Modding Xaser III

[mattmolson]

no,not large enough i wouldn't think.i have a 60mm fan and recently realized that regardless of whatever size fan i use i should have made the mobo wall hole larger!

oh well, looking on the bright side i will have something to do later on.

 

[clocker2]

Oh, how I envy you.
Nothing is as much fun as hacking around on a piece that you've already painted!

 

[mattmolson]

lmao,if,no when i decide to enlarge that mobo wall hole i would screw a scrap piece of steel to one side of the wall using the mobo mounting holes with very small screws to avoid stripping those screwholes out.this would provide me material to make a pilot hole for the new $40 holesaw.

i really need to think ahead sometimes.lol

 

[clocker2]

Isn't your new $40 holesaw actually a larger diameter than the holes anchoring your temporary center guide plate?
That would be a problem...
As nice as a cleanly cut round hole would look, I still recommend making the hole as large as the area between your mobo standoffs will allow. This results in a square hole ( roughly), the advantage of which is that not only is the socket exposed, but also the northbridge chipset and maybe even some of your mosfets.
As your installation looks very similar to my first config, I'm willing to bet that you will feel quite a bit of backflow through the fan as it is not very far from the surface of the board and is meeting resistance.
Opening up the hole in the wall should help alleviate that phenomonon somewhat.
Ultimately I'm guessing that you will end up with a larger fan mounted on the outside of your sidepanel anyway. Obviously the increase in CFM and the more advantageous distance from the board will increase the cooling efficiency...the downside is the aesthetics.
Fortunately, my case is black, so hanging a black fan on the outside isn't as visually jarring as it might be with your color scheme, but "in for a penny, in for a pound", eh?
The results are worth it IMO, but until you see some improvement for yourself I don't expect you to take my word for it.

 

[archilochus]

Bluediamond, IMPRESSIVE looking setup. I really like your HDD bracket. Good detail, and paint job.

 

[YellowDart]

Sweet lookin setup you've got there Bluediamond! I'm diggin your pain job! I'd love to do something like that to my rig now, but I'm WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too lazy.

I'm thinkin, when I build my next rig, I'll mod till I'm completely satisfied, then put all the junk in there. Although I've been pretty inspired by the bit-tech.com guys. If I get the time/inclination and have access to a decent shop, I could try to really go nuts like those guys have. Very sexy looking computers over @ that site.

 

[Vrykyl]

does anyone know of a low profile/high cfm 120mm fan suitable for putting in the right hand side panel? as my pc is currently dead [#RIP my friend#], and is thus gonna be emptied soon for new stuff, im gona do that mobo panel mod and put 1, maybe 2 120mm in my right hand side panel, but dont wan em to stick out loads - any ideas? what about those zalman fans meant for that graphics card cooler? i know they aint 120mm but they are low profile - im now trying to keep my system relatively low noise now iv tamed my tornados. Im also gonna put 1, maybe 2 120mm blow holes in the roof too...so low profile 120mms are the key (unless there are no low profile 120's - in which case ill try and find 92mm or 80mm thin ones). Any suggestions? Remember im in the uk tho - we cant get jack s**t compared to the range you US dudes do!!!!

 

[archilochus]

TG, the thinnest 120mm is 120 X 25mm = 4.72" X 0.98"..I'll see if there are any thin 92mm's..

120MM FAN LINK

FANS GALORE LINK

 

[Vrykyl]

thanks dude - im after quite as well as thin too - especially as i wanna have 2 in the right hand side and 2 in the top too!!! oh, and maybe 2 in the bottom as well if you find any quiet thin ones.
lol - can i ever have to many fans?? NO!!!

 

[mattmolson]

clocker,
you are right about the holesaw,a 4.5" holesaw would take out 4 mobo standoff holes which i could possibly need in the future.i shouldn't worry about what may be until i know what is.i'll just test as is. like we agreed before,a small fan in the mobo wall has got to be better than no fan at all.

 

[clocker2]

Well Matt, I guess we'll find out tomorrow, won't we?
I'm almost as excited as if it were my rig.

 

[mattmolson]

lol, i'll have to figure out a different way to mount my fan/shroud arrangement as the crossbar is further up in the new case but i'll wing it somehow.when i test without without the mobo wall fan i'll leave it disconnected and tape off the hole in the wall to ensure the hole itself doesn't add any cooling benefit however small.

 

[Vrykyl]

any ideas for a suitable bracket for mounting a 20" ish tft on the side of a xaser? hinged to swing back flat against the side when not in use

 

[mattmolson]

ok guys i made the case switch today.midway through i decided now was the time to paint the drive faceplates,bad idea cuz all afternoon i've been braindead from the fumes even though i sprayed 'em outside in the porch.

anyway i said i would test the mobo wall fan so here it is.

without mobo wall fan
idle load
ambient 21c 21
case 21 22
diode 29 44
socket 28 38

with mobo wall fan
idle load
ambient 21c 21
case 21 22
diode 29 44
socket 27 30

clearly helped with socket temps so a very worthwhile mod. thanks clocker

 

[archilochus]

Damb, time for a tear down..Thanks Matt, now you can finish building your rig. How did you solve your HS Duct Assem. mounting problem? A 8°C drop is worthy of the mod for sure.
Tornado Guy thats a healthy order you have.See what we can find!

 

[Vrykyl]

Tornado Guy thats a healthy order you have.See what we can find!

Nice one Matt, il certainly be doing this mod now - just gotta pick my slim line fans for the mobo wall panel, and find that pesky tft mount...the tft im getting is THIS ONE so i need a mount thatl take its weight but that is wide enough to allow me to both fold the monitor right out to use and flat against the case when not in use....

*edit* - for the mobo right hand panel intakes i hink ill use either panaflos again or those zalman 80x15's meant for that gpu cooler

 

[mattmolson]

arch, i had to drill 2 holes in the crossbar and basically dangle the damn thing from it,lol.i could not attach it dead center as it was before and the rpm is about 150 less than before but it is only temporary so i could compare temps with the mobo wall fan.i'll leave it there for a little while and check for consistency. when i'm satisfied i've done all i can with it the sp-97 gets installed.already made 80mm and 92mm "voodoo ducts" for it.lol

 

[mattmolson]

vrykyl, that tft panel is 22 lbs(not so bad) but 3.15 inches deep so it sounds like you'll need a 3.15" mounting strip front side of your computer(maybe painted wood?) and a section of piano hinge.you would really need to see the monitor up close to ensure what mounting method would apply though.

 

[Vrykyl]

thats gonna look real messy...may in that case just leave it free standing then - what do you think of the monitor tho - good choice? (for a high response large size - i needed 20" or above)
iv now gotta work out the best positions for fans in the right hand side panel - i think im gonna have 2 - maybe 1 in the lower left corner (near the front) to input cold air at the bottom of the case, and one over the cpu socket?

 

[mattmolson]

don't really know much about tfts but last year when i wanted to buy one(mainly for desk space considerations) my youngest son said i should stick to crt monitors because the refresh rate was too slow on the lcd screens. since then i have heard there have been huge improvements though even more expensive.as for the side fan,one behind the socket for sure,if you want another then lower right front might be good as long as it doesn't interfere with any other fans.

edit: vrykyl,did a search on that monitor and it seems to be pretty cool.as you have a lightweight case and that baby is 22 lbs. it would not be such a good idea to hinge it to the case.might actually tip it over.