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System Cooling Recommendations

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Diesel

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Since Prox asked in DC, I figured I'd post the response in the right forum.

Case cooling> Without even the slightest reservation, I recommend the Antec SX-830 or SX-1030, depending on how much room you need, if you're looking for a cool case.
I currently have one SX-1030 and 2 SX-1030B (same case, but black finish), and they are, by far, the best cases I have ever worked on.

  • 4 80mm fan mountings - one intake in the lower front (traditional placing), 2 exhausts in the upper rear behind the CPU, and an intake mounted in one of the 3.5" drive cages
  • The drive cages come with a simple latch that allows you to remove them. Pop them back in, flip the latch, and they're secured.
  • Not only do the use of drive rails make installation and removal of 5.25" drives a breeze, but they built holders for the rails right into the bottom of the cage.

Every minute detail was paid attention to in the design of this case, and it really shows. It's easy to work in, and stays very cool.

As for the other items in the case, it depends on how much room, and how you want to put the cooling in there.
I use Sunon 80mm 23CFM fans for my case fans, round my cables to unblock airflow (or purchase professionally rounded cables), and use split loom to bundle loose cables together.

For CPU cooling, I usually use Alpha coolers, but I have a few Thermaltake coolers as well. For my Duron system that I'm testing out, I decided to get a Thermaltake Volcano II cooler. Quiet fan, cools well, and is less expensive than some lower performing coolers. It'll even work well for overclocking.


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Custom wiring...

I got bored and went threw a few scrap computers I've collected, and mostly dismantled them, including the power supplies which normally contain a cooling fan... :ohboy:

With a nifty tool-of-my-choice, I pulled the unneeded yellow/black wires off an extra power Ycable, and tossed them into a spare wiring bin... my hardware "recycle-bin" so to speak... :ohboy:

That left only the red/black wire combination, with a positive/negative electrical current, which is all I needed to splice the fans into the power Ycable... :ohboy:

After mounting a fan on the front and back of the case, I plugged it into an extra power hookup, and watched the fans blow air through the case... You can of coarse, have them blowing air in or out of the case, or both. I went for out of the case, to not only to dispurse heat but to prevent dust buildup... :ohboy:

Not a bad mod outta spare parts, only costed me the price of the Ycable, available for $5 at your local Walmart or Radio Shack. :rolleyes:
 
Not sure if I read your post correctly, but if you have all of your fans blowing out of the case, that's counter-productive.

Best case scenario comes when you have equal amounts of air blowing into and out of the case. I'm not versed enough on the physics of it, but it has to do with the relative air pressure. Having all of your fans blow outward will actually increase your case temp. Plus, none of your internal components will benefit from direct airflow (fans blowing directly onto them).

If you're worried about dust, rather than pointing your fans to blow out, get a filter. They're very inexpensive and easy to install.

2CoolTek carries 80mm filters for $2.50.
 
2cooltek is a nice place to order from if you're on the east coast..

if you're on the west coast.. we'll.. there's fry's.. they sell sunnon case fans.. have thermal paste and stuff..

you don't really think about it but if you have no case fans at all.. even add 1 case fan blowing out behind where the CPU sits helps a lot.

Like dan said.. the best senario is to have equal amounts of air going in and out.. but having 1 is better than no case fan :P

CPU coolers.. this is where it gets confusing.. especially now when you can buy heatsinks by themselves and screw on a fan of your choice.

the ones that stick out in my mind that look just plain cool are the Zalmans..
http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/product.htm
http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/cnps6000alCu.htm

i like their orginial design and the fans have a temp sensor on them.. so they run at different speeds depending on the temp it senses.. thus.. you get less noise from the computer when the cpu idles..


Next are the stand alone heatsinks.. companies like Alpha and Thermalright have very good design heat sinks that let you screw in a fan of your choice. If you're a serious overclocker.. strap on a sanyo danke (sp?) 5000rpm or delta 6500rpm 80x80mm fan.. draw back with these high rpm fans is the noise level.. if you're a casual overclocker.. a 2500 or 3000rpm fan would suffice w/ those heatsinks (assuming case cooling is sufficient)..

Seems like more people are deciding not to overclock now because current cpu speeds exceed pretty much all the requirements of what people want to run. What they want instead is decent cooling w/ minimal noise. Companies such as coolermaster are beginning to release lines of "quiet" cpu coolers

http://www.coolermaster.com/products/cpucooler/fcpga/dp5-6i31c-0l.html

they put a lower rpm fan on a slightly oversized heatsink.. they also have fans with temperature sensors.. which adjust the speed of the fan depending on temp it detects.

hope that helps.. gives you an idea of what's out there..

oh.. and cases.. yes the antec is a very good case.. if you guys want something smaller.. i like the Inwin 508's(standard mid-tower).. great design.. no sharp edges.. 2 places for 80mm fans.. which is enough for most home computers..
 
Yup, I agree on the point of having an equal number of fans blowing in and out of the case... :ohboy:

My rigg is currently in a very cool basement, and I figured dust was more of a problem than temperature in this case... :cool:

The fans could always be remounted... :tongue:
 
you can get filters that fit between the fan at the case if you're really worried about dust.. i just use compressed air and give my computer a good blast every once in awhile
 
Not really...

My current system is rigged with basicly spare parts. Right now I don't even have a working floppy drive. :rolleyes:

I scorched my last system, and had to build a new machine or by another one for alot more than I could afford. I made a decent system with about $400 in new parts, and salvaged parts from the last system and a few systems donated to me for recycling. :ohboy:

I have my next system designed in my head, although it will be awhile before I have the finances to even buy thumb screws... :dizzy:
 
Just a point to reiterate...

Even in a cool environment, the airflow is crucial since the inside of a case is a closed environment.
As I said earlier, having all of the fans in the case blowing out can actually raise the temp in your case.

A suggestion: use this as an experiment.
Download Motherboard Monitor, and use it for 24 hours to measure the case temp of your PC the way it is right now (all fans blowing out). Then switch the fans to a conventional method (air coming in the front bottom, going out through the top rear), and measure the temp for 24 hours.

Use the fans in whatever method results in the lower case temp.
Again, if dust is that much of a concern, get filters.
As WaterB said, a good shot of canned air once a month will take care of any dust problem.

And if you need a working floppy drive, I have plenty. ;)
 
If anyone has parts they wanna get rid of I will take donations... :asmile:

personal address deleted - Diesel Dan

(If posting addresses is against the rules, my apologies I overlooked it in the TOS... )

Diesel Dan,
If your serious bout the floppy drive I'll take you up on it, If you have a black one laying around, even better. If price or shipping is a factor, email me and we'll work something out...

:rolleyes: jubaljester@yahoo.com :rolleyes:

As far as the cooling experiment, I once again see your point.
I must also point out that I have a mid tower, rather ugly one at that for now, which has plenty of vents built into it allowing more airflow through the case. Basicly, the system is good enough till I get money for my next one, which will be totally teched out.
 
It's ok if my post office box gets spammed, please don't delete this....

Ron Jester
PO BOX 4418
Des Moines, IA
50333-4418

Yup, I take dead computer donations and whatever else... :rip:
Please send me your old computers instead of doing this... :smash:

<BackOnTopic>

Hey I got some new componenets today, including that much needed floppy drive~! It lacks a black faceplate though... :drool:

I also got this harddrive heatsink w/ dual-fan accessory... :ohboy:
I'm sure it's base is made of alluminum and it's professionally painted a technical orange color. If I ever see a photo of it online, I'll post a link. :eek:
 
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