Keep Your PC/Xbox/PS3/AppleTV From Overheating in a Closed Cabinet
Posted 10/14/08 at 12:00:00 PM by Will Smith
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Step 3: Mount the fan
Before you can mount the fan to your cabinet, you’ll probably want to determine which direction the fan blows. Typically, there’s a diagram on the side of the fan which shows the direction of airflow, but if your fan doesn’t have that, you can always plug it into the power brick and see which side air comes out of. You’ll want to mount the fan itself inside the cabinet, but orient it so that it blows warm air out of the enclosed area. It will be an exhaust fan. Once you’ve figured out the fan’s orientation, you should also screw the grille that comes with the fan to the side of the fan that will be inside your cabinet. The grille will prevent any stray wires inside your case from blocking the fan; this is important to do, and it will be much easier to attach when the fan’s outside your cabinet than inside it.
Next, it’s time to actually attach the fan to your cabinet. You’ll probably need a helper for this part, unless you’ve got incredibly long arms. Line up the fan on the inside of your cabinet with the four holes on the outside. Slide the #10 screw through the rubber washers you bought—the rubber washers will protect the wood on your cabinet should you overtighten the screws. Now screw in the screws. We used a drill to speed the process, but it’s important not to overtighten the screws. Leave them loose to start, so there’s a little wiggle space in case one of your holes doesn’t line up. Once all four screws have been started, tighten them down in a diagonal pattern.
Once the fan is mounted, you can connect it to power and give it a test spin. Hook it up to your power brick, close the cabinet door, and enjoy your new, longer-lasting, properly cooled components!
Dude, there's tons of fans
Submitted by Bad213Boy on Thu, 02/26/2009 - 12:25am
Dude, there's tons of fans that can turn on when a certain temp is reached. Must have a sensor to read. Goto www.Newegg.com.
Submitted by netjunky on Mon, 02/23/2009 - 11:22am
I'd really like to know what fan you are using, the one's I've seen are always on and just speed up when the temp rises. I want one that is off unless it gets warm.
Submitted by gearguy on Fri, 02/20/2009 - 6:28am
Great article. I plan on doing it to my cabinet. Please tell me where you sourced the fan with AC-DC adaptor.
Submitted by CriticalImpact on Mon, 12/22/2008 - 1:05pm
I just read the article, and everything looks great and useful. The problem? I just purchased a $1200 entertainment center, and would prefer not to ruin it.
Currently, I have a 3 shelf/6 cube unit. Each "cube" holds a different device, including a PS3, 360 and DVR. I have to leave the door open all the time right now, and things still get very hot. Anyone have a suggestion on how to accomplish cooling and not destroy the furniture at the same time?
you can put a fan in front
Submitted by nsk chaos on Wed, 04/29/2009 - 7:59pm
you can put a fan in front of the devices or remove the back panel of the cubes if possible [if you then hey! stick a fan there too!!!]
Submitted by tknecht217 on Thu, 12/04/2008 - 1:24pm
Firefighters use Positive Pressure Ventilation to clear heat and smoke (a volume of gas) from buildings; they often use a single gasoline powered fan to clear homes, sometimes large, multi-story spaces. Why use an exhaust system, when you could "push" cooler air into the cabinet space, and have the air in the space not only go out a small(er) vent hole, but also the various vents/cracks in the cabinet? Is there an absolute advantage to the setup in the article? I had planned to use a PPV system in my cabinet, instead of an exhaust system, but now I am wondering which would be best?
Submitted by Scizo on Wed, 11/12/2008 - 10:20pm
I'm looking for a way to vent my new 80GB PS3 which is enclosed in the top
cabinet of a pier behind doors as well as my amp and other components
in the base of my TV stand. The PS3 seems to run very hot and with the
doors open and an ambient room temp of around 70F the temp inside the
cabinet with the PS3 was quickly up to 97F I know something needs to be done about this.I have 3 Yate Loon D12SL-12 120mm case fans and 2 ~5v wall warts. I
planned on using on wall wart wired to a fan for the PS3 cabinet and
then one for each shelf of the TV stand since the air between the 2
shelves seems completely blocked off. I priced 4.5" hole saws but they
seem to go for around $35 plus the price of the mandrel which is really
more than I want to spend on a saw I will probably never use again. Any
have any suggestions on how else to make a fairly neat and round hole
that won't destroy my new entertainment center?For the 2 fans for the TV Stand I planned on piggy backing the molex
connectors and running it off the 5V wall wart but am concerned it wont
be enough voltage to power both fans adequately. The other option was
to get a fan controller, but the fan for the PS3 in the pier is a far
distance from the TV stand and I am unsure how to get that fan wired to
the controller if I mount it in the TV stand.If I got a Regulated 1000mA AC Adapter how could I wire all three together. The fans only need .30ma each so I should have enough power, but I would have the problem with wiring the one fan in the cabinet to the other 2 piggybacked fans a few feet away. Any suggestions??
Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for the help!
Submitted by Scizo on Wed, 11/12/2008 - 10:19pm
Sorry..Duplicate Post
Bigger, Quieter, Cleaner install (template included!)
Submitted by CAsasquatch on Fri, 10/24/2008 - 9:14pm
I did this mod to my wife's office desk two years ago:
http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=25cmfancooleddeskqp4.jpg
I bought a case with a reversible 250mm side fan, used the case side panel as the template, and connected it to the computer inside the desk with a long external molex wire run from a PCI slot power takeoff. Make sure to reverse the standard airflow with the switch (right at the 12 o'clock position). The AMD X2 4200+ stays cool as a cucumber now (before the mod the entire case was hot to the touch), and there is no noise to speak of (*but then again 30 years of drumming has damaged my hearing somewhat - I hope Will uses good earplugs).
Submitted by Scintor on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 10:00am
Your cabinet cooling solution is probably more efficient than mine, but I'm pretty sure mine is cheaper! I added a USB connector to the power lines of a discarded chassis fan and propped up the fan on the top shelf at the rear of my cabinet and then plugged it into the USB port of my PS3. The fan is a 12v fan running on the PS3's 5v, so by default the fan runs way below design speed which results in super quiet operation. It is positioned so that it blows hot air out of the the top rear of the cabinet toward the front doors that I keep slightly opened. The fan only turns on when the PS3 is turned on, and since the PS3 is the primary heat generator in this cabinet, it is properly applied (IMHO). There was zero cost for this solution as the USB connector and fan were gathered from the junque drawer.
Submitted by std error on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 4:47pm
I read this article and decided to go ahead and do it. An hour later I turn on my PS3 and find that it died from overheating (folded a WU two days ago).
Anyway my question is if I have a fan that is set to go off at 75 degrees and my room temperature is about 80 (Las Vegas weather) does that mean the fan will always be running?
Submitted by mikeart03a on Thu, 10/16/2008 - 8:50pm
Very useful how-to here. If you want more than one fan without the additional inverters, if you can get your hands on an old hardwired switch/push button activated PSU (386-P1 days) you can use the molex connectors on them to power additional fans in your entertainment center.
Also, if you're handy enough, you could probably build a small box to house a fan controller as well.
- mike_art03a
IT Technician
Gov't of Canada
You can also use the
Submitted by willsmith on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 7:43am
You can also use the traditional Molex splitters. One inverter should power all the fans you can possibly use.
they didn't fit the fan
Submitted by johnny3144 on Thu, 10/16/2008 - 7:23pm
they didn't fit the fan into the wood panel.
they made a round hole so the fan can blow through it, and slapped the fan on top of panel. then they take screws and screw it onto the panel.
square fan in round hole?
Submitted by ifdefmoose on Wed, 10/15/2008 - 1:29pm
Sorry if the answer is obvious, but how did you get a square fan into a round hole? The fan that you linked to, and the one shown in the photos, looks like it is in a square black plastic housing. Does the housing come apart, so that one half mounts in front, and the other half mounts in back of the cabinet (without losing the fan bearings all over the floor)?
Thanks.
looks like someone found
Submitted by yogurt80 on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 10:48pm
looks like someone found their missing, new-in-box sticks in the back of that cabinet. How long had those been gone?
Submitted by willsmith on Wed, 10/15/2008 - 1:07pm
They're actually the emergency backup sticks. I keep waiting for my wife to break one while she's playing (she's the drummer, I'm just guitar/vocals), but it hasn't happened yet.
Great Idea!
Submitted by winmaster on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 4:55pm
Great Idea! I just have two things to say.
1.What the hell is the editor-in-cheif of Maximum PC doing with an Apple TV?
2.Be careful with that Wii. They get hotter than you think. Mine recently overheated, causing damage to the GPU. Even more shocking, I don't even have it in an enclosed space and it was in standby mode when it overheated!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Submitted by willsmith on Wed, 10/15/2008 - 1:04pm
I bought one to test out their HD download service back in the days before you could play HD movies from iTunes on your PC. It's a kind of weird, interesting box. I'm not a fan of buying content that's encumbered by DRM, but I have no real opposition to DRM for rental content. My wife rents a fair number of movies from them and occasionally uses it to catch up on TV shows she misses (or at least she did pre-Hulu).
