Modding Xaser III

[DOHCrazy]

its not like its gona weigh a half a pound, or even a quarter pound.

True, but you also have to have a wieght/tourque/wieght-o-fan ratio....

Just because the dust doesnt wiegh a quarter pound, doesnt mean it doesnt hinder the fan. Ask Arch how much his flow improved when he cleaned off all his fans!

 

[clocker2]

Doh,

Recently a friend gave me his collection of old computers (yes, they had "turbo" buttons), which I stripped for hardware/parts.
The PSUs in particular were loaded with dust bunnies.

I don't think that the weight of the dust was nearly as detrimental as the amount of impedence to airflow was. Even the old cruddy, cheap fans didn't have any trouble spinning up...they just couldn't get any air to push...

Dust buildup on a heatsink certainly would hinder heat transfer.

 

[archilochus]

Clocker,thats why I like your PSU setup. Its easy to clean. Clean blades scoop more air with less strain on the motor. The biggest problem with dust is it can have fall out in it. These are microscopic metal particles. We used to have discharge across the top of top post car battery's. I could get up to 9 volts just touching the plasic top of the battery with a volt meter. This would draw the battery down in short time if not driven regulary.
The cure was wash the battery top with soapy water and a blow dry with a air hose.

 

[clocker2]

Not only that Arch, but if you live in a humid climate the dust buildup can also absorb moisture and eventually cause shorting problems.

I have just finished a major redo of my PSU mounting.
My original setup used the stock 3.5" bay structure as the housing.

This worked well enough, but it was full of holes/cutouts and I felt that the heat generated by the PSU was escaping and contaminating the rest of the case.
So I made more use of the Muffin fan mounting plate and made a new set of mounting plates.
The PSU is now fully enclosed and I have it set up so that I can easily add the second PSU should I decide to do so.

Apparently, I was correct as system temps have fallen across the board by several degrees.
I also added two more blowholes and one fan to the roof which I'm sure helped also.
Current temps ( Folding @ 100%):

case ambient- 20.4°C
motherboard- 23°C
socket- 25°C
diode- 28°C
HDD- 26°C

Mikey likes it!

 

[archilochus]

Chilly, Clocker..Yeah, I'm in hot humid Houston.

 

[clocker2]

Arch,
I lived in Houston for two years in the early eighties.
The climate there is fit for neither man nor beast.
Or computers.

My temps climbed by two degrees overnight.
This is contrary to previous behaviour as the furnace is off at night so temps typically fall.

I may need to increase the CFM cooling the PSU as I think I'm suffering from heatsoak in the case.

Might be time to break out the Muffins again....

 

[Chaser]

what do you guys use to clean the dust off? can's of air?

 

[clocker2]

My machine is never in one piece long enough to get dirty.

It's not a technique that I would recommend....

 

[mattmolson]

installed the recently painted drive faceplates today.pleased with the result but the top bay is the antec truecontrol panel(the only faceplate i didn't paint) and it looks a little lighter and more grainy than the surroundings so maybe i'll paint that too.

 

[clocker2]

Very nice.
I know pics can be deceiving, but the color match looks very close.

So it's running with the Zalman HS now?

 

[mattmolson]

thanks clocker! yep,still have the zalman in there.i'll leave the zalman in there until next weekend i think.thinking about ordering a pananflo 92mm u1a for the sp-97.btw when i did the teardown on saturday i noticed a very substantial warp in my mobo in the socket area.it was warped toward the mobo wall and it seems to me that if the weight of the zalman was involved it would warp the opposite way seeing as it has always been in a tower setup.i'm puzzled about it but at least it's working.

 

[clocker2]

Maybe the warp is the result of high socket temps, if so maybe your new fan will cause it to rewarp back into the stock position ...not bloody likely.
That's jusy weird actually.
My board has a slight warp in the lower RH corner.
Having a corner bend a bit is easier to understand than a warp in the middle of the board....

 

[mattmolson]

yes it is weird.it is also weird that your board it warped in the lower rh corner too because there is no heat or weight there.strange how the mounting holes are 3 verticle rows leaving little support under the area that bears the most weight but maybe it's because it's the most populated area of the board and the designers don't want to take any chances with shorting.i dunno

 

[clocker2]

Yeah, the socket area of the board is incredibly dense with traces.
I noticed when I first mounted the Zalman support brackets that the board designers have traces right up to the very edge of those four mounting holes.
It's almost as if they begrudged the room necessary for those holes and cut it as closely as possible...

 

[gustav]

the warping is probably due to the weight of the zalman. according to their site, the max weight for a Intel P4 and AMD 64 cpu is 450gramms, while only 300gramms for an AMD socket 462 CPU. the CNPS7000-Cu weighs 773gramms, so its well off spec. not only is this dangerous to the CPU, meaning you must take care when moving the machine, but this also means theres more weight pushing in on the mobo. now in a tower, you would think as much weight would be pushing in on it, although you may have the bolts too tight. this is why i like the thermalright coolers. not only do they perform well with a high flow fan, but they also come with a backplate. ive though about it and since my board has the back plate on, i dont think the mobo wall fan will do much good since the backplate is covering the socket, and so it would block air from directly getting to the back of the socket.

 

[TheWesson]

air filters ...

I just made an air filter with pantyhose and a wire mesh.

I gave it a lot of area so it wouldn't drag down the airflow much. I cut out 4"x6" of the bottom front case bezel, stretched a section of pantyhose over the wire mesh, and then bolted the wire mesh on the inside of the front bezel across the opening.

Looks OK since I bought pantyhose of a color to match the beigy case color - "pearl" they called it.

The machine looks a bit like it has one of those old fashioned speakers on the bottom now.

Anyhow I now have positive case pressure with a 120mm fan @7v for intake and an 80mm Panaflo L1A in the back for exhaust, plus whatever exhaust the PS fan gives me. So that's good.

Home Depot calls the 1/4" wire mesh I got, "wire cloth". They had it in the fence section. 4' x 8' for $10, you could cover a lot of fan openings with that.

the wesson

 

[archilochus]

Matt, you out did the factory paint jod. Custom work. Gustav,a fan for the mobo wall will help even if the air doesn't hit the socket.Theory is the hot air builds up back there. Air flow will get the hot air moved out. Nice idea WESS,do they have blue panty hose? Clocker, speaking of location,I had to mow the yard yesterday. Last mow was in December...

 

[ZGOZZ]

I cut out the 2 front grills .

I must say I do not think I could do any more to this case to improve my temps, except put is in a frezzer.



The temps are down in the 27C 29C range and up to 38C in full on mode.

 

[germanjulian]

man I never read this thread cause I was thinking it sjust for xaser3 and I got a Xaser2 but cutting the fan grills seems to be a very good ideal.

guess what I am gonna do this weekend cut cut cut.

so you just use a metal cutter? cool cool no drilling cause I dont have a drill

 

[ZGOZZ]

Next mod for my case...

http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/bus-37.html

http://www.thermaltake.com/accessories/hardcano/a1845.htm