External Cooling Methods

[heresiarh]

Is it possible to buy an external cooling device for my system to keep it cool??

 

[saxophonoia]

yes, it's called an oscillating fan

 

[heresiarh]

Hmm ...

 

[heresiarh]

I saw your system specs and you keep your machine at 39C full load, how did you achieve that?

 

[saxophonoia]

sorry for the sarcastic reply I'm not sure of an external cooling system but I would use some kind of fan, just because it's probably cheaper. As for my machine, I'm using the SLK-900a along with the Vantec Tornado with arctic silver 5 so that combo keeps it really cool. It is relatively hot here and the a/c is not on that much so I was kind of surprised it stays that cool, but I have decent airflow in my case so that does help out.

 

[heresiarh]

I envy you, I wish I knew how to apply arctic silver and keep my comp temps low. Lets say I do buy a fan, should I leave the side cover open and direct the fan air directly into the machine?

 

[Jaxidian]

Originally posted by: heresiarh
I envy you, I wish I knew how to apply arctic silver and keep my comp temps low. Lets say I do buy a fan, should I leave the side cover open and direct the fan air directly into the machine?

1) To apply Arctic Silver correctly, take a sharp razor blade and spread it as thin as you possibly can keeping the paste smooth but not being able to see any metal. Make sure you cover the entire area were the CPU die hits the heatsink.

2) Yes, blow that sucker straight in there. A cheap $10 box fan from WalMart can do wonders if you really need it. Personally, I wouldn't be able to stand that, though.

 

[heresiarh]

Yea, I hate open cases, I want to keep my setup neat and clean. But lately, Ive been looking at my comp temps and feeling psychologically drained! I'm sure you know how it feels. Although I have nothing to worry about since my system is running just fine, no glitches during gaming. I wish they had an exhaust external system where you can attach it to your main fan through a tube.

 

[heresiarh]

Originally posted by: Jaxidian

Originally posted by: heresiarh
I envy you, I wish I knew how to apply arctic silver and keep my comp temps low. Lets say I do buy a fan, should I leave the side cover open and direct the fan air directly into the machine?

1) To apply Arctic Silver correctly, take a sharp razor blade and spread it as thin as you possibly can keeping the paste smooth but not being able to see any metal. Make sure you cover the entire area were the CPU die hits the heatsink.

2) Yes, blow that sucker straight in there. A cheap $10 box fan from WalMart can do wonders if you really need it. Personally, I wouldn't be able to stand that, though.

Yea, I hate open cases, I want to keep my setup neat and clean. But lately, Ive been looking at my comp temps and feeling psychologically drained! I'm sure you know how it feels. Although I have nothing to worry about since my system is running just fine, no glitches during gaming. I wish they had an exhaust external system where you can attach it to your main fan through a tube.

 

[saxophonoia]

Originally posted by: heresiarh
Yea, I hate open cases, I want to keep my setup neat and clean. But lately, Ive been looking at my comp temps and feeling psychologically drained! I'm sure you know how it feels. Although I have nothing to worry about since my system is running just fine, no glitches during gaming. I wish they had an exhaust external system where you can attach it to your main fan through a tube.

so what you're saying is you want a fan to blow outside air through a tube onto your cpu fan so it gets cooler air? if so there are cases that have a fan right on the side above where the cpu is located and you could always make your own tube. I think there might actually be something like you mentioned though with a tube. Maybe someone else can post a link for it.

 

[Jaxidian]

Originally posted by: heresiarh
Yea, I hate open cases, I want to keep my setup neat and clean. But lately, Ive been looking at my comp temps and feeling psychologically drained! I'm sure you know how it feels. Although I have nothing to worry about since my system is running just fine, no glitches during gaming. I wish they had an exhaust external system where you can attach it to your main fan through a tube.

Oh, you mean you want a duct for your CPU fan?! That's MUCH easier to do! I have one of those on mine. My duct came with my case. Try something like this and route it to a side panel fan or something. You'll probably get drops of 5-10C if you're around 45-50C or higher.

 

[heresiarh]

That thing looks cool. If you have a digital camera, can you please take a pic of your setup inside the casing ?

 

[Jaxidian]

Originally posted by: heresiarh
That thing looks cool. If you have a digital camera, can you please take a pic of your setup inside the casing ?

I'll do that tonite when I get home from work if I remember. It's nothing too awefully special but I'll give ya' some pics.

