Need to build coolest (coldest) PC possible for specific function.

[chrisgregory]

Okay, so pretty interesting situation here. Wondering if I can get any advice...

My boss set up a computer in the boiler room to his apartment complex and its there to control a few things like security doors and such. The boiler room is the ONLY spot for it that it can be behind a locked door. He went and bought a Lenovo from the store with absolutely no upgrade options or room in it to upgrade. I told him I could build a computer for him keeping the fact that it needs to stay as cool as possible in mind. I have some ideas but Im curious to what yours are...mind you, this is a boiler room that keeps the CPU at 45-50c during the month of May and I live near Boston. We predict that during the midst of summer it will become an issue. What would you use? Does it even matter what I use? Or will it essentially just be pulling air from a hot ass room no matter what I do at the end of the day, thus making anything I do pointless? I will probably go AMD to save money and since its purpose is to run a couple programs only. Just FYI for anybody that would like to recommend a particular build.

Thank you for any advice.

 

[USAFRet]

Unless you go for some expensive (and fragile) active cooling, you're fighting a losing battle.
As you say, it will just be starting out hot, and getting hotter once you turn it on. Absent active cooling (peltier, for instance) it cannot be below ambient room temperature.

Plus, what fumes are in that boiler room? Would you want to live in there 24/7, breathing that stuff in? Because that's what the PC is doing.

You need to think outside the box (or boiler room).

 

[Eximo]

Mil-spec NUC or automotive class computer rated at 0-100C. Not going to be cheap.

You could go with an extremely low power system like this: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/nuc-kit-de3815tykhe.html

AMD is a bad idea, but doable... To build a custom PC as cool as possible, just go really big on the CPU heatsink, get a highly efficient power supply (gold or higher), get a motherboard with significant heatsinks on the all the components, and make sure you have fans blowing across everything that needs to be cooled.

 

[jsmithepa]

First off, bad idea building anything for family or boss, they are going to be haunting you for *any* little issues, I know.

I agree with Eximo, some kind of industrial rig that's designed, from the getgo, to work in tough environments. Boss is not gonna like the bad news you have for him. I'd stay shut.

Why does it have to be "in there?" when we have WIFI?

 

[chrisgregory]

Ill be honest, ive never even seen or heard of one of these before. Can you tell me more about it and why you think it should survive hot temps, Eximo? Also, how much do they go for if theyre not cheap as you say. I dont see a price. Never a good sign....

So essentially its a PC?

 

[chrisgregory]

jsmith, all I know is the computer needs a spot to exist and be locked off from tenants since it's purpose is controlling security functions of the building. The only room that is locked off to everybody but us is the boiler room. How WIFI can help such a situation I cant come up with. Please remind me of something I seem to be forgetting if anything, on how WIFI could change this. Its been a long day.

 

[Eximo]

Automotive and environmental PCs are usually fanless sealed boxes rated at insane temperatures. Its the kind of things you find in tanks, jets, racing cars, or anywhere a computer can be expected to encounter things that break normal computers.

Basically they are just slower, lower power computers with wide ranging capabilities these days. They used to be highly specialized, but with SoC style APUs being so commonplace they are basically complete computers now.

As to why they would work in a boiler room, well the stats tell all. Add a few mil-spec components and they are good to go. 100C rating is what usually puts them over the several thousand dollar mark...

http://www.elma.com/en/products/systems-solutions/application-ready-platforms/product-pages/industrial-computing/maxsys-1300-series-detail/

Here is a somewhat cheap one: http://www.mini-box.com/SYS-M350-AsRock-Q1900-ITX-M3-ATX?sc=8&category=1543

But Gigabyte, Intel, Zotac are all getting into the mini-PC business in hurry. So there are less hardened options from them.

The key there is low power input = less temperature output. Easier to keep cool.

 

[USAFRet]

A standard PC in that boiler room will die before the summer is over.

So you have 2 options:
1. Spend a lot more for a device designed for that environment.
or
2. Move it.

