Open air cooling

Luke M · Post by **Luke M** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 9:21 am

What do you think of this idea? Take a tower case and custom mount a mini-ITX (170mm x 170mm) board on top. Put a big heat sink on the CPU, no fan. So the heat sink is in open air. Other components are placed in the tower (no fan).

A key question is what is the CPU TDP limit for this type of cooling, assuming a cool (21C) environment. And how does the performance of open air compare with a well ventilated case? It has to be better, but is it significant?

Tephras · Post by **Tephras** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 4:18 pm

Lian-Li made a case with a design like that, the PC-Q06, and it would be quite convenient if you're building a test bench. But other than that I don't really see much of an benefit in this concept.

BlackWhizz · Post by **BlackWhizz** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 10:08 am

A Nexus fan at 5v is inaudible. Why not put a fan on the heatsink and create some airflow. It should drastically improve the lifetime of your components (comparing to a no airflow situation).

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 1:18 pm

Components that fry do not have heatsinks on them unless it is an enthusiast board with lots of pipes and sinks. (Mosfets, little chippies, etc)

You will notice an INCREASE in temperatures having an open case vs a case with in and out fans and a good front opening where one of those fans are. The system uses the flow of air in and out to keep it cool. I have noticed that any case that is well built (by the user) is cooler closed vs. open. If it is better open, you have a case that is severely choked for air.