 

[heresiarh]

Thanks mate, I appreciate your help. The duct tube seems officially thick though.

 

[saxophonoia]

Originally posted by: Jaxidian

Originally posted by: heresiarh
Yea, I hate open cases, I want to keep my setup neat and clean. But lately, Ive been looking at my comp temps and feeling psychologically drained! I'm sure you know how it feels. Although I have nothing to worry about since my system is running just fine, no glitches during gaming. I wish they had an exhaust external system where you can attach it to your main fan through a tube.

Oh, you mean you want a duct for your CPU fan?! That's MUCH easier to do! I have one of those on mine. My duct came with my case. Try something like this and route it to a side panel fan or something. You'll probably get drops of 5-10C if you're around 45-50C or higher.

That's what I was talking about.

 

[saxophonoia]

Originally posted by: Jaxidian

Originally posted by: heresiarh
That thing looks cool. If you have a digital camera, can you please take a pic of your setup inside the casing ?

I'll do that tonite when I get home from work if I remember. It's nothing too awefully special but I'll give ya' some pics.

So on this, you don't have a fan on your heatsink and instead just use the exhaust fan to blow in instead?

 

[Jaxidian]

Originally posted by: saxophonoia
So on this, you don't have a fan on your heatsink and instead just use the exhaust fan to blow in instead?

I have both. I have my hard plastic duct coming from the back of my case (think about VHS tape size and shape, but rounded airflow paths on the inside). The area where this plastic duct is over my CPU, it has a square area to mount a 80mm fan in that kinda sticks out from the VHS-shaped duct. So the size/shape of a VHS tape is the airflow (it's NOT as wide as the 80mm fan). So this 80mm fan attached to the duct is basically pulling outside air and blowing right at the top of the CPU fan (and some of it goes elsewhere in the case too, it's not enclosed around the HSF). Then my TT Smart Fan 2 does a good job on my SLK800. I never see over 40C on my CPU, even OC'd quite a bit under load. But, of course, we keep our apartment pretty cool - under 70F.

Sorry if I'm not explaining it very well. I'll disassemble my duct tonight so you can see what I'm talking about. The duct came specifically for my case. It isn't the prettiest thing but it's very useful for the temps.

Here's the best I can do at drawing it (beware: this may confuse you even more!):

###__#################################################
##//###################################################
#//####################################################
//#####################################################
######################################################
######################################################
%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%


*************************
*************************
*************************
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--------------------------------

The #'s are the duct (I tried to show how it's curved in there too). Right is out the back of the case. Left is going towards the front of the case. %'s are the 80mm fan attached to the duct blowing down. The *'s are my CPU fan. The |'s are my heat sink.

I promise, my pics tonight will be better than this one!

 

[saxophonoia]

LOL........that could be the best description I've ever seen..........haha. Yeah that does make sense though. Hmm I guess I would have to custom make a duct for my Tornado then since it's a 92mm fan.

 

[Jaxidian]

Ok, I got some pics up here. They're a bit more detailed than my drawing above.

My system has a front in-take fan, the side-panel intake fan, and that duct as intake. Out-going is the video card fan (balances out the front fan and part of the side fan), the 40mm fan next to the CPU (takes hot air out of there perfectly), and the PSU fan finishes the job. I've experimented with other setups and this is the best.

 

[Falloutboy]

you could always water cool. that was my solution to my problem
worked quite well. my temps aren't much better but I got 300 more mhz for the same temps

 

[weirdichi]

Originally posted by: heresiarh
Yea, I hate open cases, I want to keep my setup neat and clean. But lately, Ive been looking at my comp temps and feeling psychologically drained! I'm sure you know how it feels. Although I have nothing to worry about since my system is running just fine, no glitches during gaming. I wish they had an exhaust external system where you can attach it to your main fan through a tube.

Hmm.. an exhaust systemm with a bigass tailpipe. Also an intercooler. Rice for the nerds.

 

[Peter D]

Buy one of those Vapochill Case Coolers Heh, if you were gunna buy one of those, might as well just buy an actual Vapo CPU cooler

 

[heresiarh]

Do any of you mates live in Chicago? I could use some help with setting up my system. I don't have a steady hand.

 

[Jaxidian]

I'm in Indy... unfortunately...

 

[heresiarh]

My badluck. I am also looking for people to build a system for me. I will buy all the parts and I will pay $100 for their time.