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How do I make a shroud to my CPU

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gogetadbl

Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2003
Do you guys see any flaws in my duct design

Since my temps don't seem to ever go low, would you guys have any suggestions on making a shroud? Do i basically just wrap the CPU fan with the HSF to make sure that all the airflow goes to the heatsink? What materials should I avoid? What materials should I use? I was thinking some posterboard or cardboard with black electrical tape. Basically I just form a cup and put it around the fan and the top of the heatsink (but the SK-7 is far larger than my SF2 fan). On the back of the cup (the closed part touching the heatsink) I'll cover up the holes with additional posterboard or cardboard taped on with electrical tape. To guarantee more air doesn't leak out that side, i'll tape up every hole and surround the cup with electrical tape in which the electrical tape is place on the heatsink and the cup. Any suggestions or help with my idea? Is electrical tape safe on a heatsink fan or would the heatsink fan get hot enough that the electrical tape would fall off?
duct.JPG
 
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I dont have one, but from what ive seen shrouds are like a duct to pull air in from outside directly onto the cpu, but I could be wrong.
 
Shrouds surround the fan and make all the fan air blow onto the heatsink i thought? I could try a duct also which blows air from outside i believe
 
This wouldn't be a good idea to cover the heatsink completely. How would the hot air be able to escape? The air would blow on the heatsink, cool it, but then the air would be hot and heat the heatsink up again. Not a good idea. You could, however, cut that piece of posterboard into a strip that would end up being about a half an inch or an inch high, so it concentrates the flow of air, but lets it escape at the bottom.'

Notice here on the Volcano 11 that they have implemented a thin plastic piece (that has the 'VOLCANO' name embedded). This is approximately how big yours should be. Whether this equals more cooling - it probably won't help especially with those temps.


What you should do for good cooling is create a duct where the air from OUTSIDE the case can go DIRECTLY TO THE HEATSINK FAN. That way, the heatsink fan is then blowing fresh and cooler air on the heatsink, which equals better cooling (maybe up to 10c, depending on your current airflow.)

1) Make sure you have a hole in the side of your case if you choose to duct it directly. Otherwise, get some large tubing (such as a dryer duct, found at most hardware stores) so you can route it to a fan hole in the back of your case.

2) Attach the tubing to the FAN. You can let the tubing go over the actual heatsink metal, but I wouldn't reccomend it going over more than an inch.

3) Electrical tape will probably be too weak in most circumstances. Duct Tape works great.

I hope this helps!?
 
ill check for a pictuer of my dell case. It uses a green duct, it brings air in from outside of the case and blows directly on the heatsink allowing to escap out of the right side.

Ill post the pic when i find it :D
 
Ffats said:

What you should do for good cooling is create a duct where the air from OUTSIDE the case can go DIRECTLY TO THE HEATSINK FAN. That way, the heatsink fan is then blowing fresh and cooler air on the heatsink, which equals better cooling (maybe up to 10c, depending on your current airflow.)

1) Make sure you have a hole in the side of your case if you choose to duct it directly. Otherwise, get some large tubing (such as a dryer duct, found at most hardware stores) so you can route it to a fan hole in the back of your case.

2) Attach the tubing to the FAN. You can let the tubing go over the actual heatsink metal, but I wouldn't reccomend it going over more than an inch.

3) Electrical tape will probably be too weak in most circumstances. Duct Tape works great.

Major help!! Thanks ,but i have a few questions if you don't mind. I will cut a hole in the side of my case, but do I cut the hole in the size of the tube (in which its basically just a pipe going to the CPU) , or do I cut it in the size of a fan (in which a fan is stuck onto the case with posterboard pipe to the heatsink)?
 
You can also use a plastic drink cup, cut to size and hot glued onto the inside of your cases side panel...Carefully measure the distance from the hole in the case side panel, and cut the cup to the proper dimensions...(Look to get one of the big drink cups that you find on the promo deals, as they offer a larger area for your purposes.) Once cut and glued into place it will direct outside air thru the hole in the side panel directly into the HSF...

This suggestion thanks to Reddeathdrinker...:D >
 
Generally speaking, gogetadbl, the bigger the intake, the more fresh air is going to get into your case, which then equates to more effective and generally better cooling. So, If you'd like to make it the size of the heatsink, all the more power to you.
 
Ah ic, just for an FYI the original questoin i was asking is whether or not to mount the fan on the case or on the HS to blow air, but I guess i'll keep the fan on the heatsink and just use a duct
 
Another thing, dO I need to mount a fan or anything on the case to blow the fresh air in, or does the HSF blow enough air in?
 
schismspeak said:
The heatsink will suck enough of the fresh air in on its own, but it is up to you if you want a fan on the side also.

Oh all right thanks
 
hmmm, kinda reminds of Mr SD's thread :Mr SD's Thread

Pic's of my system (cuz I like pictures :D). Description of the mod can be found in the thread above.

N8's%20old%20noise%20maker.jpg


N8's%20stylie%20new%20CPU%20HS%20duct.jpg


Hope it all helps. Have fun.

N8
 
VERY HELPFUL! never thought about using electrical tape around sides of the cup
 
If you were to have just a fan on the case blowing in on the heatsink with a duct, I don't think it would give you good temperatures, as the air pressure would decrease. However, I may be wrong, so might as well try it!
 
Ffats said:
If you were to have just a fan on the case blowing in on the heatsink with a duct, I don't think it would give you good temperatures, as the air pressure would decrease. However, I may be wrong, so might as well try it!

Er i actually meant whether ot have 2 fans (one on side case and one on heatsink )or 1 fan that's only on the heatsink.
 
If you were to have just a fan on the case blowing in on the heatsink with a duct, I don't think it would give you good temperatures, as the air pressure would decrease. However, I may be wrong, so might as well try it!
Makes sense. However, I've had excellent noise and temps with setups like this, even compared with sticking an equivalent noise level fan directly onto the HS and having plenty of room temp air around for it pull/push through the HS.

gogetadbl
I still suggest just one large case fan at the front of the duct. All(?) 120's can push far more air with less noise than 80's and 92's.

I've never even thought about adding another fan on the HS to help it out. Personally, the one 120mm is able to blow plenty of air to cool my OC'd PAL 1600+. I'll never go back to 'traditional' case airflow and HSF setups. Too noisy for the temps you get. Same conclusion on 80/92mm fans. And with 'stacking fans', even if they are spaced significantly. I only push the air once through a large, effcient fan. If I don't think the air is being pushed fast enough, I turn up the fan.

In fact, I've had such good success so far, my next step is to find a very large single fan, approx 300mm, to cool the entire system. Obviously, this is going to take some well planed ducts and baffles, to direct the air as unobtrusively as possible to everything. PSU is being modded too, becuase my CPU fan is already as quiet as my quiet Enermax, and my OC'd PAL still doesn't break 50°C.

Just my 2 cents, good luck with it all! :D Mod til it hurtz! :burn:

Oh yeah, electric tape: flexible, sticks to all the stuff I've asked it to so far, and it comes off fairly easy, if you need it to. If the cup has a waxy surface, it may not stick so well -> Duct tape!
 
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