3 ms·

I'm struggling slightly to envision the effect you are seeking. My motherboards don't tend to be flying through the air and so lack a well-defined angle of att

I'm struggling slightly to envision the effect you are seeking. My motherboards don't tend to be flying through the air and so lack a well-defined angle of attack... :-) There already exist horizontal and vertical motherboard mounts in different computer cases, including ones that could be stood either way to suit the desktop. In my experience, this doesn't affect cooling that much. I think the fan, internal baffle, and vent positions dominate the airflow conditions inside the case. So, rather than tilting a motherboard, wouldn't you get whatever you are after with just a slight change in these surrounding structures?

CoolGuySteve 4y ago
You seem to be ignoring that all the punch through connectors on a board are currently on the side that air must pass over. Furthermore, I've never seen a case, either desktop or rackmount, that allows one to angle the fans at anything other than a 90 degree angle or parallel to the board. None of this makes sense in terms of fluid dynamics.
- saltcured 4y ago
  Having a smooth board seems at odds with having a large surface area for heat transfer, doesn't it? And wouldn't laminar flow also have less movement near the surface? For optimal cooling, would you actually want turbulence to mix the layers? Instead of mounting fans at different angles, add some vanes or even duct work to aim and accelerate the flow where it needs to transfer heat. But, given that boards do not have completely standardized layouts, it seems like you eventually need to assume a forest of independent heat sinks sticking up in the air. You lose the commodity market if everything has to be tailor made, like the integrated heat sink and heat pipe systems in laptops.