Was thinking of a different style of case design of how easy it would be to mimic BTX with an ATX setup and have great cooling.
How about having a P180 style of case but instead of having an exhaust fan at the back of the case near the top instead have that rear 120mm fan in-line with the case at the front.
Thereafter, have the board mounted upside down (and thus mean accessing the case from the right panel not the left). That way you'd have a clear wind tunnel effect over the hardrive, then the RAM, then to CPU and straight out the case.
That would remedy the typical problem of having to choose whether the focus is getting fresh air into the case or hot air out - or rather especially how to get the hot air out by whatever means (including ducting) while ensuring it still gets a good supply of fresh air.
With that setup the series of components the air would flow over would also be rather effective I'd think given your data presents a priority and a hardrive (if you have it there as opposed to the bottom of the case) won't heat up the air too much. Meanwhile the next component of RAM also wouldn't heat the air up too much but would benefit significantly from the extra airflow (far less worries and noise for those using high volts on RAM). Additionally, as RAM gets cooler that will means it'll heat the air even less. Finally, the air would pass over the CPU and straight out the motherboard. A sidewise blowing cooler such as the forthcoming Zalman 9500 or otherwise another like the Ninja would lend themselves incredibly well to this. Alternatively you could even set up a plastic duct and even possibly tube-like duct running from the front 120mm fan to the rear and over all the components at the same time. In short there'd be plenty of ducting and modding capabilities here.
In all I think that would work out to a very effective overclocking setup at low noise what with the P180s great design already - PSU at the bottom, triple layered case etc.
A further point is the 120mm fan at the top of a case like the P180 would work very well to remove whatever limited heat is left although if all the other components are isolated, it might be very condusive with a well-cooled quiet (inc passive) graphics card
edit - I just realised the Silverstone Terminin TJ06 has actually done something a bit like this but I suspect the P180 would make a better job of it at least with the PSU at the bottom etc
Meanwhile Lian-LI have made some sort of own attempt at an inverted motherboard solution albeit with not great cooling.
How about having a P180 style of case but instead of having an exhaust fan at the back of the case near the top instead have that rear 120mm fan in-line with the case at the front.
Thereafter, have the board mounted upside down (and thus mean accessing the case from the right panel not the left). That way you'd have a clear wind tunnel effect over the hardrive, then the RAM, then to CPU and straight out the case.
That would remedy the typical problem of having to choose whether the focus is getting fresh air into the case or hot air out - or rather especially how to get the hot air out by whatever means (including ducting) while ensuring it still gets a good supply of fresh air.
With that setup the series of components the air would flow over would also be rather effective I'd think given your data presents a priority and a hardrive (if you have it there as opposed to the bottom of the case) won't heat up the air too much. Meanwhile the next component of RAM also wouldn't heat the air up too much but would benefit significantly from the extra airflow (far less worries and noise for those using high volts on RAM). Additionally, as RAM gets cooler that will means it'll heat the air even less. Finally, the air would pass over the CPU and straight out the motherboard. A sidewise blowing cooler such as the forthcoming Zalman 9500 or otherwise another like the Ninja would lend themselves incredibly well to this. Alternatively you could even set up a plastic duct and even possibly tube-like duct running from the front 120mm fan to the rear and over all the components at the same time. In short there'd be plenty of ducting and modding capabilities here.
In all I think that would work out to a very effective overclocking setup at low noise what with the P180s great design already - PSU at the bottom, triple layered case etc.
A further point is the 120mm fan at the top of a case like the P180 would work very well to remove whatever limited heat is left although if all the other components are isolated, it might be very condusive with a well-cooled quiet (inc passive) graphics card
edit - I just realised the Silverstone Terminin TJ06 has actually done something a bit like this but I suspect the P180 would make a better job of it at least with the PSU at the bottom etc
