Quack
CGR:
Nope!! When operating as above, my 'CPU fan' is about as loud as my PSU fans (real quiet), the other two are barely audible, and I can hear my super quiet Fuji HDD quietly ticking away.
My whole purpose designing this was maximum air cooling with minimal noise. Obvioulsy, I should buy an SLK-800/900 to go with it, but it's only slightly better than the PAL and there was no SLK series when I built this.
If I crank all the fans, then yes, it sounds like a monsoon. You're legs will get cold and shiver, if you sit next to it in shorts!
Mister SD:
TEMPS
CPU: XP 1600+ Palomino @ 1.75V, 170MHz x 10.0, 50°C
The CPU temp noted above is probably fairly accurate because the base of the HS feels quite warm to the touch, but I can hold my fingers against it with no discomfort, just a little hot.
The ambient case temp? Well, the air feels about 5° warmer than ambient room temp as it exits the case through the 'exhaust hole areas', the PSU exhaust, maybe about 10°C above ambient, I guess. I am really only keep track of my component temps, such as: CPU, NB, and Vid core.
If I crank all the fans, I can only drop the temps of the vid and NB a few more degrees, the CPU can go down about 8-10 more degrees.
But it sounds like bloody vaccum cleaner if I do that! Remember: Average 120mm fan @ 12V = DARN LOUD! I don't care what the spec sheets say! Buy Vantec Stealths or equivalent if you go this route. And a fan controller system of some kind. Don't buy the Sunon's I bought: they're cheap but loud and they're starting to go.
RAM has a slightly warm feel, sides of HDD are quite warm, but well within normal operating range. I doubt spinning up the front fan and dropping the temp a few degrees is going to extend its lifetime noticeably.
DUCKS
As for the CPU duct, my new one:
(pardon the PC cam) is mounted to the fan, same as the old one. The duct is bolted to the fan for solidity and then taped to the fan (inside the duct) to keep air form blowing out where they join. The side panel fans are inside the case now, where they belong. The front case fan is still outside, kind of completing the case's front bezel.
You can see a few of its 12 sides here. Its not easy building a duct from a squashed circlular fan output shape to a square HS shape. You'll see what I mean if you decide to try this. The duct is long enough to apply slight pressure to the HS when the side panel is installed, ensuring a good seal so air doesn't just blow out betweent the two.
Hope the pics and description help you out. If you at first you don't succeed, that's normal! It took a while to get this far, and I read as much as I could find on this stuff before and after I started. If we could buy properly sized good performing ducts off the shelf, beleive me, I'd be first in line!
Good luck
! Post some pics and tell us your tale, if/when you give this a try. I totally recommend this to anyone who has the patience to implement it.
N8
