Putting a PC in a closet?

[semithotamatic]

Wasn't sure what sub-forum to put this in, please move it if need be...

 

So I'm redoing my room, which involves moving my desk to the other side. There is a closet on that other side of the room that will be emptied in the re-do. I had the idea to maybe move my PC into the closet in an attempt to save space and improve the look of my room.  Its a pretty small closet; roughly 9 feet tall, 9 feet wide, yet only about 14 inches deep, and has no ventilation other than the door (if open, thought it is impossible to be at the desk and have the door open. The plan works in theory, yet I have the same concern that you'll all have too, overheating. I'm running an i5 6600k with a GTX 1070 in an NZXT h440. The CPU is cooled by a Corsair h60 and the rest of the case is air-cooled by an array of different fans. Outside of a closet, it stays cool, rarely breaching 50C. Temperature here on the east coast NJ ranges from VERY cold to VERY hot (10 to 95 F), though the room is air conditioned in the summer. Would it possible to run the computer from the closet? Or would it too easily hit a dangerous heat?

[light-v]

You need some kind of airflow otherwise heat will build up eventually and your PC will throttle 

[Jdkdk]

2 minutes ago, JGunnz said:

Wasn't sure what sub-forum to put this in, please move it if need be...

 

So I'm redoing my room, which involves moving my desk to the other side. There is a closet on that other side of the room that will be emptied in the re-do. I had the idea to maybe move my PC into the closet in an attempt to save space and improve the look of my room.  Its a pretty small closet; roughly 9 feet tall, 9 feet wide, yet only about 14 inches deep, and has no ventilation other than the door (if open, thought it is impossible to be at the desk and have the door open. The plan works in theory, yet I have the same concern that you'll all have too, overheating. I'm running an i5 6600k with a GTX 1070 in an NZXT h440. The CPU is cooled by a Corsair h60 and the rest of the case is air-cooled by an array of different fans. Outside of a closet, it stays cool, rarely breaching 50C. Temperature here on the east coast NJ ranges from VERY cold to VERY hot (10 to 95 F), though the room is air conditioned in the summer. Would it possible to run the computer from the closet? Or would it too easily hit a dangerous heat?

why dont you just test it out for a couple of hours

[laking-gamer]

6 minutes ago, JGunnz said:

Wasn't sure what sub-forum to put this in, please move it if need be...

 

So I'm redoing my room, which involves moving my desk to the other side. There is a closet on that other side of the room that will be emptied in the re-do. I had the idea to maybe move my PC into the closet in an attempt to save space and improve the look of my room.  Its a pretty small closet; roughly 9 feet tall, 9 feet wide, yet only about 14 inches deep, and has no ventilation other than the door (if open, thought it is impossible to be at the desk and have the door open. The plan works in theory, yet I have the same concern that you'll all have too, overheating. I'm running an i5 6600k with a GTX 1070 in an NZXT h440. The CPU is cooled by a Corsair h60 and the rest of the case is air-cooled by an array of different fans. Outside of a closet, it stays cool, rarely breaching 50C. Temperature here on the east coast NJ ranges from VERY cold to VERY hot (10 to 95 F), though the room is air conditioned in the summer. Would it possible to run the computer from the closet? Or would it too easily hit a dangerous heat?

if you have to id suggest(if possible)removing the back of the wardrobe(English name for closet) and allow a few centermeters of room for airflow, if this isnt possible id atleast drill some small holes in the back, some airflow is better  than none at all

[Brennan Price]

You would need to make a hole in the cupboard anyway to create a power button externally so if you are going to do that you may as well add holes for fans too. If there isn't any airflow in there, your PC will get very hot indeed. I can't see it as a viable option if you're not ready to edit the cupboard to fit a PC in there.

[Colin Donoghue]

3 minutes ago, laking-gamer said:

if you have to id suggest(if possible)removing the back of the wardrobe(English name for closet) and allow a few centermeters of room for airflow, if this isnt possible id atleast drill some small holes in the back, some airflow is better  than none at all

This isnt a wardrobe like a piece of furniture im guessing this has a solid wall behind it 

[semithotamatic]

1 minute ago, Colin Donoghue said:

This isnt a wardrobe like a piece of furniture im guessing this has a solid wall behind it 

You guessed correctly.

