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Any "trade secrets" to share?

M

MisterChief

Banned
I'm just wondering if any of you have some personal techniques to cooling your case.

Personally, I use strategically-placed case fans and extra heatsinks to cool of my system. As an example, I strapped a large heatsink onto my PSU with 3 #64 model airplane rubber bands to disapate some of the heat caused by long hors of gaming. The side fan on my case blows over the heatsink, and I've noticed a 3/4C drop in system temperature, which is pretty good by my watch.

Anyone who would like to share their ideas is welcome to share🙂.
 
In my experience, you will have a cool running and worry free system as long as you achieve the following 2 things:

1. Move heat effeciently off all processors (use good active or passive coolers and thermal paste on CPU's, GPU's, chipsets, etc..)
2. Move heat effeciently out of the chassis (keep your wire runs and cabling neat, HSF's and PSU's clean, etc..do not allow the airflow to channel)

IMO, temperature will NEVER be an issue if you select a well ventilated case that allows unobstructed airflow. For me (not everyone), that means to never buy a case with anything less than front and rear 120mm cooling fans (I like quiet too!). My full load CPU temp is 53C, well below the critical temp. The processor and components will be going strong long after my usage cycle of 2-3 years.

m 🙂

 
I constantly dust off my components every week or so, so dust buildup is not an issue on any of my parts. My cables are well arranged, at least as good as IDE cables will allow😛. I use Artic Silver 5 for all heatsink/fan assemblies. I have 2 80MM case fans: one in the rear and one in the front, below the HD bays. I have a 120MM fan (blue LED, BTW😀:thumbsup: ) on the side panel to keep the chipset cool, as well as maximize fresh air flow.

My CPU temperature has never spiked above 50C, and my system stays around 25-28C, so I'm happy. I'm assuming 50C is good for a Pentium 4 3.0 Prescott OC'ed to 3.6:thumbsup:.
 
Originally posted by: Mucker
I'd say you're in excellent shape and have zero worries 😉

m
Click to expand...

😀:thumbsup: At least for now. Next year, I plan on buying an AMD64 system with all the bells and whistles, and then overclocking the living...well, you know😀
 
With your good habits, you'll have no worries 🙂 Great job on your current machine :thumbsup:

m
 
My brother and I are trying to come up with some method of routing air through the case more efficiently. Seems like a side fan would create turbulent airflow in the case. It probably helps to get fresh air onto the components, but then it doesn't have an efficient way of being removed. We're thinking about bending some Plexiglass to route the air from front to back, or possible from bottom to back and see if that helps temps. Should be a fun little experiment. I'll let you know how it goes if you're curious.
 
Originally posted by: Elfear
My brother and I are trying to come up with some method of routing air through the case more efficiently. Seems like a side fan would create turbulent airflow in the case. It probably helps to get fresh air onto the components, but then it doesn't have an efficient way of being removed. We're thinking about bending some Plexiglass to route the air from front to back, or possible from bottom to back and see if that helps temps. Should be a fun little experiment. I'll let you know how it goes if you're curious.
Click to expand...

Sounds great🙂. In my case, the rear fan is blowing air out the back, along with the PSU. So in effect, the air is being channelled through the case from the front to the rear. As the air moves through the case, it travels through the heatsinks and such, carrying heat out to the back.

What I wouldn't give for water cooling😀.
 
Best mod I have seen was a 120mm hole in the bottom of a wavemaster with a fan and then a top 120mm. The airflow would go straight up and out the top of the case.
 
Originally posted by: Cawchy87
Best mod I have seen was a 120mm hole in the bottom of a wavemaster with a fan and then a top 120mm. The airflow would go straight up and out the top of the case.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good idea. But wouldn't the graphics card and other odd assortments jutting out of the motherboard impede airflow? It dosen't seem effecient.
 
Like Mucker said, cases that have 120mm front/rear are the way. Look for open, unobstructed design. A well designed case doesn't need to have any holes cut into it.

Put a blower style cooler on your video card. Know how much heat a modern video card can produce? Put one of these on your card, then feel the air that's being blown out of its exhaust port. It's pretty warm! Why recirculate all that heat?

Get a good quality PSU with high wattage, high efficiency and 2 80/92mm fans, or one 120mm. A good PSU can help remove heat rather than add more.

Turn off all motherboard features you aren't using, ie. RAID controllers, onboard sound, etc. If they're on, then they're generating heat, and making the PSU do more work, which generates yet more heat.
 
I only have a mid-range Athlon (XP2000+) rig, low-end 3D card (R9200, no fan, just heatsink), 3 HDs and 4 opticals, floppy, a few other things, in a mid-tower Codegen. There's the PSU exhaust, and then there is a lower-front intake fan, that blows cool intake air directrly over the HDs, and the case has a factory-stock blowhole at the top. There is a rear fan mount too, and I installed a fan there just because I had a spare, but I'm not sure whether to have that one blowing out (that would make three out and one in), or have it blow cool intake air, primarily over the AGP card and CPU HSF. I think right now I have it blowing in.

But anyways, the blowhole on the top makes a good 3C difference in system tems. I know my system isn't really on the high-end side, but here are my temps: HD/intake air: 32C, system temp 36-38C, CPU temp 38C-42C. Seems plenty cool to me, although the current number of fans is probably almost overkill for the parts that are actually in there. 😛

So my philosophy could be distilled down to - "the more fans, the better" (more fans == more airflow), more or less.
 
