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Alternate Way to attatch a fan to a Thermalright 947u?

G

Gilby

Senior member
OK. Before I put things back in the new case (see thread here), I want to find an alternate method for attatching a fan to my heat sink. I want to test the theory that the pressure of the fan clips against the power supply case is causing the problems. I tried fitting an 80mm fan with clips and saw the same issue with the clips against the psu.

There are no screw holes on the 947u to attatch a fan. Down on the bracket near the mb there are some but they don't match to either a 92mm or 80mm fan. However, perhaps something can go from the fan holes to those holes to hold the fan on. Pipe cleaners, maybe? Any ideas?
 
I checked your thread, that could be a possibility.

I would just lay the system on its side and set a fan on the HS, don't worry about mounting it. That Thermalright has a lot of CU mass and would run just fine with no fan at all for a few mins.
 
That's not a bad idea. I can at least test that way. Still, I wouldn't want the system on its side full time which leaves me (if it works that way) withing finding a way to attatch the fan again.
 
Possibly. I just tried to attatch with pipe cleaners...but I can't really get them into the holes down at the base of the sink effectively. Maybe nylon wire ties--one at each corner--would work better.
 
Yo, Gilby, heads up!!

Zalman Bracket and Fan

Not too expensive, or you could try and fashion something like this out of old computer-case sheet metal. With a shop-vise, you can, with some care, bend and twist the bracket to fit your particular needs. I did that to suspend a 120mm fan above a heatsink which wouldn't ordinarily fit ON the heatsink because the graphics card was too close to the CPU. My acrylic 120-to-92 adapter wouldn't fit even just touching the graphics card. I hung the fan, the adapter, and a duct made of 92mm fan frames above the CPU heatsink so it is almost flush with the sink and no air loss or pressure loss.
 
Originally posted by: BonzaiDuck
Yo, Gilby, heads up!!

Zalman Bracket and Fan
Click to expand...

So how, exactly, would attatch that? Where does it screw in? If it works, that seems ideal--I can keep the Tornado for the hot summer months and switch out to something quieter when cool weather is here.

Anyway, as an aside I put in the fan from my old Volcano II on the Thermalright HS. My temps seem to be only about 5C higher under load--certainly very livable for now.
 
You unscrew a couple screws from your PCI backplates, put the bracket on top of the holes, and screw them back in -- loose enough to finely adjust the position of the bracket, then snug them down. Also, if you wanted, you could bend the bracket to fit and use machine screws to bolt it on to the back side of your chassis, so that it hangs over the CPU. But you should be able to adjust its position just by fitting it to the top of the PCI backplates as it was intended.
 
Couple more remarks. I think you can either get the bracket, screw, spacer and thumb-nut separately, or you can buy it with the FB-123 92mm fan. Zalman stands by the fan's cooling ability -- without posting CFM ratings -- but it spins up to 3,000 rpm with hardly any noise. If the kit costs -- what was it at ZipzoomFly? -- $11 or something? You can try out the fan, and it might be quieter than the Volcano fan you're now using.

As you said, you could switch in the Vantec Tornado during the sultry months.

I've used these things even for poking a 40x40x25mm Sunon mag-lev fan on top of my i865PE chipset -- was able to get it to hang just a few millimeters above the stock heatsink -- saved me the trouble of buying a chipset cooler. That was superseded by the by-product advantages of my XP120 cooler and 120mm fan, but at the time, it was great and it worked.

You only have to get it to clear your AGP card. If you're using a "Silencer" to cool the AGP card, it should fit right across the card without any trouble and adequately clear it to hang a fan over the CPU. I even think it would hang over an AGP card with a Zalman heatpipe cooler on it, but not if the Zalman had its option fan installed. Even so, I would think you could simply move the option fan to the bracket's other holes and hang it over the AGP card that way as well, with the CPU fan hanging on the other side of the AGP.

If you're worried about "stability" -- as beefy as the Tornado is, I still don't think it would be a problem -- but -- you could get a piece of 3/4"-wide sheet metal, bend it up appropriately with holes for machine screws, and if you had a cross-beam in your case below the PSU and above the CPU, you could use the home-made sheet-metal bracket to "hang" the other end or corner of the fan from the cross-beam, thus securing the fan from two sides -- the Zalman bracket secured to the PCI backplate screws, and the other corner of the fan hanging from the case-cross-member.
 
Actually, I can't see that being any less stable than the clips they give you to attatch to the heat sink. I'm not all that impressed with the fan--sleeve bearings. I'm thinking of this one.
 
Yes, if the Zalman uses sleeve bearings, that's not as good as ball bearing. You should know my various experiences with ThermalTake fans -- I've posted much here in the last week.

I never tried that particular fan, but it has a "respectable" CFM for the amperage, speed and size. And certainly not expensive.

For me, though, if I could get 75 CFM from a 90mm CPU fan, I'd lean that way.

But -- say -- you already got the Vantec Tornado . . . . so . . . . . 🙂
 
The tornado might be needed when it's hotter around here...or if I overclock more. But for now I really don't need it.
 
I dunno why you need such a high powered fan. I have an 1800+ OCed to 2200mhz and am using the SLK947U with a 92mm Panaflo M1BX at 6.5V with idle of 45C and load of only 55C
 
The reason I keep visiting this forum, in addition to my altruism, is an interest in both the cooling and overclock issues. At this point, I've foresworn water-cooling. I'm trying to effect the very best air-cooling solution with lowest acceptable motor-noise. At an over-clock of 20% on my Intel P4 3.0C and room temperatures in the 70 to 72F range, my load temperature hasn't yet exceeded 104F (40C) or 5C below your idle value.

I believe if I can get the load value down below 100F at this setting, I will be confident in a 25% over-clock that I can set and forget. I have to be able to accommodate a room temperature that can reach 78F or 26C . . . . .

AMD systems seem to post hotter temperatures. Tiamet -- what do you do to cool your VGA card?
 
Originally posted by: Tiamat
I dunno why you need such a high powered fan.
Click to expand...

Oklahoma summers mixed with overclocking. The temp inside in the summer (at least where my cheap ass sets the thermostat) is around 82F--possibly a bit hotter, possibly a bit cooler. But I don't want to put up with that noise when it isn't so hot, which is why I'm looking for quieter fan that can be easily switched.

All that said, as long as I want to use a 80mm or 92mm fan, I need some alternate way to attatch it to my heat sink. And going with a smaller fan will result in more noise for less air flow.
 
I saw that Zalman FB-123 Bracket assembly for less than $7.00 today. Maybe it wasn't ZipZoomFly -- it could've been NewEgg.

For that, even if you didn't want the fan or plan to use it right away, figure you got a nifty cracker-jack-box toy with the bracket 🙂
 
Newegg. But the shipping cost kills it compared to Directron. I needed this and a few other things and Newegg's shipping was over twice as much as Directron's.
 
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