Gaming PC Heat Exhaust System

thingiverse

This is a project I designed to vent most of the hot air from my gaming PC out a window. Most of the heat comes from the rear 2 fans on my PC. The project fits on a standard Ender 3. There are diamond cuts in the front of the vent hood to allow the hot air to escape into the room when the exhaust duct fan is off. There are models for less diamond vents or no diamond vents for use if desired. These parts were modeled in solidworks 2019, and STLs and STEP files are provided as well. I used 3 inch diameter ducting from amazon for this project. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QH9LH73/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I used a 4 inch diameter duct fan as the exhaust fan. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M7S46YZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The 4 inch fan required the use of 2x 4inch to 3 inch adapters. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005XU3QCQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 To control the exhaust fan I used this digital cooling thermostat controller. This allows you to set a temperature for the fan to cut on and off. The fan plugs into the controller, and the temp probe from the controller is installed inside the vent hood where a small hole exists in the model. I had to drill this hole out to fit the probe. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZV591B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 If you prefer to manually cut the fan on and off then one of these remote control outlets would work well. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07W53C4FQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 For now my I set the exhaust fan to cut on at 89F. It reaches this temp after gaming for a few minutes, but allows the PC to idle or browse the web without the exhaust fan kicking on. I did reduce my PC fan speeds to around 1300 rpm at 70C GPU temps. At this reduced PC fan speed it is not pushing air out of the vent hood diamond holes when the exhaust fan is on (meaning all the hot air is being sucked into the ducting). I did apply some clear tape to the inside of the vent hood over the diamonds near the horizontal rear PC fan. This is because too much of the hot air was coming out of them, instead of being sucked into the ducting. You could print the vent hood version with less diamond vents, but I like to look of the diamond vents so, blocking some from inside with clear tape is an option. Overall this exhaust system did raise my PC temps by 4C under heavy load (70C became 74C) but this is acceptable for me to prevent the room from being heated. I believe the reason for the temp increase is because I reduce the total air flow rate of air through the PC by reducing the PC fan speed (in order to get more hot air out the window). The temps of the exhausted air range between 94F to 100F while gaming (as displayed on the fan controller). The GPU ranges from 65 to 74C while gaming and the CPU ranges from 60 to 70C. My build is a 5600X CPU and 3060ti GPU. I printed the vent hood and hose connector parts from PLA and joined them with some #8 bolts and nuts. There is a spacer part you can print if needed to move the hose connector further out. My PC case this was designed for is a Cosair iCUE 465X RGB Mid-Tower ATX case. I suspect this will fit well on most Mid-Tower cases. I did add some small magnets in the corners of the vent hood to help hold it in place on my PC. The PC exhaust vent part was printed from PETG to help withstand the UV from outside light. I already had a vornado transom fan in the window so I cut a hole in the foam beside the fan for the exhaust. I would suggest modifying a window vent kit for portable air conditioner to route the 3inch duct out your window. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=window+vent+kit&crid=A19CS2134I9U&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_15