Foam

[Swiftless]

Hi,
I was wanting to mod my case by giving it a whole 3D effect of my choice around it. My first choice of material was foam with a papermachie coating to hold it together, simply becase it is extremely easy to sculpt, extremely cheap and can just be slid onto the case when done.

The problem I have is that my cpu is already running at about 60 degrees celcius after running for a couple of hours (after installing my new graphics card), and foam is a type of insulator. I have thought of wood and metal but wood costs quite a fiar bit for what I want and it alot harder to sculpt, and with both, if you make a mistake you cant easily fix it.

My case has 2 spare fan slots at the back (80mm i believe), which I am thinking of mounting fans into. But would have the foam + paper machie cover around the outside affect it in a great deal?

 

[CycloWizard]

It would likely raise your temperature a little unless your fans are really working well. You could add a fan or two and it should more than offset the difference.

 

[beatle]

Very doubtful they would change much, if at all. Just as aluminum cases won't cool any better than a steel case of the same design.

 

[CycloWizard]

Originally posted by: beatle
Very doubtful they would change much, if at all. Just as aluminum cases won't cool any better than a steel case of the same design.

The material of the case does have some effect if the fans are not keeping the interior of the case at ambient (room) temperature. Conduction through the case walls will occur as long as the interior of the case is at higher temperature than its surroundings. The heat flux via conduction is proportional to the thermal conductivity of the material. This all assuming wall thickness is constant, regardless of material.

I believe aluminum has a lower thermal conductivity than steel, but higher specific strength (strength per unit mass and, therefore, thickness). Thus, the wall thickness of an aluminum case is likely less than that of steel. The decreased wall thickness decreases the path length for thermal conduction, making up for the lower thermal conductivity.

So, the 'same design' is really in the eye of the beholder. TMI, but I'm bored and just got back from the bars, so it's time to ramble.

 

[akira34]

Steel is stronger than aluminum at the same thickness, but aluminum is lighter than steel at the same thickness. Aluminum is a better conductor of both heat and electricity than steel. At the same weight, you can have thicker aluminum panels than steel, which is close to the same strength of steel at that weight.

 

[Swiftless]

This is getting a tad off topic, although I do have an aluminium case, which is what I am planning on surrounding in foam and paper machie. So your saying that the foam cover which may be up to 5cm thick in some places, will only raise the temperature of my cpu and mainboard by a few degrees, but putting in the two fans(at the back, none at front) will easily stop this and may even decrease this?

Also my case has a few little holes in the sides (about 5X20cm up top and down bottom in total) to help with the ventilation, how many of these could i probably cover, or could i cover all if i just add the fans?

 

[alexXx]

airflow and leaps and bounds more important than the thermal conductivity of the case. Touch the side of your case, there is a reason why it feels the exact same as your room temp

 

[CycloWizard]

Originally posted by: Swiftless
This is getting a tad off topic, although I do have an aluminium case, which is what I am planning on surrounding in foam and paper machie. So your saying that the foam cover which may be up to 5cm thick in some places, will only raise the temperature of my cpu and mainboard by a few degrees, but putting in the two fans(at the back, none at front) will easily stop this and may even decrease this?

Also my case has a few little holes in the sides (about 5X20cm up top and down bottom in total) to help with the ventilation, how many of these could i probably cover, or could i cover all if i just add the fans?

Yes - add a couple fans and you should be fine covering the rest of your case with just about anything you want. Don't worry about the holes either, except for the fan holes.

 

[CycloWizard]

Originally posted by: akira34
Steel is stronger than aluminum at the same thickness, but aluminum is lighter than steel at the same thickness. Aluminum is a better conductor of both heat and electricity than steel. At the same weight, you can have thicker aluminum panels than steel, which is close to the same strength of steel at that weight.

Yeah, you're right. Apparently I had more to drink last night than I realized.

 

[Swiftless]

Cool, thanks for your help, i'm gonna go for it now