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67 Comments
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12"Should do better than than aoepen knowing that its aluminum, and not metal."
Hate to break it to you, but aluminum is a metal. - SpectoriS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I'd like to see someone use one of these thermal cams on the mac mini
Always wondered how they manage to fit it all in there without almost ever turning the fan on.. - aquax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The acronym FLIR stands for Forward Looking InfraRed (not RADAR, which is an acronym in itself, but has entered common lexicon as a stand-alone word).
The company, FLIR Systems ( http://www.flir.com/ ), manufactures thermal imaging devices for laboratory use, like in this article, and also for military use, like what's on an Apache helicopter. - fgsfds, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Just so you know:
1) Currently, AMD CPUs consume about 2/3rds the wattage of comparable Intel chips. Consequently, AMD CPUs emit 2/3rd the heat of Intel's offerings.
2) Nobody cares how cool your little toy runs. You're comparing your mopeds to military-grade hummers and talking about what great gas mileage you get. It's nice that your macs run cool, but a gaming PC can crunch circles around your macs.
3) "GAYmers"? Are you on drugs? Do you know what the stereotype is for mac users has been since the dawn of the iMac? What the hell is your problem with gays anyway - are you too mentally deficient to create an original insult, or were you simply abused as a child? You're a right man of mystery, you are. - omegadan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I used to work with these cameras at a research lab. They're good because they can take low-res movies. They're expensive because real IR sensors are difficult to manufacture and require a mineral (IIRC) that can only be obtained in a remote area of Russia. They are also accurate enough to tell the temperature of something real-time, *IF* you know the thermal constant of the material -- great for things you don't want to get near unless you have to. Power companies use them to take the temperature of transformers and what not.
Also, the "IR" that most normal Cameras are capable of picking up, isn't "real" IR wavelengths. Its called "near IR" and as the name implies its in a band between visible light and IR radiation which is not terribly useful for anything except making sex tapes. - pksynths, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Digg the article. Not the submitter's fault the source wants a piece of your soul.
- Trekkie711, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I cut out the last 4 (on the bottem) pci slots on the case and stuck a fan there, blowing out of the case, it helps a lot
- calhoun, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6pksynths: Are we digging the submitter or the article now? If the article sucks, the article sucks.
- rebrad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I hope efforts like these will inspire more intelligent design of cases and the components inside. Until then I'll use mine as a whole house heater during the winter.
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Most cases are built for closed operation. Leaving the side off will interrupt the expected air flow and make your components a lot hotter...."
While your initial statement seems obvious, experience seems to indicate your conclusion is false. Whenever I've had heat issues with a machine, taking the side off relieved them, it never aggravated them. - aaronlidman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I've always thought of doing this, just never had the resources. Very cool to see this done. I think more modding/enthusiast sites like HardOCP/Bit-tech/Amandtech should do things like this.
- pksynths, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3PCI slots can get very warm especially running poorly constructed sound and video cards. Most don't need heat sinks but this might prove otherwise.
- dataloss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3As the web server lights itself on fire from the Digg-effect. Wonder if they bothered to put a thermal camera pointing at it before it was posted on Digg? :)
-dl - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It would be interesting to see tests of Mac cases.
- tktk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's a feature, not a bug. MSFT will be hyping that in Novemeber during the PS3 launch.
"Buy an Xb0x 360 and heat your home. Buy a PS3 and freeze to death" - trogdor282, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3ATI Crossfire, look how they're connected.
- thbt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2In theory, the side panels are supposed to be closed to ensure proper airflow. In practise, there are very, very few cases out there that are designed with proper airflow in mind.
In my quest to make my computer quiet, I modded it heavily to improve its cooling efficiency. I cut two holes at the top, flipped the power supply upside-down, and had the rear fans blow into the case. Hot air rises from the video card and the CPU and up out of the case. The power supply gets its own stream of fresh air (I just have to be careful not to drop anything in it!). (I also gave up trying to cool my hard drive; there was no way to get fresh air into the front of the case without mutilating it.) In this configuration, closing the side panels actually makes the system run cooler (and hence quieter because the fans don't have to ramp up).
A great source of info for this stuff is www.silentpcreview.com -- I haven't been there for a while since I quieted my PC down to an acceptable level to my ears, but last I checked it was a wealth of information about PC noise and airflow. This community has been dealing with these issues for years. - jjallday, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2http://www.flickr.com/photos/custompc/sets/72057594083288922/
for those that want to cut right to the pics - chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3It's not like the tested the best case ever made. Why not test a Lian-Li or Antec case?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2They should use the same technique to take a look at the X-Box 360. I could heat my house with that thing.
- jk_baller23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2yeah, most pc cases have poor airflow. I'm assuming mine case poor airflow, even though I have 1 in the front, 1 in the back and 2 on the sides. We need a case design similar to apple's tower g5's. They have that plastic inset that directs airflow which is probably beneficial. Not sure why more desktops are like that. I know the reason they probably don't have them in custom cases is because they don't know what you plan on installing.
- pksynths, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I leave the side of mine completely exposed. :)
Don't have a kid or cat so I've never had any issues. Runs at a cool 120F with 3 HDs, 1GB of RAM and 1 DVD burner. Not too bad. I highly recommend it.
-PK - FoxHunter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I wonder what a liquid or gas cooled system would look like under the termal cam. Would things be cooler, hotter, or about the same? I would think the latter, but then im not even close to being any sort of expert.
