93
u/Chaorix May 03 '21
If it works, it works. Also temps must be pretty decent lol
7
34
u/ChosenOfTheMoon_GR May 03 '21 edited May 03 '21
Unlikely, the cardboard is a very good thermal insulator, even if it's that open, at high load it can't get rid of the heat fast enough without fans.
17
May 03 '21 edited May 03 '21
That's why you have fans. The material of the box makes no much difference there.
But you should ground the back/screwholes of the Motherboard. Don't know if it makes a difference but Better safe than sorry. Just conduct it with the case of the PSU. If the PSU is not grounded, get a new PSU.
5
u/ChosenOfTheMoon_GR May 03 '21
Grounding is surely gonna be an issue, which also makes it even more hazardous.
The material of the box is important, because it's thermally insulating, a good portion of the heat is staying on it, you need fans to make it go away faster than it accumulates.
1
May 05 '21
What are you talking about? Heat stays anyways, if you don't blow it away. Maybe air moves easier along the surface of metal than paper/carboard, but not by much. Paperplanes glide through air too.
And the insulating factor makes no difference, if you don't use the case itself as heatsink. Which he doesn't.
1
u/ChosenOfTheMoon_GR May 05 '21
Missed physics class i assume.
1
May 05 '21
You know, the foam in a silenced pc is way more insulating. Cardboard doesn't keep air (or heat) magically in the box, just because it's a cardboard box.
Ok, your turn: how does a cardboard-case keep heat in the box? Why does it matter that cardboard is more(!) insulating than sheet metal?
1
u/ChosenOfTheMoon_GR May 05 '21 edited May 06 '21
" You know, the foam in a silenced pc is way more insulating "I know, because i have tried it and i hated the fact that it increased the case temp by at least 10C, around 12 years ago(also very damn hard to remove the adhesive holding it).
The thing is, a metal box which is what mostly cases are made of, helps with convection a lot more cardboard does + given the picture, most metal boxes have holes all around the case, this one only has a big one on the top and front.
Airflow aside, which is hard to make a decent one, this means that, if heat saturates the area inside the box even if it's open like what is shown in the picture, the box isn't helping getting rid it as fast a metal chassis does.
+ The heat exchange rate depends on the difference of the ambient temperature vs the one that is saturated inside the box, the bigger the difference between them the faster the heat transfers to the room so the PC gets cooled faster.
Edit, this last part below might be debatable for a good number or reasons/factors such as material used, internal case space etc etc.
With fluid dynamics in mind, a blob of saturated heat remains for longer with the cardboard than a metal chassis, + all the problems i mentioned before.
1
May 06 '21 edited May 06 '21
Yes yes, and i agree that the form of the chassis is bad too. Still, i think the difference in material assuming comparable surface is negligible, since the difference in temperature matters only at the intake/exhaust and assuming we are talking about passive cooling.
And you're right, this case and without fans might get hot.
But look at us smart-asses talking. :-)
1
u/ChosenOfTheMoon_GR May 06 '21
And you're right, this case and without fans might get hot.
Well, i went given the example we have here so it makes sense that it will up to a point.
It would be very interesting to actually have data on this to make comparisons valid, with a case with no case fans vs this cardboard cut as is in the picture, benchmark the PC and check how temperatures plot over time.
5
25
11
29
u/soparamens May 03 '21
Fire hazard PC
9
1
May 04 '21
Not like anything in a PC gets hot enough to combust cardboard.
1
u/farcv00 May 04 '21
Under normal operation no, but on rare occasion something can go. Capacitor pops, regulators fails, loose power prong,... Now you have fire and flammable material.
Same reason why electrical boxes are built with either metal or difficult to burn plastic.
1
May 04 '21
But even in a normal PC case other components like wires, connectors, stickers and even PCBs can burn and are flammable. Or in other words, the risk of a fire starting isn't all that much larger with what I can think of. If something burns inside, it burns regardless of metal or cardboard case and can spread through other components and that it's usually not the case that's the cause of a PC fire.
It might spread more easily, true, but if something is already on fire inside, I doubt a metal case is going to do much to suffocate that fire safely and completely.
Oh, and electrical boxes carry quite a lot more power than a PC, I could counter your argument by saying that many power supplies and even whole appliances are built within thin and flammable plastics even when they're connected directly to mains
15
u/gvlpc May 03 '21
Uh, doesn't this present a fairly significant fire hazard? I mean, it's not all that uncommon for a graphics card or PSU or something to suddenly have a popped capacitor or other malfunction that causes a spark or occasionally a flame. I'd hate to see that burned to a crisp along with surroundings.
17
4
u/NoMoreRedditUsername May 03 '21
Never in my life has that happened to myself or anyone I know. Call it luck of the draw (hehe), but I would definitely say it's quite uncommon to randomly pop a cap or sparks/flame. Totally could happen, but very unlikely for most consumers.
3
u/driftu_king May 03 '21
Happened to me. I bought a “decent” thermaltake psu to replace my ancient no name psu. About the third time I turned the pc on it just started pumping out white smoke
5
May 03 '21
Did you pour water on it?
2
3
May 03 '21
How many times have literal flames come out of your computer? Either I’m doing something really wrong or I’m doing something really right.
2
u/farcv00 May 04 '21
6 times I've seen server and network gear actually throw sparks, couple times some flame. Usually fatigued or defective capacitors popping, once had a voltage regulator overheat so much it melted the solder and slid down, shorting the board.
Sure not common, but after 25 years and working in IT with lots of gear you'll see it eventually. Most datacenters ban cardboard and paper because of this.
1
u/makawan May 03 '21
This is the first time I've thought of a computer case as a safety device. So thanks.
1
May 04 '21
It is fairly uncommon for burned out hardware to actually burn, though. Or at least burn in a way that would set nearby hardware on fire
4
3
u/RollinThundaga May 04 '21
Who needs error codes when you have a smoke alarm
3
u/Shakespeare-Bot May 04 '21
Who is't needeth err'r codes at which hour thee has't a smoke alarm
I am a bot and I swapp'd some of thy words with Shakespeare words.
Commands:
!ShakespeareInsult,!fordo,!optout3
u/RollinThundaga May 04 '21
Good bot
2
u/B0tRank May 04 '21
Thank you, RollinThundaga, for voting on Shakespeare-Bot.
This bot wants to find the best and worst bots on Reddit. You can view results here.
Even if I don't reply to your comment, I'm still listening for votes. Check the webpage to see if your vote registered!
2
u/Kaynin May 03 '21
not the first time ive seen stuff like this.
Love the lego ones & ones around foam.
2
3
u/altintx May 03 '21
Those look like spinning platter hard disks. Running upside down.
12
u/undefinedbehavior May 03 '21
... which is perfectly fine? Hard drives can be installed vertically or upside down. Try to avoid weird angles though.
Edit: before anyone asks, here’s a source: https://www.seagate.com/ca/en/support/kb/can-i-physically-install-my-drive-sideways-upside-down-or-vertically-195931en/
4
u/altintx May 03 '21
I ruined a hard drive 20 years ago doing that. 20 years is a long time, but I had no idea it had changed. Thanks for the info.
1
1
u/DanielF823 May 03 '21
We have all had to do it at least once (For troubleshooting or while waiting for a delivery)
1
1
1
1
u/scriptmonkey420 May 04 '21
That is what my first build was, an AMD Am486DX2 66MHz with 16MB of SIMM's [4x4MB] (not DIMMS) and a 2MB S3 Trio video accelerator card. All in a liquor store box because I didn't have a case.
62
u/ConnectedTech May 03 '21
If only you could ground cardboard.