Usefullness of w/c a TB of HDs?
 

Hi All,

I have a server running that contains 7 hard drives and 1 burner equaling over 1.1TB of formatted space. The majority of these drives are directly in front of the main air intake witch cools the drives but adds significant heat to the air in the case. I have heard that a HD only produces about 20 watts of heat on this forum. Based on that figure my HDs are producing twice the heat of my CPU... My main concern is the long term life expectancy of my HDs.

My question is this: will it be worth while to build and install or is this a pointless exercise. Keep in mind that I will build my own HD blocks, I own most of the other parts, and I am out of work so my time is cheap right now. W/C the CPU is a possiblity but not a nescessity as it will soon get a swifty MCX478 heatsink with a low power fan (which I hope will be enough :).


My server specs:
Asus P4PE
P4 2.4 O/C 2.7
Corsiar 3200 2-2-3-2 running @ 400MHz
2 WD 250s, 1 WD 200, 1 WD 160, 1 WD 80 - mainly just for OP sys and a swap drive, 2 Maxtor 160s
Antec 430 PSU
Lian-Li PC-71 modded for 2 90mm quiet fans in front :) :) :)

I think that you would be cheaper and more reliable by using ducting and quiet 120mm fan(s) to move that HD heat out of the case. So, have outside air flow over the HDs, then duct that heated air out of the case.

That being said, I've always wanted to watercool my 5 hard drives. Let us know how it goes.

I have 4 250gb SATA hard drives behind a 120mm fan in my thermaltake tsunami, it appears to do the trick. I wouldnt worry about hard drive longevity though, as long as they arent Deathstars they should last a helluva long time, no matter what temp they run at (within reason)