- Jozer99, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think all PC Magazines should start doing this with the systems they test. See if those $5k watercooled systems really are any better inside than a 3k aircooled system.
- h4lofourt33n, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not really surprised at all, this is why I keep my side panel off, running a table top fan into the case. Works well! But yeah, this is a pretty crafty little idea.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2FLIR stands for Forward Looking Infrared Radar, a device that is mounted (commonly) in military aircraft. The article doesn't mention anything about it, but is that a mistake? This image could easily be taken with an infrared camera, something that costs considerably less.
I don't get the point of using FLIR. Specifically the 'R'. - pksynths, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Read how hot those sources got. 182F.
Your always going to have heat in any case it's all about the actual buildup of heat that sets a bad case apart from a great case. - osiris8, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Most cases are built for closed operation. Leaving the side off will interrupt the expected air flow and make your components a lot hotter....
- Fawkes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1if you look closely at the chassis, it's the same as the Antec P160 with a different front panel. What gets me is the fact that the hot spot is a pair of SLi Video cards, which will obviously make a signature like that without additional cooling.
- pksynths, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Understood. I actually took the side off because the system WAS over heating to begin with. Since doing so been running at 120F and haven't had any issues since.
- antdude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Nice. I think my case is worse than that!
- osiris8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Someone should do a comprehensive test of all popular cases on the market. For me this would probably decide what case I'd choose (along with esthetics).
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6Stupid prat
It'd be interesting to see IR images of the old imacs (the big clunky things from a few years back).
Under polarized light you can see a whole heap of stress lines and stuff. - surferben182, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Every company should be forced to give specs like this to show how their cases cool under "typical" configurations
- TellarHK, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They actually do test other cases, that article was just one of eight tests they ran. The other seven will be released in the magazine they're selling.
I was fairly happy when I noticed in the text of the review they posted, that the 'two best' cases included the Antec P180, which I just bought earlier this month. It's a nightmare to wire at first, but it's one HELL of a nice case. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I took the panels off my Alienware case (hated the cheap plastic ugliness of it anyway), and just that dropped the inside temp by 15 degrees. Probably due to less insulation and the lack of grates covering the air intakes.
- edto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1you could always just take off the side case to your computer and put it somewhere cool :)
- mthode, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My uncle, who I live with, Works for a company based in Wisconsin called 5-alarm. He is a sales rep that usually has a loaner on hand. All I can say is that I now know where my next fan is going.
- fgsfds, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1... And here I was getting the image of some old guy who has a PC for solitare and NASCAR, and just went into his case with a hacksaw and cut all the fans out.
In terms of a diatribe about heat, any more than two or three minutes is excessive when talking to a non-gamer. However, there's more to cooling than just heat and fans. For example, fluid cooling for example, provides significant heat dispersal with negligible levels of noise. It's not a cheap solution, but it IS very quiet and effective, and when you've spent $2k on a powerful system (On par with an HDTV and 5.1 surround sound system) then spending $200 on a cooling unit or UPS makes a lot of sense from the perspective of protecting your investment. - MoFoKeR, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1noticed they didnt test a btx box or a more expensive full tower vs a mid tower
- Spec8472, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"While your initial statement seems obvious, experience seems to indicate your conclusion is false. Whenever I've had heat issues with a machine, taking the side off relieved them, it never aggravated them."
Whilst well designed cases are usually designed with airflow in mind - many people tend to leave cables going everywhere, not tied off and out of the way of the proper airflow.
That in mind - a lot of other cases are either designed to look good*, or seemingly drawn up by someone who didn't bother to read any specifications on where things can/should go, or how much room to leave for various necessary items (like CPUs, or aligning the backplates)
* = Good is a relative term. Kids seem to love the cases with a ton of flashing (but pointless) lights, windows, and other crud. - kamisama, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I could have sworn i saw something similar done a few years back.
- egbert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1To me it looks like the case is hot right where all the heat sources are in the computer (power supply, disk drives, CPU, Northbridge). So what do these images prove?
- Rigbymatt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2That looks like two SLI cards
SLI cards = HOTTTT - MoFoKeR, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i see what you mean i as a gamer use full tower antec cases and 90mm & 120mm fans i rather it ran as cooler as possible just for the security of my investment on all the hardware
- leevancleef, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ok Lord Of the Rings, yes i can see how i came accross snide, i generally don't so obviously troll, the 30 minute ditribe i heard, from my gamer friend, about the cooling of my dumpster pc was really annoying, especially since i write device drivers for a living and am well aware of these things. I guess i just see alot of kids blow big money on things they are told they need... whick is a couple of 9 dollar fans to move the air around, (ok if you have a phat video card, protect your investment, buy an 11 dollar fan)
- syuusuke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i wonder if anyone actually tried cutting a large hole on the bottom of the case with a fan grill installed and let it sit on top of a cold AC vent
- FoxHunter, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Congrats dude, you just invented a new level of "special."
- fgsfds, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Leevancleef, you're naught but a fool, mocking that which is beyond your ken. PC enthusiasts are no more obsessed with heat removal than car enthusiasts are obsessed with avoiding head-on collisions, they merely seek to avoid the horrible consequences which it can bring; instability, loss of performance, irreversible system death, and worse.
Your friend was concerned because your system will live a short and bitter life, plagued with random crashes for which you will be unable to determine the cause. You deserve whatever consequences result from your recklessness. - TellarHK, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Good article, obnoxious registration requirement after the first view. No digg.
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