Possible heat-related issues with PC's stored in cabinets

[timbo59]

I'm currently remodeling an old bedroom in our house to make a study. I've just finished putting in bookshelves on two walls, and the third is going to have two desks built in, with a base cabinet in between to house both my wife's PC as well as my own. Question is, with both of them housed together in an enclosed cabinet, is there a likelihood that I might get heating issues with the PC's? If so i though that I could perhaps install a couple of small vents either side, but even then I wondered if that might not be enough and whether some kind of fan might be necessary to circulate air through.

Anyone else been down this road?

Thanks

 

[voyagerfan99]

Yes you will experience heat issues. Leave the towers out in the open where they can get fresh air.

 

[timbo59]

Well that would be the obvious solution, but the point is that the cabinet has been designed to house them in order to keep them off the floor and out of sight, together with all the cabling. I've even set the room up to have wiring coming in through the back of the cabinet so I can house the outlet there. So with that said, the question again is has anyone gone down the road of housing PC's inside a cabinet with an appropriate means of circulating the hot air out? One thing I had considered was putting an extractor fan, like one that would be used in a bathroom, on one side of the cabinet and a basic vent on the other, the only concern being how noisy such an arrangement might be.

 

[JLuchinski]

Yeah towers were never meant to be stored in an enclosure so there out of site, they need air coming in and going out to retain a good airflow. Do you have any pictures? I kind of can visualize what your saying, but maybe there's a better solution.

 

[johnb35]

You will need some sort of fan blowing air in there or you'll overheat the processors. I had a client setup a small fan in one but it was really loud. I really wouldn't advise doing this, they really need to be out in the open for good airflow. Even if you do use the fan technique, all your doing is moving around hot air inside the cabinet already.