My first CPU duct a success!

[AarontheJC]

I just finished my first duct about 45 minutes ago and have been burning in with Sandra 2002 to get a good temp reading. So far, my CPU is down 5C and my Board is down 3C.

All I've done so far is cut an 80mm hole directly above my CPU and attach a short duct from the hole to the CPU fan -50CFM Mechtronix (sp?) on Volcano7.

There are no airtight seals yet, but I'm working on that. I've got some of my dad's old scuba gear lying around that is probably so deteriorated, it won't work for anything at all! I'm thinking I might take up a little of that...

I used an industrial grinder to cut and a dremel to curve. For the duct, I used a "Deflecto" duct for your attic that I found in Home Depot for under $5. I have lots leftover for other ducts, too. I'll be making an article of it sometime soon, I hope.

YES!!! Excitement has come to my rig! I can't wait for the rest of my cooling to come in!

 

[customrig]

Nice Job

 

[trdsw20]

Sounds like your doing a great job so far!
1 ques
What is the Scuba gear for?

 

[Puer Aeternus]

Sounds sweet, I placed a duct on my Volcano 7 w/ a 80mm fan on the other end blowing cool air towards it...I noticed a diff in temps right off the bat...mine is not sealed though..and ya, what is the scuba gear for?...nice way to freak out your folks, wear the scuba gear while fixing your duct...Tell them it is in the name of science..they will think you went off the deep end(pun intended)...I would raise an eyebrow at that sight.

 

[vtec96]

"All I've done so far is cut an 80mm hole directly above my CPU and attach a short duct from the hole to the CPU fan -50CFM Mechtronix (sp?) on Volcano7. "

So there is not even another fan on your case where you cut the 80mm hole, and its cooling by 5`C already? I guess it would cool even more with a 80m fan on the case, right? I really like the idea of this and plan on trying it too once I get everything together and "broken-in" properly... Thanks for the tip....

 

[AarontheJC]

The scuba gear is all worn out and mostly not usable. I was going to cover the duct in some of it, though, in order to seal it off. I just wanted to prevent air from escaping through the unsealed areas. It was more of a joke than anything else. I am going to look into these old garden hoses though...haha. I was looking for some small rubber tubing -insulation for wires or something of the kind- that I could use to cover up the metal edges of the hole. I was thinking of a material similar to that stuff used in window mods.

I'm getting a (very quiet) 92 and 10 (24dB) 80s in sometime in the next few days. Then, I'm going to cut a blowhole in the top and/or a fanhole for my graphics card/chipset. I have this terrible chipset fan that doesn't spin properly, and am replacing it with this lovely Zalman passive sink. To use this on a KT266a, thuogh, I really think I need a fan blowing on it. So: 92 over the Chipset and AGP is my solution. I may even make a small 40mm duct out of the liquid tubing stuff I found at Home Depot. We'll see how much time I have. By the time I'm finished, my case will need a repaint.

About the fan in the CPU duct. I did place a 38CFM 80mm in the duct to the CPU. Interestingly, I found that my temps were higher with it installed. I have about 1-1.5cm of clearance between the CPU fan and the end of the duct. I was thinking that the CPU fan was limited because of the lower CFMs of the 80mm I put over it. While there is breathing room before it pulls from the duct, I'm not sure the air is flowing properly. I have a little bit of pressure building. More air is coming in right now that going out. My case is in a transitional period, though, so we'll have these things sorted out shortly.

I'll get back to you guys later. Spring Break is over Monday, so my time is very limited.

 

[AarontheJC]

My temps haven't reached a stable median yet. How many hours does ASIII take to fully set up? I'll give it a couple more days. My idle temps are in the mid 30s and my load temps are sitting right at 40.5C after 1:30 hour burn-in with Sandra 2002. Yesterday, they were about 1.5-2C higher. Before I applied ASIII, though, they were at 41C. If they don't drop, I'm going to clean off and re-apply.

The duct is going nicely. When covered, my temps are between 4-5 degrees higher on my CPU and about 3-4 higher on the board. My new fans should be coming in soon. Then my temps will go up just a little (until I get to work on that other duct) and my noise will drop back down to a reasonable level. These 40dB fans added up are pretty monstrous. I think I'm going to have to go with a stock-clocked quiet-rig for my dorm-room in college. Stock-clocked...is that a proper term?

