Cooling Conundrum

[cyrillus]

The system I'm currently using is the one listed in my sig. If anyone would like more information or pictures, feel free to ask. I've attempted to clean up the cabling as best I can, and every step I've taken seems to have helped, but I'm looking for a little more. Feel free to give me your opinions, and thanks in advance for any advice

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/2913/p1010076zp3.jpg

The above picture is a quick shot I took of the case. I run all fans (excluding the PSU and VGA) fans on a fan controller, and when they're at 5-7V the case is pretty much silent except when the HDDs are crunching. My temps aren't too bad, but obviously there's room for improvement. I'm thinking about cutting out the lower holes in the HD cage to allow the intake fans to actually be useful, as right now they push almost no air through that cage (even when running at 12V).

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/3267/p1010075rz6.jpg

The image above shows the area I'd like to cut out (in blue). This would allow the intake fans to move some air into the main portion of the case, and I was thinking of possible putting a 120mm fan there to push the recirculating VGA air out the back of the case.

Also, the north and south bridge are my main concerns for this build, as I'm running this system overclocked, and they are the hottest thing in my system at the moment (too hot to touch). I'm looking for the best way to move some air over them, and was thinking about possibly running a duct similar to the one BonzaiDuck suggested in another thread (http://webpages.charter.net/ps...sentinel/PC300013.JPG) something similar to that I'm looking at, if it would help. However, I'm not sure if this would move much more air over the chipset or not, or if simply angling a fan down from my empty 5.25" bays would be more beneficial.

 

[boles]

I have a nF4 chipset that was getting WAY too hot and i tried a couple things. First i tried a zalman NB (http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/pr...w.asp?idx=71&code=014) cooler that worked great...until upgraded my video card and it didnt fit anymore. Then i changed to a vga cooler (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16835119080) that fit my board. You might be surprised by the results you get by taking the stock coolers off, cleaning stock thermal compound off and replacing it with some quality stuff.

 

[Navid]

I have a Super Lanboy case.

This is what I did to mine.
http://i259.photobucket.com/al...h302/Navid200/Mesh.jpg

I had the same motherboard and CPU for quite some time.

I used a Zalman bracket (FB123(92mm)) with a 120mm fan instead of the 92mm fan that came with the bracket to blow down on the chipset sink as well as the CPU. The result was lower temps for both the chipset and the CPU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835118204

 

[cyrillus]

Thanks for the replies! I looked into that Zalman bracket awhile ago Navid, and I appreciate the suggestion, but I'm not looking to add any more fans.

Well I finally got around to putting in the front duct. (I apologize in advance for the crap fan, it was the only one I had lying around until my SilenX gets in).

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/1439/p1010079lx5.jpg
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/435/p1010081dd8.jpg
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/7845/p1010082jq9.jpg

I think it turned out alright, considering it was my first excursion with a dremel, and I'm liking the lower temps on my south bridge and vid card. Unfortunately There wasn't room to fit a 120mm where the exhaust fans are.

I'm considering building a duct over the motherboard to ensure that the air getting sucked into the HSF is from the intake and not circulated, as well as hopefully directing the air over the mobo components a bit more.

Let me know what you think! There's always room for improvement, but I'm trying to keep this quiet, so I'd prefer not to add any more fans if possible.

 

[Noubourne]

HR-05 SLI rules.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Hey, Cyrillus!

I put a ThermalRight HR-05 on my Prescott (socket-478 and no SLI) system.

From a tape-on thermal monitor, I long ago determined (and before adding the HR-05) that ducting helps with ANY chipset heatsink or cooler.

Here, I may be declared the "Mad Duck-tor" on this forum, but I'll give my two-cents worth anyway.

The problem with the ducting on the Prescott is that it's too simple and crude. Of course, components on these mobos are crammed together, so with my SI-120 cooler, the solution was to simply build a flat duct plate for the entire mobo.

If it's possible to build a duct that contours around motherboard components such as the chipset heatsink, it will be better, since air will be drawn faster around narrower apertures surrounding the heatsink. You might want to vent the duct just above the chipset cooler or offset from the top of the cooler given the direction of airflow to the exhaust fan, to pull cool air down and past the chipset heatsink before it enters the broader space under the motherboard duct-panel.

With the SLI version of the HR-05, one would have to look at the orientation it has with your motherboard. but it MIGHT make the ducting even easier, since it lies flat. So the closer you can build a SIMPLE, FLAT duct panel to the motherboard in general -- leaving room to accommodate the pipes and fins of the chipset cooler -- the better.

The kind of duct I'm in process of building now for my Conroe will draw air from below and above the motherboard. I want not just to build a flat duct board, but to have a "skirt" around it that mates up with the motherboard pan (and/or the right case side-panel). The skirt will allow air from below and above the mobo to be drawn up into a box around the exhaust fan. The remainder of the "skirt" will be open where it passes by the RAM modules, and if I'm lucky, I can have another open spot right near the chipset heatsink(s) (N & S). If need be, I'll add a little "hallway" for air drawn through this latter aperture with some narrow right-angle panels cemented to the bottom of the duct panel, so that air coming through that hole will go right over the chipset cooler(s).

As one moves down the motherboard from the CPU to the PCI-E and PCI slots, there will of course be no "skirt" at the bottom. Thus, air from the cool side of the duct -- from the larger case-space, would be drawn into a more comprehensive set of duct boxes around expansion cards -- and drawn also from underneath the motherboard as much as permits, so the air flows past the VGA card and then down under the duct-panel, where it would be sucked out by the exhaust fan just mentioned.

Diagrams or pictures would be in order here, and now I'm committed not to "disappoint," even though this project is still "in progress" and I haven't made it materialize yet.

This is a lot of work, and one has to continue the attention to making the ducting easy to disassemble. On the other hand, ducts don't have much in the way of finite MTBF's.

 

[cyrillus]

Thanks for the replies "Mad Duck-tor"! I'm going to try to work on the mobo duct more this weekend, and possibly even look into suspending the hard drives in the intake duct to have more airflow over them (read: some). I'm hesitant to buy the HR-05 for this because cash is a little short right now, trying to see what I can do with the stuff I have laying around (and the $1.65 Elmer's Fibercore boards I bought ).

Also going to be swapping out the Ultra PSU in there. It's quiet and stable enough (I switched out the fans with Panaflo 80L's when I bought it), but the sleeved cables which seemed a good idea at the time are just too cumbersome to work with, particularly the 20-pin connector, which is currently blocking some of the exhaust atm.

Thanks for the replies, I'll update with more pics when I get time to work on this more!