Info & FAQs
Help & Index
Clearance Sale
Community & News
Policies & Feedback
Resources & Support
Discounts & Services
Contact Us
Featured Products
| Home >> Resources | Support >> How to Upgrade Computers >> Improve the cooling of your un-overclocked Thunderbird >> |
VI. Solution 5: Case mods for better coolingImprove the cooling of your un-overclocked Thunderbird by Philip BayerBy this time I was just short of an expert on CPU cooling. I think I have read every major article and white paper on chassis airflow, fan and heatsink design, thermo-dynamics, and enough material to cover 1/3 of a Chemistry course on the heat-distribution and dissipation of various materials. However, after all of that, at 44°C, my CPU still was not cool enough for me. I decided to spend the money on a new case. For two weeks, I read every review that I could find on every chassis which some basic requirements: 88mm (or greater) rear exhaust fan, 3x5.25" and 4x3.5" drive bays, and a 300 Watt power supply with bottom air intake. I narrowed it down to just a handful, and finally decided on the Palo Alto PA-810 Server Chassis (see the component list). I like the case because of the excellent cooling design with a 120mm rear exhaust fan, 92mm front intake fan and optional drive cage which is rotated 90?horizontally for easy access and... Sound familiar? That's because the PA-810 Server Chassis is the same chassis that Gateway uses in their 6400 Server series. That's right Palo Alto fitted them with a custom bezel and shipped 'em out as is. I have ordered my new chassis, but I am still waiting for it to get here. Therefore, I have no benchmarks on it's cooling effect on my system. However, I am not going to wait forever to start using my system for hard-core tasks. I decided that since I have a new case on the way, I can experiment with the old one a bit to see if I can get it to run a bit cooler. I decided that there were two things that I wanted to change. First, I wanted to add a second case fan. Since there was not enough room in the rear of the case, I cut a hole in the side panel just above the CPU, and mounted my old sleeve-bearing fan on the outside of the door facing in. The result was an astounding 5°C drop in temperature. That fan is not very loud, so even on the outside of the case, the noise is not very noticeable. BTW, I mounted the fan on the outside of the case because I am without the proper tools. I recommend you mount the fan on the inside of the case and put some sort of fan guard to prevent accidental damage to the fan or motherboard. I also wanted to modify the front intake fan a bit. There was a spacer of about 1?#34; between the fan and the front of the case. This meant that the fan was not only drawing cool air in from the front of the case, but it was also recirculating warm air from inside the chassis. Removing this useless spacer with a hammer, tinsnips, and screwdriver led to a small but noticeable 1°C drop in CPU temperature and about a 2°C drop in chassis temperature.  NEXT: |
VII. Conclusion and updates |
VIII. Heatsink Install Tips, and Fan Fan Throughput |  BACK: | Preface and Notes | I. Introduction and Specs| III. Solution 2: Ensure proper airflow | IV. Solution 3: Software cooling | V. Solution 4: Increase Airflow | | OTHERS: | Go to Top | Directron Home | Other System Manuals | |
Customer Feedback through Yahoo!
Similar Items
| Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 wired Keyboard, Mod... Only $19.99 | |
| WD Caviar Green 3.5in 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive, 7... Only $78.99 | |
| Cooler Master Sentinel Advance Gaming Mouse SGM-6000-KLLW1-GP... Only $45.99 | |
| Black ASUS USB Optical Mouse mini-N6 and USB Keyboard 820-001... Only $5.99 | |
| A-DATA Turbo 4GB microSDHC Class 6 Flash Card, P/N: AUSDH4GCL... Only $5.99 | |
| Sabrent All in 1 USB 2.0 External Flash Memory Mini Multi Car... Only $2.99 | |
| Black MSI U100-641US 10-inch Wide Wind Netbook, Intel Atom N2... Only $249.99 | |
| Syba Combination Laptop Security Lock, Model: SY-NBK65004... Only $3.99 | |
| *$5 Mail-In Rebate* Black/Blue OCZ Equalizer USB Laser Gaming... Only $9.99 | |
| eMachines EL1300G-02W Slim Line Desktop System, 20in Widescre... Only $329.99 | |
| *$5 Mail-In Rebate* Copper CoolMax 2.5in Aluminum SATA HDD En... Only $6.99 | |
| Acer AspireRevo 1600 AR1600-U910H Desktop PC PT.SCL05.004, In... Only $199.99 | |
| *$15 Mail-In Rebate* Thermaltake BlacX HDD Docking Station ST... Only $34.99 | |
| Sabrent High Resolution 1680x1050 TV Tuner Box with Picture i... Only $29.99 | |
| Memorex 16X 4.7GB DVD-R Blank Media, 50-Pack Spindle, P/N: 32... Only $8.99 | |
| TP-Link 54M Wireless Router TL-WR340G, IEEE 802.11g/b, w/ 4-P... Only $14.99 | |
| Kinamax USB 2.0 Webcam Camera WCM-6LNV, 6-LED Infrared Night... Only $9.99 | |
| *$15 Mail-In Rebate* Thermaltake Massive23 ST Notebook/Laptop... Only $29.99 | |
| Black Shuttle Black XPC Barebone System SN78SH7, nVidia GeFor... Only $199.99 | |
| Cooler Master Silent Pro M 850W ATX12V / EPS12V Computer Powe... Only $114.99 | |
| Black Cooler Master Storm Scout ATX Mid Tower Computer Case S... Only $68.99 | |
| Cooler Master V8 CPU Cooler RR-UV8-XBU1-GP, for Intel Core i7... Only $37.99 | |
| Black Cooler Master Notepal X2 Notebook Cooler, Up to 17in No... Only $15.99 | |
| Kingston HyperX 4GB(2x2GB) DDR3 Dual Channel Kit Memory KHX20... Only $94.99 | |
| Pink MSI Wind U100-427US 10in WSVGA Netbook 9S7-N01153-427, I... Only $249.99 | |
| Silver Blue MSI Wind U100-013US 10in WSVGA Netbook 9S7-N01158... Only $249.99 | |
| Black Broadway Com Corp Sonic SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Comput... Only $19.99 | |
| PNY Optima 2GB DDR2 667 (PC2-5300) System Memory, 240-pin DIM... Only $33.99 | |
| Holiday Combo Deal 2: ASUS P5G41-M-LE/CSM Motherboard with In... Only $99.99 | |
| *$20 Mail-In Rebate* Kingston SSDNow V Series 64GB 2.5in SATA... Only $109.99 |