[laking-gamer]

1 minute ago, Colin Donoghue said:

This isnt a wardrobe like a piece of furniture im guessing this has a solid wall behind it 

oh sorry i thought he meant one you could move away from the wall, he could maybe drill in the top and add a fan filter...

[semithotamatic]

11 minutes ago, Jdkdk said:

why dont you just test it out for a couple of hours

You raise an excellent point...

[Jdkdk]

Just now, JGunnz said:

You raise an excellent point...

sarcastic?

[semithotamatic]

Just now, Jdkdk said:

sarcastic?

Not one bit. That would just cause a clusterfuck of wiring during the test because I don't have the proper wiring holes cut and the closet is not yet empty.

[bcredeur97]

1 minute ago, JGunnz said:

Not one bit. That would just cause a clusterfuck of wiring during the test because I don't have the proper wiring holes cut and the closet is not yet empty.

no one said testing had to look pretty

[laking-gamer]

3 minutes ago, JGunnz said:

You guessed correctly.

oh sorry i thought he meant one you could move away from the wall, he could maybe drill in the top and add a fan filter...

(sorry for reposting i didn't quote you accidentally)

[Jdkdk]

Just now, JGunnz said:

Not one bit. That would just cause a clusterfuck of wiring during the test because I don't have the proper wiring holes cut and the closet is not yet empty.

Oh that makes sense, guess you can try it when youre done moving. I doubt anyone can have an answer for me because every ones house is different (temperature, layout, airflow, humidity)

[Colin Donoghue]

8 minutes ago, laking-gamer said:

oh sorry i thought he meant one you could move away from the wall, he could maybe drill in the top and add a fan filter...

This is the kind of closet he is talking about there are solid walls on all sides. there it no way he could drill a hole anywhere but the door which would be a bad idea because then when he is done he would need a new door

[laking-gamer]

Just now, Colin Donoghue said:

This is the kind of closet he is talking about there are solid walls on all sides. there it no way he could drill a hole anywhere but the door which would be a bad idea because then when he is done he would need a new door

oh i see sorry i was thinking something like this:

[semithotamatic]

Thank you all for the helpful (yet discouraging) advice. Would it make any difference if the entire system was water cooled?

[Haaselh0ff]

No, the heat still has to go somewhere and in this case it would almost certainly just go right back into the machine and eventually cause overheating.

[elkenrod]

you said 9 feet wide, 9 feet tall, 14 inches deep?

[dcgreen2k]

Okay crazy idea time. Get 2 sorta-short air ducts and get some high airflow fans. Shape one end of the ducts so that it fits under the door. (I don't know how large that gap is, it might not even be possible.) Stick the other end of a duct and put it over the PC's air intakes, and the other duct over the exhaust.

[rcelt]

3 hours ago, JGunnz said:

Thank you all for the helpful (yet discouraging) advice. Would it make any difference if the entire system was water cooled?

Then you'd just make the ambient temps rise faster, if you add a good ac unit in the room then a water cooler could do the trick though

[xGGAx]

You could replace the door with something like this

or like this

[Vash.]

Aside form the ventilation , have you considered cable management and if your peripherals cable length to desk? Monitor?

 

Of course you'll need power, can you even install a power outlet in there?

 

Just some things to consider

[AndrewReaganM]

I recently put all of my networking and home theater gear into a small closet thinking that I would not be an issue, however I woke up the next morning with the CPU fan on my Xeon based Dell workstation machine running PFSense running at full speed. Keep in mind this was at what was likely a peak 5% CPU load, and everything else in the closet was turned completely off except for my cable modem and 5 port switch.

 

I am going to end up installing either a passive vent or a vent with some 120mm or 140mm fans attached. The passive vent should work fine though, as long as you install it towards the top of the door so that when the heat rises, it comes out of the top.

 

Seeing as you are running a gaming rig, that closet is going to get very hot very fast, even under very low load. Install a vent, however, and you will likely be okay.