Safe to run my PC upside down?

[mashumk]

Keeping it short, basically I want to attach to/hide my PC under my desk. For space saving, fun. Adding a shelf is tricky with the way the underside of my desk is. However, there is a nice flat area perfectly sized for my mATX mobo to be screwed onto.

I would add simple dust cover sides as a "case" and any extra securing that may be required for the heavier parts of the system.

My questions, is it ok for the CPU, or heck entire mobo, to run while upside down? Heat rises, so I wonder how the cooler would still be effective. Would the CPU heat rise through the mobo and not be a bother? Perhaps one of those cheap basic water cooler kits would be handy?

Would a GTX670 operate safely upside down? I can get a riser and turn it sideways if needed. Of course I'll have it secured tightly somehow to something.

I use external everything so I don't have to worry about upside down DVD drives and whatnot.

 

[C1]

It should be able to be made to work. I dont think heat will be a problem, but noise could be if you plan to couple parts directly to the desk which use vibrating fans. Ensure adequate protection for grounding, static and dust.

 

[sm625]

The video card complicates things. I was into your idea until I saw that, then started shaking my head... I would not recommend trying this.

 

[imagoon]

Card brackets go below the atx board. That means you need a good 1/2 inch to offset from the base or need to dremel in a gap for the card (or less optimally, mangle the bracket) Also you would need to build something for them to hang/mount on or they would simply vibrate and fall out of the slots. Also you do need mounting space for the PSU / HDD at least. You also would need place to mount things like the USB headers and the like if you wanted to use them. Also realize that the grounding would be horrible so you may have random "oddness."

 

[NTMBK]

It'll mostly be fine, except it'll default to Australian keyboard layout.

 

[Sunny129]

It'll mostly be fine, except it'll default to Australian keyboard layout.

LOL

 

[cl-scott]

As long as there's plenty of room for the air under the desk to escape into the room proper, I don't see this being a particular problem. It'd be even better if you could get some kind of fan behind the desk to either push cool air into the under desk area, or possibly try and pull air out.

From a purely mechanical standpoint though, there's no reason why this wouldn't work. I used to run laptops with them sitting on their displays and the bottom removed all the time when I worked as a hardware tech. As long as the parts that move (like the HDD) are stationary while in operation, it's really nothing to the part if it's running rightside up, upside down, on it's side, whatever.

 

[ther00kie16]

Shouldn't matter too much but temperatures may rise slightly due to inefficiency of the heatpipe coolers situated in a different orientation than intended. I see this phenomenon with my laptops which run fine on one of its sides but noticeably warmer, and thus higher fan speeds, when standing on the other side.

 

[SwiftWind]

Please post photos if you make it!