I'll post again as temps change. I'll get an ambient temp reading in the room for you guys, too. Right now, my case is enclosed in a desk cubby -to dampen the noise. I'm used to a silent-running Compaq with one fan that is almost silent...even though I've had this rig with the loud fans for 4 months.

How quiet is water cooling? 3 [email protected] that louder than 2 80s@40dB and 2 80s@25dB? I think positioning might matter too.

I found an idea for sound-absorption here

Here's the pic of the mousepad noise suppression.

 

[Puer Aeternus]

hey, I tried that, I have pics being developed and should have them up in 2 days. I used foam, but not acoustic and 1 extra mouse pad by the PS that hangs down to cover the cpu/duct( I added the mouse pad after I took the pics). on the side of the case I used foam as well and when the cover is on it is bearable. I do want the Volcano 7+ just so I can have a choice over how loud my fan is and it would be nice to be able to leave the computer on at nite..lucky for me the G/F sleeps thru anything...I do not always though. Do you notice whether the duct reduces/muffles the sound of your CPU fan..it think it does for mine.

 

[AarontheJC]

I really can't tell you. I made so many modifications to my system this week that I'm not too sure what exactly changed what. My system is now considerably louder, though. All I did in the way of noise-production was change out a temporary 34dB 80mm that was on my Volcano 7 (after the original one bit the dust) to a 40dB 80mm and I made the duct. I can really hear it, though. It's still not as loud as Shmuck's case, but we're working it over also. We got him a better PSU fan and we found some corking we're going to try out on his case to keep down vibration. That's going to be another step I take with my case.

I found some of those little felt/cork tabs at Home Depot that you put on the feet of your furniture to prevent them from scratching and to help ease movement. I'm going to try applying those to some critical contact areas and try to minimize the transmission of sound vibration.

Know where I can order a few really really cheap mouse pads? The places around here only sell $4+ ones and I'm not paying that much. I have 3 here, but they all get used regularly. LAN people regularly forget their own pads and borrow mine for the duration of the weekend.

A case repaint is in order too. Maybe I could get a really nice grille to put over my duct when I paint...maybe a gold bling bling grille *see thread Get a Laugh at Sidewinder Computers

Right. With that said, I'm out for the night.

 

[RoadWarrior]

Don't the "dollar" or "99c" stores around your way carry mousepads? Up here in Canada they do, for a canadian dollar. Recently I've been able to get, mousepads, CD cleaners, floppy cleaners, mouse holders, monitor/keyboard/system dust covers, mulitmedia boom mics, CDRW media, crappy ancient software, etc etc, from those kind of stores round here. Need to find a good one though.

Oh, they may have some "craft foam" sheets which are like 2-3mm thick foam rubber stuff, proably 3x size of a mousepad, you might find a use for those as well.

Road Warrior

 

[AarontheJC]

Thanks much. I haven't noticed any sort of computer accessory in our dollar stores, but I'll certainly give them a look.

 

[AarontheJC]

I drilled out my 92mm fan hole above my AGP and chipset today. Took me 30 minutes and I did it a lot cleaner this time. I took off my duct and put on a 38CFM fan without ducting to test that out. So far, believe it or not, my temps are lower. Guess I need a better design on the duct...I did add that 92, though. I'll be testing over the next few weeks.

Also, I replaced that piece of junk stock chipset fan that rattled with a Zalman NB32 passive chipset cooler. Since the 92 blows on it, it's keeping my KT-266A plenty cool -for now. I'm clocked down while I run preliminary testing, but it looks like my temps are down another 3C on the proc and 4C in system. Unfortunately, my noise is up a bit. I replaced my Lafan 80mm's with two Turbo Cool (cost me nothing) 80mm's that operate at 24dB (Shhhh!) The difference is very noticeable, but when you add the 92mm (32dB), the difference is made up. In all, I added two fans today, and downgraded one. One of the Lafans is now over the CPU and is louder than all others (except the Mechtronichs 50CFM on the Volcano). I am sitting with a lot of positive pressure, though, and I'm thinking of rheobusing or baybusing my fans to control volume. I posted an inquisitive thread here.

I'm getting my new Pioneer DVD and AverTV card in the next week or so too. Computer upgrading never ends, does it? This is great!

EDIT: Here's my new chipset cooler. I like it. Looks mean.