MiniITX Chassis Cooling

Question

Do it yourself

Inspired by the HTPC topic, I decided to do something similar.
There is a miniITX motherboard, 3.5 hard drive, standard PSU, VCR and other components for building an HTPC. The power supply, like the author of the above-mentioned topic, is not included in the case, so it will be placed without a case, and therefore without a regular cooler.

Since all the components will be placed in the VCR case, and there are not so many ventilation holes in it, the question of cooling arose. So, I came up with 3 options for placing coolers (top view):



The motherboard with a soldered processor is cooled by a standard 40x40 cooler, it is planned to replace it with passive cooling. The power supply theoretically does not heat up very much, but it still needs to be cooled. The hard drive gets hotter.

There are no ventilation holes on the right and left of the case, they will have to be drilled, therefore, the first option is preferable for me.

Tell me how to properly organize cooling in such a case.

Answer 1

I would try the first option and look at the temperatures. Overcooling the HDD is as harmful as overheating. If its temperature is kept at 30..45C - excellent, there are no problems.
If it gets hot, reverse the air flow.

Answer 2

The video and the chipset will be heated. By the way, you did not write which video adapter you will use.
If you plan to use passive cooling for a percent, figure out in advance what size radiator will draw the heat dissipation.
Then, when you estimate its dimensions, start from them.
Hards in a confined space can really heat up to 60C, which is not very useful for them.
Most likely, you will not help yourself with fans in any of the designs.

Answer 3

In such cramped conditions, HDDs heat up not so much because of tightness, but because of the poor thermal conductivity of the plastic to which they are attached ... coolers, of course, can directly blow on it, even this will not be enough.
Sometimes even any piece of iron (flat rectangular, under the size of the case, if there is copper - then generally a blunder) can be enough if the air blows on it, and the HDD is directly attached to it. For cramped conditions, this is an ideal option ... only here is where to get a piece of iron - the question is how to cut it out of the old case.
ps and if you bend, and even in a tricky way ...

Answer 4

Is a 120mm thin fan on top not an option?
My NTRS is getting cold.

Answer 5

Can invert the flow? Those. turn the fan from the PSU so that it draws air from the case, and the inflow will just be directed to the screw. Here is my corpus: