Airtight PC Case

[legendz]

I live close to a pumice quarry and have a problem with dust. I came up with an idea to build a liquid cooled airtight acrylic case. I'm no engineer so I need to know if it is practical. Here goes.
Processor and gpu will be liquid cooled. All wires will be through holes sealed with silicon (or some other substance) to make the case as airtight as possible. The power supply will be mounted outside of the case since I don't think its possible to successfully liquid cool it without immersing in oil. Optical drive will also me mounted outside for obvious reasons. I will mount fans inside the case to circulate air. So far i can't see any flaws but I need a different perspective

 

[Zooshooter]

Passive heat build up. Any sealed system, no matter how well sealed, eventually develops leaks.

At this point, why even bother with sealing the case and choking the cooling system. It's gonna be hell on the capacitors for starters. You'd be better off getting a case that is extremely open and allows a high airflow and just clean the thing out every once in a while. Hell, you should clean it out every once in a while regardless of where you live.

 

[Onus]

Other motherboard components need cooling air too. Recirculating hot air won't cool them. Install filters on your input fans, and plan to clean them regularly.

 

[chugot9218]

Create your system with positive airflow in mind, and filter all your intakes. That way, any small cracks and spaces in the case will be blowing air out instead of sucking air in (as with negative airflow, more exhaust than intake). Properly filter your intakes and clean them regularly, and, theoretically, no dust should enter your system.

 

[USAFRet]

Very shortly, the fans inside the case will merely be moving hot air around. This is somewhat similar to the mineral oil schemes. Somehow, you have to get the hot air out of the box.

With a standard PC, you're using the whole room, or even the whole house, as a heat sink. And the house AC as an active cooling mechanism.
Seal the box, and you're using only the surface area of the box to dissipate heat. Not optimal.

Better filters are the key. If the pumice quarry is that bad for your PC...what is it doing to you?

 

[makkem]

Hi
To get over the heat build up in the case you could water cool the case.
Use 8mm or 10mm copper pipe from a plumbers merchant run as much as possible around the inside of the case and connect to an external pump and radiator and you are good to go.

 

[rkforde42]

As a couple of people have mentioned, passive heat build-up is still going to be a problem in any sealed systems even if you circulate the internal air. Actually, by making the case acrylic you make the problem worse by eliminating the metal case's limited ability to act as a heat sink. There is, however, a simple solution. (Well, it sounds simple in theory. It involves custom water cooling rigs which are never truly simple.)
In addition to the systems used to cool the cpu and gpu, have a large radiator and fans mounted inside the case in such a way that it blows on your MB. The bigger the radiator the better. Have this connected to an external radiator and fans of about the same size. This should keep you case from overheating, though it will probably still get warm.
At this point, with three water cooling loops and a sealed case we have gone way beyond what's practical. For the cost you're better off getting a case with a good filter and setting up a positive pressure fan configuration. But if you are set on the airtight case, that's how I would do it. Maybe you could also fill the case with some sort of inert gas like argon. It might help with component life, but then it might not. It could be a fun experiment if you have the extra cash.