try.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't do it.

35 cubic feet of space is not a lot of air when closed in.

To put it into perspective, a single low speed fan will circulate all of the air in your cabinet air in one minute.

A fan rated 35cfm (cubic feet per minute) fan moves 35 cubic feet of air in a minute (with no resistance to airflow).
 
Thanks for all of the input... I've updated the original post with pictures if that helps any. (Note that the stuff that's on the right hand side would be removed)

I guess I've got two choices then:

1. Cut two holes at opposite sides for 120mm fans and have them running at a minimal speed to provide a bit of airflow. I'm not sure this would fly, the wife approval factor isn't very high lol.
2. Put the NAS PC up on top of the whole shelf, that's where the AT&T RNG (we have gigabit fiber now, w00t!) and my ASUS RT-AC68U sit. But having the NAS PC up there isn't exactly ideal either as it would be kind of an eyesore. Here's a couple of pictures that show the top (about 9 1/2 feet up) and then a view from across the room where you can just barely notice the RNG and router. Hmm... maybe if I grab a cheap white case, or paint one of the cheap-o ones in my closet white or beige...

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Of course I could just run another length of CAT6 to another location in the house that would better hide the machine... but I'd kind of like to keep all the networking equipment and appliances together.
 
One thing you could possibly do.

Build a mesh screen for the top of the cabinet.

Not METAL mesh. White mesh fabric.

Build a frame that runs across the front. Paint it white. Staple the mesh fabric to the back of the frame.

Mount the system up top.

Place the screen up front.

If you want to get fancy (and do dust control), make it as close-fitting as you can without destroying the walls/ceiling, and mount some air filters behind the mesh fabric.
 
NoxTek said:
Hmmm... that's actually not a bad idea at all!
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I would space doors out at least 1/2" and it might work, but probably need a couple of decent 140mm fans mounted as intake in bottom of cabinet might be needed to supply cool air with the gap around doors letting the heated air out. Could cut a couple of nice clean 140mm diameter vents and mounts some nice white grills in top of shelf opening just below cabinet for intake fans so they wouldn't be noticeable.
 
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