what is better? Turning the HDD over or slow fan from below?

GLO · Post by **GLO** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 7:18 am

Since adding a 2nd HDD to my case, my case temps have risen about 3C-4C.

I currently have them sandwiched together which isnt helping to keep them cool, so i will separate them and wanted to know what will yield the best result?

Upside down will permit the underside of the HDD (presumably the hottest side of the HDD) to cool without heat soaking the HDD as it does when its in it normal layout!

or have a slow fan blowing onto the HDD from below (either normal on the controller or upside down on the metal plate)?

Thanks

ckolivas · Post by **ckolivas** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 7:27 am

Fan is definitely more effective at cooling the HD. The case, however, will be no cooler as the same amount of thermal energy will still be dumped into it. However if you use the fan to add more cool air as well as cool the HD - such as in the front of the case blowing onto the HD - then the case will be cooler as well.

GLO · Post by **GLO** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 2:28 am

i'd have to have the fans blowing from the underside of the HTPC case.

So would it be best to blow the underside of the HDD where the circuit board is? (presuming thats the hottest part of the HDD)?

ckolivas · Post by **ckolivas** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 2:30 am

GLO wrote:i'd have to have the fans blowing from the underside of the HTPC case.

So would it be best to blow the underside of the HDD where the circuit board is? (presuming thats the hottest part of the HDD)?

In terms of the amount it would cool down the case it won't matter. As for what is better cooling... I'm not sure

Most hard drives act as their own heat sink so I can't imagine it would make much difference.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 2:44 pm

I'm not exactly certain of everything you asked in your PM. The bottom of the hard drive is where the temp sensor seems to be located. So if you blow air on the bottom, the smart temps will go down.

However...the edges of the drives get hot, and they are the places to put heat sinks, if you use them. There are so many different configurations that work, it's hard to say what's best.

My favorite setup is DIY.....copper plates, with vent holes. The drives are screwed to these plates, which are in the form of a box, and airflow is drawn through this setup, from an intake chamber under the computer. Both bottoms of the two drives face each other.

The copper box sits on rubber/foam feet.....not suspended with rubber bands, but inaudable none-the-less. There's about 1.5" between the bottoms of the drives through which the air flows. Temps....35C max.

Link

There are other photos of this setup in the album. IMHO.....blowing air over the top of the drive is the least effective cooling method.

GLO · Post by **GLO** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 5:17 pm

Just found this! The iCage which holds 3 hdd's with a 12cm slow fan blowing through the hdd's!

MAybe i can mod thi sto fit in my case!

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mr_plow_king · Post by **mr_plow_king** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:15 pm

Bluefront,

Do you have pictures inside of your Final HD fan mount 2 ?

I think it's pretty good idea and I want to try it with a 120mm fan instead of 2x80mm like you did

Thanks

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 2:56 am

Here's the deal with this type of HD cooling......It places the fans inside the case, as far away from the sides/front of the case as possible, and far away from the actual intake opening. With this computer, the intake for the HD fans is at the rear of the bottom of the case.

I could have used a single 120mm fan, instead of the two 80s you see, but the 80s fit better, and place internal fan-assisted airflow close to the video cards, the NB heatsink....even the memory. It's an excellent technique I've been developing over the last few years.

What you don't/can't see in the photos in that album.....there actually is an orange Yate Loon directly under the copper HD cage, blowing up. It's part of a secondary cooling system, controlled by a DD5.....That fan and two more Yate Loon 80s located in the upper exhaust chamber, and a second CPU fan, only turn on at high temps. The main CPU fan, and the two Yate Loons on the HD cage, are controlled by an LIS2 fan controller. The Yate Loon in the PSU is controlled by the PSU itself. Complicated.....but quiet (all Yate Loon fans), completely temperature controlled, with a back-up fan system that can completely control the heat even iif the primary cooling fails.

Link to original copper HD project

In this photo you can see the lower intake chamber, an oak case on castors, with a removable airfilter on the bottom rear.