Cases which Invert MOBO

[schumey]

A chassis I am considering requires the motherboard be inverted when installed. The MOBO I am eyeballing uses the Heat Pipe method for heat relief from the chipset. Could there be some cooling issues once the mobo is mounted inverted? Any insight would be great!

 

[HideOut]

what case and mobo you refering to?

 

[schumey]

Case: LianLi PCV1100B
MOBO: ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe

As far as the 32X MOBO's (only 4 I believe) all but 1 (?) have "Heat Pipes"

 

[virus5877]

heat pipes don't use the 'heat rises' technology to get heat out, they use convection to transfer heat. by cooling one end of the heat pipes with a fan they literally 'suck' the heat along the heat pipe towards the cool end. so you wouldn't have to worry about mounting heat pipe cooled mobo's upside down

 

[Covered_in_bees]

I have the same motherboard. The heatpipe solution relies on the CPU fan blowing over the fins at the end of the heatpipe and out towards the exhaust fan at the back of the case.

Looking at the layout of the case, you should be ok in this respect. However, the review I just read was not very positive overall about the case. Here's the review if your interested: http://www.custompc.co.uk/custompc/reviews/65065/lian-li-pcv1100b.html

Disclaimer:
If you've already decided to get that case, then don't let me discourage you - I'm no expert in this area, and that review may not be unbiased (was just the 1st google search result I found).

 

[schumey]

Thanks for the input and the link to the case review. Maximum PC gave that case a glowing review but the review you linked brought up some interesting points.

 

[Crashman]

You're wrong, heat pipes use evaporation and condensation internally, so they'll only work in the correct orientation unless the company adds a "wick" to draw the liquid back.

 

[Crashman]

Sorry for you getting bad info, but I've already seen reports of "heat pipe" cooled chipsets overheating when inverted. They use gravity to move the liquid back to the chipset (evaporator) from the radiator (condensor).

 

[Covered_in_bees]

My mistake.

When responding, I only considered the positioning of the cooliing fins for the heatpipe in relation to the exhaust fan, completely overlooking the fact that the heatpipe itself would be inverted.

I'd have to agree with Crashman and say that this most likely would be a problem (depending on the design as stated)

My apologies.