Passive Cooling - Home Engineered

LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, Alaska Icrontian
edited September 2003 in Hardware
Neither of my home systems have fan cooling on the northbridges and video card GPUs. When I built these systems, the goal was for quiet high performance. I'm getting there.

Here's what's cooling the GPUs. Here's what's cooling the northbridges. If you want to know how I mounted them, just post, and I'll explain. The video card coolers are big; no room for anything in the two PCI slots beneath the AGP slot.

Stock video card and northbridge coolers were replaced by these inexpensive heatsinks. It was a very tight fit on the IC7; I had to cut down the heatsink to reduce its two dimensional size.

Both systems are quieter now, with no apparent loss of performance. Interior case temperature did go up a bit in the IC7 system after I installed the new northbridge heatsink. Perhaps that means the new heatsink is removing more thermal energy from the northbridge than the itty-bitty stock cooler was?

System No. 1 now has only four fans: two fans (stock) integral to the PSU, which is a Robanton 600w monstor; one intake and one exhaust fan, each Panaflo 120mm L1A. System No. 2 has five fans: same PSU and fans; intake 92mm Panaflo M1A; exhaust fans are two Panaflo 80mm L1As.

I think next I will replace the PSU cooling fans with Panaflo L1As.

Comments

  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited September 2003
    Leo, I wouldn't replace the cooling in the PS with anything low-flow like that because it may not be enough cooling for the PS. I'd use a few thermally controlled fans. My preference is the Thermaltake smartfan2 because it can do up to 75cfm if necessary and it's pretty quiet when it's at it's lowest speed. It also has a fairly long temperature sensor lead so it can be used as either an intake or exhaust fan.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    Good advice. I have noticed that the exhaust air from the PSUs is quite hot at times.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    I replaced the fan on my Antec 412 which was VERY loud. I used a 25 db but at 7V and i cant hear it anymore. I also added a 92mm fan at the bottom of the psu that i also run at 7V.

    In the end, i actually have BETTER cooling but also dead silent.
    I believe that getting little air through the psu is MUCH better that just have a high-powered exhaust fan.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    Usually the cooling fans in the PSUs run at only 7V or 5V, don't they? So putting in an L1A shouldn't be too bad, since the standard fan probably doesn't push more than 15-20 CFM at 5-7V, right?
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    The ones i have tried and used so far have all used 12V at but that may differ on different brands.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    My info is probably not entirely accurate, I just pulled apart a generic PSU once and saw it ran on 5V, and I saw a how-to on the web where the PSU fan ran on 7V... name brand and decent PSU fans probably run on 12V in order to be actually EFFECTIVE... in other words, don't believe anything I say. ;)
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    Well, if I'm going to replace the PSU fans, I first need to look up what the airlfow volume of the stock fans is. The exhaust is pretty hot, which leads me to believe there isn't much headroom as far as airflow requirements go. I think Geeky1's caution is pretty good.

    The stock fans actually aren't that bad; it's more of a harmonics-induced slight noise from slightly different rotational speeds of the two PSU 80mm fans and the Vantec's 80.

    The computer certainly is no loud though. My goal was to build a high performance computer with very little noise. I think it was a success.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited September 2003
    Leo, if it's any help, the fan in my 400w Antec PP403-X that I took out and replaced with a Tt SmartFan2 was capable of ~40cfm, which is what the fans in my Antec SL-350 can do too. So, I think that if you choose to replace the fans, you should use something that can be cranked up to at least 40cfm if necessary. The Tt SmartFan2 would still be my first choice for this.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    I'm taking notes. Thanks, guys. I'm considering a new heatsink, so that may come first. Anyone got an SLK for a Socket 478? ;D
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited September 2003
    SLK-900U
  • fuxorfuxor i live in a giant bucket
    edited September 2003
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