Anybody remember those plastic ducts over the processor in old computers?

Vishera · Dec 7, 2016

So I got a nostalgia blast today. Saw an old dell optiplex with one of those plastic ducts over the processor in a pawn shop. It actually got me to thinking, how hard would it be to mod one of those into a modern case and would it improve temperatures with air cooling at all? What kind of limitations would there be with things like choice of cooler, difficulty mounting it to the board if necessary, etc.*

habbajabba · Dec 7, 2016

If your stuck with a fan cooled cpu, the duct work exhaust is neat but also pretty old school. With aio water coolers, who even needs a fan these days? Plus it just takes up space which is not ideal when there are other fans at work. I thought the same but moved on very quickly.

Vishera · Dec 7, 2016

I was personally under the impression air coolers still held a place in the cooling portion of the PC community. Never really considered the physical presence disturbing air flow generated by other fans. Seemed like a good way to combine nostalgia with eliminating the complaint that air coolers leave the heat they dissipate trapped inside the case.

inVain · Dec 7, 2016

something like this?

you might want to check this thread for inspiration:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2064/8

Jeff G · Dec 7, 2016

I have one of those sitting in my basement right now, even came out of an old Dell!

Nebulous · Dec 7, 2016

I did alot of ducting mods during my AMD 462/ P4 478 days. Used alot of cardboard and duct tape to my windows, lmao!

Vishera · Dec 7, 2016

It would be nice to just look into my case and see a nostalgic type of cooling amongst all the flashy modern day stuff. And I figure it's at least somewhat close to getting the advantage of water cooling that the air isn't trapped in the case without having to worry about water. I'm just super paranoid about water cooling haha.

Shiozaki · Dec 8, 2016

Hell yeah, my socket 370 HP had one.

WhitehawkEQ · Dec 9, 2016

Who says Dell stopped using fan ducts? Open up a new Dell and you will see that.

EarthDog · Dec 9, 2016

Depends on the case.

Brando · Dec 11, 2016

having a tower cooler mostly solves that on a lot of cases since they blow backward right into the exhaust fan. i think someone needs to come up with something for side panels shaped to suck out video card heat from sli setups. maybe they could shape it like the sucking end of a hand held vacuum cleaner or something.

inVain · Dec 11, 2016

Brando said:
having a tower cooler mostly solves that on a lot of cases since they blow backward right into the exhaust fan. i think someone needs to come up with something for side panels shaped to suck out video card heat from sli setups. maybe they could shape it like the sucking end of a hand held vacuum cleaner or something.

something like this maybe?

Brando · Dec 11, 2016

something for the side panel to attach to the side fan. just a vent. that thing doesn't look like it moves much air. sort of like this but the hole will be the size of the fan and the other end will be the length of a video card. would have to be different from this know but just to give you an idea. would probably be positioned as close as possible to the space between cards in sli.

Brando · Dec 11, 2016

Please do not distribute this picture as it is a one of a kind like the mona lisa and duplicating it will lessen it's value as a modern masterpiece

Alaric · Dec 11, 2016

Or mount an AIO in a side panel because you spent your build budget on the internals. LOL

Brando · Dec 11, 2016

I don't see the problem

inVain · Dec 11, 2016

I see it now...
it's a plain duct that we're talking about :thup:

why not just gutting out some crappy fan as a shroud for a starter?
I did this with a 38mm thick fan:

when coupled with a standard 25mm thick fan, they gave me really minimum clearances between the side panel (CM692) and a standard height GPU card.

it might be not ideal for your purpose, since you seem to be want to suck the hot air out of the slot;
but I think it still be better than having a large gap between the side fan and the GPUs

Brando · Dec 11, 2016

good idea

Anybody remember those plastic ducts over the processor in old computers?

Vishera

Member

habbajabba

Member

Vishera

Member

inVain

Member

Jeff G

Member

Nebulous

Dreadnought Class Senior

Vishera

Member

Shiozaki

Member

WhitehawkEQ

Premium Member

EarthDog

Gulper Nozzle Co-Owner

Brando

Member

inVain

Member

Brando

Member

Brando

Member

Alaric

New Member

Brando

Member

inVain

Member

Brando

Member

Similar threads