Puget dissects vertical vs. horizontal chassis cooling

[Matthew]

We've seen an influx of desktop computer cases that claim to offer superior cooling by rotating the system's internals and embracing the natural occurrence of convection. Silverstone's Raven series immediately…

Read the whole story

 

[TomSEA]

Interesting. Taken just at face value, you'd think the vertical cases would have a reasonable advantage in cooling. Appears not. ...

(shrugs) I've always loaded up my cases with a crap-load of high-end quiet fans and bought the biggest case I could find to keep the components cool. Seems to work out quite well.

 

[LinkedKube]

yeah I've never owned a small case. I think the smallest I've had is my tj-07

 

[Guest]

The most important takeaway from that review is that you can buy top of the line air cooling components and cripple them with a garbage case like the P183. In other words, as long as you have great case airflow, it doesn't really matter if you have it positioned in a vertical or a horizontal position. However, it's FAR more critical to have a good/well ventilated case!

 

[PinothyJ]

Guest said:
The most important takeaway from that review is that you can buy top of the line air cooling components and cripple them with a garbage case like the P183. In other words, as long as you have great case airflow, it doesn't really matter if you have it positioned in a vertical or a horizontal position. However, it's FAR more critical to have a good/well ventilated case!

Holy cow bells! A Guest actually posted something constructive and worthwhile!

Well I'll be damned…

 

[fpsgamerJR62]

I tend to focus more on the width of a particular case rather than its height. With a wider case, it's easier to move components around as well as mount extra case fans. I think I have about 7 fans currently running inside my Thermaltake case at the moment which is a big help since I live in a tropical climate.

 

[Guest]

Err.. Talk about unimpeded air flow, whats going to get directly in the way of the fans drawing air from underneath?

Oh yea the floor!

At least you won't need to vacuum clean the floors though, lol.

 

[Trillionsin]

pinothyj said:

Guest said:
The most important takeaway from that review is that you can buy top of the line air cooling components and cripple them with a garbage case like the P183. In other words, as long as you have great case airflow, it doesn't really matter if you have it positioned in a vertical or a horizontal position. However, it's FAR more critical to have a good/well ventilated case!

Holy cow bells! A Guest actually posted something constructive and worthwhile!

Well I'll be damned…

And then....

Guest said:
Err.. Talk about unimpeded air flow, whats going to get directly in the way of the fans drawing air from underneath?

Oh yea the floor!

At least you won't need to vacuum clean the floors though, lol.

lol, spoke too soon.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Reminds me of the argument that you should buy your gasoline in the morning (in the summer) before the day heats up, causing the gas to expand, which would result in you getting less gas per gallon. Turns out they calibrate gas pumps at the same temp each time and raising the temp of a tank of liquid that's underground would take far more heat than a hot day.

I still like Silverstone's case, if for no other reason than I wouldn't have to lay under my desk to get to the I/O panel.

 

[Guest]

Why so Trillionsin, do you think restricting air on one side of a fan has no impact on the flow the other side?

 

[spydercanopus]

Unless you're going fanless, there is no reason to flip the case.

 

[Guest]

open case is the best case.

 

[Guest]

Never mind the airflow, I know my old graphics card would have liked to be vertical. The cooler on it was just so massive I was scared something would bend.

 

[Guest]

I have used the RV03 and RV02 and must confess that although I like the idea in principle, certain heatpipe coolers DO NOT like vertical orientation. My 560Ti's are a prime example, both overheated in the RV03 shutting down the computer after 10 minutes of Bad Company 2 (96C)...

 

[spydercanopus]

I had a similar problem with an upside-down chassis. (180 degrees)

Blew a GTX280 with furmark upside-down.

 

[Guest]

I'd like to see more detailed comparisons. This is really conclusive, I just think it'd be interesting to see data for no fans, low fans, high fans on a case in horizontal (normal tower setup), vertical (ft02 and raven style setup), and flat (old school desktop style setup) for a case.