IMHO

 

[chrisgregory]

http://postimg.org/image/6ko12hu29/

^^^^^ That's actually not a bad final price. How does the "configure your system" look? I had to choose most of it though a lot of it seemed to be no brainers. So, this thing hooks up to a monitor and displays a desktop that houses Windows, etc? For the clean cost of $437.28? Sorry guys, bare with me lol

 

[chrisgregory]

change the 320gb hd to a 1TB and thats how it would actually look. forgot to edit that..

also, 4GB of ram instead of 2GB. or not necessary?

 

[chrisgregory]

New price....$471.00. still not bad.

 

[chrisgregory]

Do these mini PC's come pre built or do you assemble them yourself?

 

[Eximo]

I don't know what software you are running, so can't really answer the question about memory. If you are going to run Windows 8 on it, you probably want the 4GB.

I believe these ones come assembled.

 

[chrisgregory]

well, id prefer windows 7. figured id go 8 since 7 will likely be obsolete soon. will there ever be issues from it becoming obsolete that would really effect essentially a computer that will always just sit there to keep a security camera program up and running that id even need to worry about?

 

[chrisgregory]

would you go 7 if it was just gonna sit there and run a program for a business???

 

[Eximo]

That or Windows Embedded.

 

[chrisgregory]

Eximo, the "somewhat cheap" one you linked above (http://www.mini-box.com/SYS-M350-AsRock-Q1900-ITX-M3-ATX?sc=8&category=1543), i cant for the life of me find a spec for how heat resistant it is, like for example the other one you linked me to (http://www.elma.com/en/products/systems-solutions/application-ready-platforms/product-pages/industrial-computing/maxsys-1300-series-detail/) tells me exactly the heat temps it can exist in.... "Rugged, -20°C to 70°C (-4˚F to 158˚F) fanless operation (w/ industrial SSD)"

Is it safe to assume the cheaper one is more or less just as "rugged" so to speak and would be okay in up to 70c too? Here's the final build http://postimg.org/image/lepbz6prr/ that I will likely be hitting order on tomorrow morning. Money isnt exactly a major issue though so why Im going for the cheapest one Im not sure. I guess it just looks like it would suffice.

edit--and how you see it configured, it should come and be and fully functional pc out of the box? just add monitor, keyboard, mouse?

 

[Eximo]

I can't even get the manual to open, so not sure what to tell you there. E-mail them for a spec sheet if you are interested. Or ASRock since the board is theirs.

Plenty of other options out there as well. Just happens to be one I found when doing a quick search. (Honestly there didn't used to be this many suppliers for automotive, embedded, and industrial PCs) Used to be all custom PCBs and solutions. Mini-Box just uses off the shelf motherboards with BGA cpus.

 

[chrisgregory]

http://industrialpc.com/product-category/embedded-systems/

^^^^ these look like the real deal and a sure fire thing.

http://www.mini-box.com/SYS-M350-AsRock-Q1900-ITX-M3-ATX?sc=8&category=1543

^^^^so whats the difference between those, and this "cheap one"? straight up durability likely? theyre the same thing im assuming, just the top ones are official industrial computers. the cheap one as we like to call it, just seems it is just like its called, a small, or "mini" PC. EVEN SO, a mini PC even if not officially "industrial" still makes little energy and less energy equals less operating heat, right? so while the official industrial computers seem like a sure fire thing, the cheap one could potentially work as well. i dunno. getting stressed out now. lol thanks for all the help, eximo.

 

[Eximo]

Lower the power the better off you will be certainly.

So there is more to hardening a computer then just slapping a few components together like the Mini-Box. They are selling for the convenient small form factor. Digital signage is probably the most common use I would suspect.

Industrial PCs can be environmentally sealed against dust, oil, dirt, etc. Took one apart from a gypsum plant one time nice and clean on the inside, a caking of fine powder in all the connectors, but it still worked. Power supply had actually failed as I recall.

They'll use higher temperature capacitors, resistors that are less susceptible to their values changing with temperature, more efficient transistors, all kinds of things. Usually good industrial PCs used to cost in the thousands (a lot of them carried early Mil-Spec SSDs for $1000 for a 4GB card)

Temperature rated SSDs are still expensive, but much more common.