Cooling

[ParadigmDawg]

I am a tad concerned about the space I have my amp and PS3 stuffed in. The amp doesn't seem to get hot but the self above it does and is causing the PS3 fan to stay on "medium" which is loud to me.

I am going to try this and see if it helps. It was a little expensive for what it is but I am more concerned with a total package that works than the cost. Right now the back is off my credenza but I was thinking I would cut the back into a narrow strip (about 7" wide) and mount it in the middle of the opening and mount the fans on it where one is behind the amp and one behind the PS3.

Should I have these pulling the hot air out or blowing fresh air in?



This is the back, those are not scratches on my floor, it is just smeared dust bunnies.

[strube]

It was a little expensive for what it is but I am more concerned with a total package that works than the cost.
...
Should I have these pulling the hot air out or blowing fresh air in?

Actually, regardless of what you do, you will be doing both, if that makes sense. I would recommend exhausting out the back, which will, by default, pull fresh, cooler air from the front, across your equipment. I think you will get the best results that way, because you have a more open volume to pull the cool air from, and the smaller volume of air behind your credenza will probably be warmer from all of your gear. I think your plan of mounting the dual fans vertically so that one is cooling the PS3 shelf and the other is cooling the amp shelf will work. Hopefully with this addition it won't be louder than your PS3 on medium . The Scythe fans are well-known in the PC world for being very quiet, so you should be okay.

FYI - If you end up needing more of this kind of solution you can probably DIY for pretty cheap, and it shouldn't be very hard either...

EDIT: You may also find that removing the grilles on the thing you ordered will increase flow a little and decrease noise as well. All they do is protect fingers, but if you stick your fingers in one while they are spinning, it won't really hurt anyway. I tried .

[Shock]

70 bucks for two fans is so expensive.

[ParadigmDawg]

I know but that isn't a concern. I could have used $8 computer fans and rigged up something but I would rather just open the door when the UPS rings the doorbell, open the box and slap in on.

70 bucks for two fans is so expensive.

[Nemo128]

I suggest a DYI for this next time. Those Scythe fans with the Sony FDB can be had for about $10-15 each shipped, and I bet you have the wiring to prep it for installation in your rack. A piece of plastic or alum to mount it on would have cost you barely anything.

Also, if you really like quiet, Noctua and Nexus make quieter 120mm models with comparable airflow.

$70 isn't a lot, but it's one more thing you can say you made yourself. =)

[ParadigmDawg]

Lets change this up a little.

I paid $19.37 for this. Will my plan work and is it a good idea?

[strube]

It is a great idea. It will help, but you will only know if it will be sufficient once you try it out .

[Swerd]

I am a tad concerned about the space I have my amp and PS3 stuffed in. The amp doesn't seem to get hot but the self above it does and is causing the PS3 fan to stay on "medium" which is loud to me.

I am going to try this and see if it helps. It was a little expensive for what it is but I am more concerned with a total package that works than the cost. Right now the back is off my credenza but I was thinking I would cut the back into a narrow strip (about 7" wide) and mount it in the middle of the opening and mount the fans on it where one is behind the amp and one behind the PS3.

Should I have these pulling the hot air out or blowing fresh air in?

You should definitely mount the fans so they pull the hot air out.

If I understand your plan correctly, you want to mount those twin fans vertically, one behind the amp and one behind the PS3. You did say that the amp doesn't seem to get very hot, but the shelf above it with the PS3 does. Remember that hot air rises, and it may be that the amp's heat is rising to the shelf above it. So I would mount both fans horizontally near the top of the space you want to vent. Is there a way to control each fan separately? That way you could run one or both depending on how hot it gets.

Your photo shows your cabinet without a back. Why not just leave the back open? With the front and back open, passive ventilation may be enough to get the job done without using fans.

[Nemo128]

Lets change this up a little.

I paid $19.37 for this. Will my plan work and is it a good idea?

Absolutely.

Pulling the hot air out is the right suggestion. Cooling a highly overclocked CPU is no different than what you're trying to do. Pulling the hot air out to a larger "void" will give you the proper vaccuum effect you're looking for. Pushing fresh cool air in will only give you pockets of hot air with no flow direction to force its escape, and they're not smart. They're only going to go up.

You could help your directed flow more by also making sure there are no gaps in your shelving. This way, the flow paths are isolated per component, giving less change of sharing the fan's capacity with a component that doesn't need it.

I also recommend against opening the cabinet and using the fan at the same time. Airflow is nothing without controlling the path of it. Swerd is right, try it with the back off for passive cooling. Using the fan in that case can easily be counter-productive, since you can't control the area surrounding the intake side of the fan.

[Swerd]

I agree with Nemo128.

In your OP, did you mean that you plan to mount the fans on a 7" wide strip of wood that is centered horizontally and runs top to bottom? Is the rest of the back on either side of the 7" strip open?

It wasn't real clear to me if that is what you meant, but if it is, I would do this instead. Cut a mounting hole big enough for the fans in the entire back panel and put the whole thing back in place. With the fans pulling air out, all the air they move will travel across the hot audio gear. If you leave the back partially open with the fans on the 7" wide strip, air will enter from either side of the fans and will not travel across the gear.