Hope this gives you some ideas...
Pic 1
This first pic is without the cover so you can see what I did. I took off that foam stuff on the bottom and used the cover for the foam to create a second intake in the two bottom 5.25" bays. I then screwed two small fans in there, using four long screws with three bolts and washers each to secure them to the grid and two short screws to secure the grid to the case via pre-existing holes in the case front. Here's what the front looks like with the cover:
Pic 3
Then for the back: Pic2
I cut out two holes large enough to not restrict the airflow for the two fans and drilled in holes to attach them to the case in the back of the motherboard tray. So in the end, my setup flows something like this:
Pic4
The two bottom fans get some airflow over the HDD and push out the intense heat from the 6800GT. The two upper intake fans and exhaust fans keep the RAM and passively-cooled SB from heating up and push/suck out the heat my 92mm CPU fan kicks up. With some rather good wire management, the airflow is almost unimpeded by mess, as most of the wires are kept balled up in the floppy drive area, or on the left side of the computer, through a hole a cut at the top. This keeps my temps decently cooled, with the 2.46GHz@1.8V CPU running 49-51C at full load and system temps at 25C or so.
 
I use a completely unoriginal and cliche trick that works extremely well on my winchester 3000+ @ 2.53ghz.

I open the side of my case and use a 24 inch koolmaster room fan. My tempurature doesn't break 40c on full load.

And before anyone asks, the fan is suprisingly quiet 🙂.
 
I have a Lian-Li PC60USB case. I am drilling out the 200 holes in the bezel in front of the two intake fans to 3/16 inch. This will effectively double the area for air flow to the the two 80mm fans.

I have drilled 40, that only leaves 160 to go!
 
Originally posted by: DKlein
Hope this gives you some ideas...
Pic 1
This first pic is without the cover so you can see what I did. I took off that foam stuff on the bottom and used the cover for the foam to create a second intake in the two bottom 5.25" bays. I then screwed two small fans in there, using four long screws with three bolts and washers each to secure them to the grid and two short screws to secure the grid to the case via pre-existing holes in the case front. Here's what the front looks like with the cover:
Pic 3
Then for the back: Pic2
I cut out two holes large enough to not restrict the airflow for the two fans and drilled in holes to attach them to the case in the back of the motherboard tray. So in the end, my setup flows something like this:
Pic4
The two bottom fans get some airflow over the HDD and push out the intense heat from the 6800GT. The two upper intake fans and exhaust fans keep the RAM and passively-cooled SB from heating up and push/suck out the heat my 92mm CPU fan kicks up. With some rather good wire management, the airflow is almost unimpeded by mess, as most of the wires are kept balled up in the floppy drive area, or on the left side of the computer, through a hole a cut at the top. This keeps my temps decently cooled, with the 2.46GHz@1.8V CPU running 49-51C at full load and system temps at 25C or so.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's pretty good! That's the inginuity I'm looking for.:beer:
 
Now, does anyone know how to keep a computer cool in a desk (you know, when the computer is enclosed except for the front and back)?
 
Originally posted by: MisterChief
Now, does anyone know how to keep a computer cool in a desk (you know, when the computer is enclosed except for the front and back)?
Click to expand...

SOmeone just posted a case that is like that.


Originally posted by: DKlein
Hope this gives you some ideas...
Pic 1
This first pic is without the cover so you can see what I did. I took off that foam stuff on the bottom and used the cover for the foam to create a second intake in the two bottom 5.25" bays. I then screwed two small fans in there, using four long screws with three bolts and washers each to secure them to the grid and two short screws to secure the grid to the case via pre-existing holes in the case front. Here's what the front looks like with the cover:
Pic 3
Then for the back: Pic2
I cut out two holes large enough to not restrict the airflow for the two fans and drilled in holes to attach them to the case in the back of the motherboard tray. So in the end, my setup flows something like this:
Pic4
The two bottom fans get some airflow over the HDD and push out the intense heat from the 6800GT. The two upper intake fans and exhaust fans keep the RAM and passively-cooled SB from heating up and push/suck out the heat my 92mm CPU fan kicks up. With some rather good wire management, the airflow is almost unimpeded by mess, as most of the wires are kept balled up in the floppy drive area, or on the left side of the computer, through a hole a cut at the top. This keeps my temps decently cooled, with the 2.46GHz@1.8V CPU running 49-51C at full load and system temps at 25C or so.
Click to expand...

 
Originally posted by: MisterChief
What I wouldn't give for water cooling😀.
Click to expand...

If you're willing to give a few hundred I'm sure any number of online vendors could have their arm twisted into trading you a nice water cooling setup for those few hundred. 😉

Now, does anyone know how to keep a computer cool in a desk (you know, when the computer is enclosed except for the front and back)?
Click to expand...

Start out with a cool running system. This means choosing your components carefully. Some hard drive reviews give surface temps. Certain CPUs run cooler than others. Use an A64 with a C&Q capable mobo, or use a mobile Celeron/P4, or use a Pentium/Celeron M setup, or use a VIA C3 mITX combo. If you start with cool running parts, much easier to keep it running cool enough.

Also, consider ducting air in/out of the desk.
 
Originally posted by: MisterChiefWow, that's pretty good! That's the inginuity I'm looking for.:beer:
Click to expand...
Thanks, glad to be of help. I definately love the LL case, as it really lent itself to modification quite well, unlike that other, cheaper case... Pic ahhh... the power of duct tape 😛
 
Hot hard drive? mount ina 5 1/4 bay, cut square in face of bay cover, hot glue in some fine (painted color of choice) mesh screen
 
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