MP 7,1 Do I have to worry about Mac Pro exhaust heat?

[yellow_lupine]

Hello everyone,

I'm thinking of buying a new Mac Pro that should be positioned in an empty space of about 32cm wide and 60cm depth, leaving 5cm and 15cm of air respectively on the sides and rear of the Mac.
Do you think that is enough for air circulation?

I will often do music production with it, so the CPU will be at high usage most of the time.
Knowing that the room is made almost entirely of wood (both floor, rear wall and furniture) do you think I should be worried about the exhaust heat emitted by the computer?

Thanks

 

[kohlson]

I can't speak for the new MP, but my cMP is a reliable room heater in the winter (and summer, but the doors and windows are open). In any event, you'll want good air flow around it. 2 inches/5cm at the back seems a little tight with respect to cabling.
The Apple web page show airflow is clearly meant to flow from front to back. Is your thinking that the airflow has to come out the back and then ultimately out the sides? Is it stuffed in an enclosure with some clearance around sides and back?

 

[yellow_lupine]

I can't speak for the new MP, but my cMP is a reliable room heater in the winter (and summer, but the doors and windows are open). In any event, you'll want good air flow around it. 2 inches/5cm at the back seems a little tight with respect to cabling.
The Apple web page show airflow is clearly meant to flow from front to back. Is your thinking that the airflow has to come out the back and then ultimately out the sides? Is it stuffed in an enclosure with some clearance around sides and back?

Hi kohlson,

it should be 5cm at both sides and 15cm at the back. On the right there will be a desk and on the left an high wardrobe.
Do you think that is a good solution?

 

[AidenShaw]

Hi kohlson,

it should be 5cm at both sides and 15cm at the back. On the right there will be a desk and on the left an high wardrobe.
Do you think that is a good solution?

Is there anything above the system, or is the air free to rise behind the system. If it's open above - the warm exhaust will rise and dissipate.

Your GPU will be mostly idle - so you don't have to worry about that big heat generator.

 

[yellow_lupine]

Is there anything above the system, or is the air free to rise behind the system. If it's open above - the warm exhaust will rise and dissipate.

Your GPU will be mostly idle - so you don't have to worry about that big heat generator.

Hi AidenShaw,
the Mac will sit on the floor and there will be nothing above it, the air should be free to rise.

 

[kohlson]

Do you think that is enough for air circulation?

As @AidenShaw says, the air from the rear blower should be able to exhaust upward.
I don't have a good picture of how cabling works, but I believe you may have a coupe of cable out the back - display and power. 5cm is probably fine if the display cable is small and flexible enough. And HDMI cable may need more than this.

 

[AidenShaw]

Hi AidenShaw,
the Mac will sit on the floor and there will be nothing above it, the air should be free to rise.

The main thing is to make sure that there's no easy way for the warm air to get pulled into the intakes on the front. You might want to put foam strips under the chassis and on the sides to insure that there is no circulation.