I have a very narrow case, about 7" across, and I'm tempted to go with another case but don't really want the extra expense. Was thinking that maybe with less space for air to be sitting, a narrow case might actually be the better option. No?
This is the case:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16811154098
Heat transfer mechanics involving convection/conduction is always dependent on the speed of the air (how fast is it traveling past the surfaces which you wish to cool).
The term
convection can refer to transfer of heat with any fluid movement, but
advection is the more precise term for the transfer due only to bulk fluid flow. The process of transfer of heat from a solid to a fluid, or the reverse, requires not only transfer of heat by bulk motion of the fluid, but also diffusion/conduction of heat through the still boundary layer next to the solid. Thus, this process with a moving fluid requires both diffusion and advection of heat, a summed process that is generally called convection.
Moving 60CFM at 1mph will have less cooling effect versus moving 60CFM at 100mph because of the effect of velocity on reducing the diffusion-limited boundary layer near the surface of the heat source (the fins of the HSF and so on).
This is why you have a fan on your CPU's HSF in addition to having case fans that are already moving air through your case. The fan on the CPU's HSF is solely there to reduce the diffusion layer even more above and beyond the boundary layer that would exist if you were solely relying on your case fans to move air through the fins of the CPU's heatsink alone.
You have some control over the "velocity" of the airflow by determining how big or small of a "pipe" (your case) the air is flowing through.
100CFM through a case that is 12" wide is going to have less of a cooling effect than 100CFM through a case that is 7" wide.
There are a lot of tradeoffs involved: cost, noise, reliability (of the fans), etc.
This is also why you will see some cases come with a certain amount of "ducting" designed to channel the airflow through the case towards the CPU and so on.
This is also why server builder's can get away with cramming quad-socket setups into 1U cases (1.719 inches tall)...the total dead-volume of space is very small, so they can get the airspeed up to some nice levels while still only pushing moderate amounts of CFM, the cooling effects work in their favor.
Facebook
Twitter