Case for Ikea Micke desk

[aitor]

Hi,

I have an Ikea Micke desk : http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/images/produc ... 002_S4.JPG - but assembled with the PC cupboard on the right. The cupboard is 58cm x 28.5cm x 50cm (HxWxD), has an open back, and the desk back is about 5cm from the wall.

I've been using a laptop for a long time but now it's time to get a desktop working. I have a system in an old Silverstone TJ-06 case, which fits, but the system I run in it is too hot and noisy being culled from server parts (dual quad core Xeon, 64GB ram, E-ATX motherboard with hard to cool chipsets) and also doesn't really fit my needs anymore, so I'm thinking of replacing it with an X99 / Haswell-E system (I still need 6+ cores and at least 32GB RAM, preferably 64GB). I need a case that's going to work well in the cupboard, and cool a pair of GTX 970s in SLI. I'll be using SSDs and maybe a few 2.5" HDs.

As space to the rear is limited, a case like the Fractal F5 might not be a good idea as the ventilation will be limited, even if I take the cupboard door off, as it will be right up against the wall. The Fractal Mini will fit better but I don't think will be able to cool a dual GPU system without a lot of noise.

So I was thinking Silverstone FT05 or possibly Cooltek UMX2 : http://quietpc.co.uk/cooltek-jonsbo-umx2

I could cut vents into the sides of the cupboard, near the bottom, to help with air intake, which is preferable for aesthetic reasons to taking the door off.

Thanks for any comments / suggestions.

cheers,

Aitor

[CA_Steve]

My quick take is your PC will either bake in that 5 sided enclosure or be loud as hell.

Stress load: ~140W TDP CPU + two 145W TDP GPUs + ~50W for everything else is ~480W plus another 10% for PSU inefficiency is ~530W of heat to dissipate. Call it 450W(AC) under a heavy load.

You'll want a case that has access to lots of low resistance air for the intake and a straight shot out the back of the case (and the desk) to get rid of the heat.

The 531mm depth of the Fractal R5 and the combined depth of 550mm for the desk and clearance: yep, that's bad. Anything under ~10cm clearance may affect the fan's impedance. Anything under 5cm is in the near-useless category.

The FT05 relies on the two 180mm bottom mounted fans and no rear exhaust. Here's a quote from Silverstone found at [H]'s review.

Even without rear 120mm fan, exhausted CPU heat will still get expelled through the rear vents. Adding a rear 120mm fan will disrupt the airflow balance. The bottom CPU side of airflow will become greater, which would result in slightly lower CPU temperature, but at much greater expense in loss of graphics card cooling performance. Because RV05 is optimized for intake airflow, CPU cooler can work effectively without help of exhaust fan.

Cutting holes in the bottom of the desk for airflow would be great for this case...however, the lack of rear exhaust means the expelled hot air will just accumulate and effectively raise the ambient temp by a fair bit.

The Jonsbo case looks interesting. Use the bottom for intake and the rear fans for exhaust...too bad the rear fans are 80mm. Another downside is the 150mm max CPU cooler height.

Are you sure you want the case inside the desk?

[MikeC]

No way I'd put a beast like the machine you're considering inside that desk. Airflow is essential. Steve is dead right to ask whether you really want to do that...

EDIT: OTOH, if you treated that cabinet space in your desk as the case and got yourself a sturdy motherboard tray (or pull one off an old case), then you could get creative. Obviously lots of woodwork, and upgrading could be a hassle, though not if you set it up right. PCs in big desk drawers have been done before, even all the way back to the beginning of this site. Rusty's Quiet in-desk PC

[xan_user]

only way I could see it is a custom water cooling rig with the radiators outside the desk. and then you have to deal with the pump noise and exposed fans. - so not really going to be silent.

[Pappnaas]

You could go with a big case and remove the whole cabinet under your desk and use the PC case instead. With a little modding you should be able to make this even look good.

[aitor]

Thanks everyone for the replies!

I wish I could get away with a single graphics card, but there isn't one quite powerful enough. I want to be able to play a few old games and the new Elite Dangerous at 4k, plus have GPU power for Blender rendering, and still be able to run a ton of VMs from time to time.

I should have mentioned that the current rig is reasonably quiet in the cupboard - if I leave the door open. It uses low power Xeons - 50-60W TDP each. It's biggest problem is that the chipset heatsinks, which are passive and designed for a rack case, get very hot without directed airflow, so I had to use a load of 120mm fans to get the rpm down.

I have to put the PC in the cupboard, or get another desk the same size. I might be able to get way with pulling the desk slightly away from the wall - maybe 10cm instead of 5. Space is really tight in London...

cheers,

Aitor

[whispercat]

aitor, you should be able to use the FT05 case with that desk if you want, since the desk has an open back. You should take off the front cabinet door though. Try it, if it's still too hot inside the desk, place two frozen cooler packs on the cabinet floor of the Micke desk directly underneath the FT05 bottom intake fans. The fans will suck up the cool air from the freezer packs and circulate it through and out the back of the case. Of course, for prolonged use of your computer you'll need to replace the freezer packs once they've completely thawed out with new frozen ones.

I was in a similar situation as you several years ago and had a desk with a CPU cabinet, only the desk had no back. I cut out a vent hole in the back of the cabinet, and placed some freezer packs around the bottom of my old Pentium rig case. At first I was afraid of condensation inside my case, but that was not an issue.