Question Sufficient cooling for HDD in Phanteks Eclipse P300A?

[HolyFire]

Hi.

I'm considering getting a Phanteks Eclipse P300A (http://www.phanteks.com/Eclipse-P300A.html) for my next build.

One thing I'm concerned about - I do intend to populate the 2 bottom trays with 3.5" HDDs. However, it seems there is no fan sending air in their direction, leading to above-optimal HDD temperatures.

I imagine that if they put the HDD slots there it's because they figured they'd be doing fine, but it still doesn't add up for me. Is this something to worry about, or will the HDDs be sufficiently cool even without direct airflow? What should I do to mitigate the problem?

Thanks.

 

[UsandThem]

There are opening on the side where the drive bay is located.

That heat will be pulled out of there by the case fan(s). They will be in a lot better shape than they are in the closed off small cases of most external hard drives.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Hdds don't need direct airflow. As long as they're not caked in dust or your ambient temperatures are over 80F,youre good. No pre-built system with regular 7200rpm drives from Dell, hp, Lenovo, etc directly cool their hdds.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Hdds don't need direct airflow. As long as they're not caked in dust or your ambient temperatures are over 80F,youre good. No pre-built system with regular 7200rpm drives from Dell, hp, Lenovo, etc directly cool their hdds.

I beg to differ. Best practices for a 7200RPM HDD (or even a 10K RPM one, or SAS/SCSI), is active cooling (fan pointed at drive). This is practically a REQUIREMENT if you're going to have drives stacked on top of each other, in successive vertically-stacked drive bays. Trust me, I used to do this a lot back in the day. My drive temps for stacked 7200RPM HDDs, were 35-42C, depending on load.

Just because the big OEMs did marginal things, doesn't mean that you should.

Case airflow may be enough for a single HDD, and most of the big OEMs use 5400RPM HDDs anyways.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

I beg to differ. Best practices for a 7200RPM HDD (or even a 10K RPM one, or SAS/SCSI), is active cooling (fan pointed at drive). This is practically a REQUIREMENT if you're going to have drives stacked on top of each other, in successive vertically-stacked drive bays. Trust me, I used to do this a lot back in the day. My drive temps for stacked 7200RPM HDDs, were 35-42C, depending on load.

Just because the big OEMs did marginal things, doesn't mean that you should.

Case airflow may be enough for a single HDD, and most of the big OEMs use 5400RPM HDDs anyways.

which is 100% fine.

I'm observing that OEM has 0 airflow over their hdds (some 7200, but realistically, not that much diff in temp between 5400 and 7200) and I've personally used 3x work computers that were never shut off, sitting on carpet, being kicked by me nonstop, fell over at least 5 times, and still works 100% fine for at least 5 years, imagine the torture.

 

[VirtualLarry]

some 7200, but realistically, not that much diff in temp between 5400 and 7200)

Maybe not much difference in temp in your environments, running single drives, but I assure you, running drive arrays, there's a marked difference between power usage / heat output between 7200RPM and 5400RPM drives, especially inside enclosures.

You don't want to run a 7200RPM HDD inside an enclosure without a fan.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm observing that OEM has 0 airflow over their hdds

Also note that just because an OEM doesn't have a fan directly pointed at the HDD, doesn't mean that they have "0 airflow" over the HDD. Chances are, the chassis design is "thermally optimized", with ducting, vents, and whatnot, along with the chassis exhaust fan, so that there is at least a little bit of air movement over the HDD. Which can make all of the difference.

 

[VirtualLarry]

It's entirely possible, that my gained knowledge about HDDs from running them extensively, both singly, and in groups/arrays in the 90s and 2000s, is outdated with modern HDD technology, and the mfg's have somehow miraculously reduced the power consumption of 7200RPM HDDs as compared to their 5400/5900RPM brethren, but ... I have my doubts, based on experience.

Note that most HDD vendors don't even list the RPMs anymore. Apparently, you can determine the RPM of your HDD, by taking an acoustic sample, and finding the harmonic vibrations in it.

 

[HolyFire]

I beg to differ. Best practices for a 7200RPM HDD (or even a 10K RPM one, or SAS/SCSI), is active cooling (fan pointed at drive). This is practically a REQUIREMENT if you're going to have drives stacked on top of each other, in successive vertically-stacked drive bays. Trust me, I used to do this a lot back in the day. My drive temps for stacked 7200RPM HDDs, were 35-42C, depending on load.

Just because the big OEMs did marginal things, doesn't mean that you should.

Case airflow may be enough for a single HDD, and most of the big OEMs use 5400RPM HDDs anyways.

What are your thoughts on the specific situation of the P300A? Do you agree with UsandThem's assessment that it's fine?

 

[HolyFire]

Hdds don't need direct airflow. As long as they're not caked in dust or your ambient temperatures are over 80F,youre good. No pre-built system with regular 7200rpm drives from Dell, hp, Lenovo, etc directly cool their hdds.

80F doesn't seem that high, I wouldn't be surprised if my ambient exceeds that occasionally...

 

[LOUISSSSS]

i dont know anything about that case. I'm sure any case sold on newegg in 2020 is better than a dell OEM case from 2005.
You sit in a room over 80F regularly? Thats seriously not healthy..

As long as your hdds aren't stuffed into a case and covered in cables and dust, they'll be fine. HDD's don't have "load", they're constantly spinning at 7200rpm and they can do that for 10 years without shutting off your computer with basic cleaning of dust.

 

[HolyFire]

Update:

I went ahead and HDD temps seem to be fine (under 50C).

Thanks for the replies!

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Update:

I went ahead and HDD temps seem to be fine (under 50C).

Thanks for the replies!

Hdds don't need direct airflow. As long as they're not caked in dust or your ambient temperatures are over 80F,youre good.

told u!