If I wasn't a football fan, I'd probably turn off my cable TV and use a combination of Hulu, iTunes, and Netflix to get all my content. It's still really hard to get sports on the Internet, especially in HD.
Submitted by billysundays on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 10:54am
With the cabinet door closed, where would the fan be pulling in air from?
Also, couldn't you find a suitable grommet for a finishing touch?
Submitted by willsmith on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 12:52pm
I am, without a doubt, not a master woodworker. What is this grommet of which you speak?
As for the air, there's enough gap around the door as well as a cable feed hole in the bottom that it pulls plenty of air in.
Submitted by billysundays on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 2:29pm
I'm sorry, I should've been specific.
A grommet is that rubber ring that fits into the edge of a "feed hole" ; ). I've purchased them at cableorganizer.com. Many are cut-to-size, and are usually used in desks with openings on the top or sides used for routing monitor or phone cords into the desk.
By the way, I loved this how-to, great job (I should've probably started with that). I've been wanting to do just this for the longest.
Any idea when we might be seeing your review of the Astro gaming headset?
Submitted by willsmith on Wed, 10/15/2008 - 1:06pm
It's been sitting, half-written for at least a month. I pulled duty on the review because I'm the only one who really plays console games here, but I've totally dropped the ball on it. I'll finish it up next week and get it posted.
Submitted by billysundays on Wed, 10/15/2008 - 5:19pm
That's great to hear. I've been holding off buying a new headset until I've read your review (my old Plantronics died). Its been a decision between the Astros or the Plantronics GameCom 777.
The reviews I've been reading online for the Astro's have been unclear. Some state they're open-ear designed, some say closed-ear. A few reviews seem to imply that the headsets are of the multi-speaker variety, without ever explicitly saying it, while others imply that the surround sound effect is purely simulated.
Anyway, I hope you'll find any of this relevant for your review. Thanks, Will.
Submitted by Stockislander on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 10:00am
Hey, thanks for the link to the woodworking tips site!
Submitted by hammerfell on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 6:26am
very good article. Now we just need one that does this with water cooling ^_^
Plus you could have this little LED glow emmitting from all the little cracks and doors of your entertainment center when the lights are of. (which would be AWESOME)
okay question.... where did you put the 360 and the apple tv?? did i miss something ??
oh and also if you put them at the top wouldn't it make sense to put them at the bottom?? (since heat rises your creating more airflow.)
Submitted by willsmith on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 12:50pm
I only took photos of the 360/Wii side of my entertainment center, since it was lit better. The other side has my amplifier, an Apple TV, and a small PC, along with the same kind of fan hookup.
Submitted by Saltboy on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 6:24am
I like the article, but I think it would be best to have 2 fans. One on the lower shelf or lower area of the space to bring in fresh "cool" air, and one on the top shelf, or upper area to vent the "hot" air out.
Submitted by willsmith on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 12:49pm
The inflow fan shouldn't really be necessary, unless your entertainment center has an airtight door. There's a more than sufficient gap around the door edge in my cabinet that the fan can pull enough fresh air in to keep whatever I run in there humming along at room temperature. The bottom fan would just be overkill (at least for my setup).
Of course, you could always start with the top exhaust fan, then add the bottom fan if it's necessary.
Submitted by Saltboy on Wed, 10/15/2008 - 4:30am
That makes sense. I have seen some cabinets that seem to almost seal, which is strange. I forgot about the cabling whole. Thanks for the reply!
I would never
Submitted by maniacm0nk3y on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 6:03am
I am lucky for how much space I have and what type of furniture I am able to use. It allows for excellent airflow with no worry for overheating. If it was a closed space like a DVD cabinet or something, I would NEVER put it in there. Expecially with an Xbox 360.
Submitted by willsmith on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 12:45pm
After putting the fan in, I'm able to run the 360 in that closed environment without it ever getting warm. Before it would have been hot to the touch.
Submitted by r3dd4wg on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 5:38am
Just one question, though. Can you adjust the temperature the fan turns on or is it fixed at 75-degrees?
Thanks.
Submitted by willsmith on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 12:44pm
The fan I bought spins up at somewhere between 75 and 80 degrees. You can probably shop around and find them that start at different temperatures, but afaik there aren't any fans that allow you to adjust the temps.
Submitted by samduhman on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 4:15am
I have this exact problem with my PS3. We have to keep the door open when playing Blue Ray movies or gaming or it gets hot and the internal fan spins up sounding loud as hell.
I'll definately be doing this.
Thanks!
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