Cooling Tips

Found this in another forum.. Thought it might be useful..

1. Clean up all the clutter in your case - Fat IDE cables should be replaced with rounded IDE cables, or tucked away, as they take up lots of space and thus obstruct airflow. If possible, the main ATX power connection should be tucked away as much as possible and only appearing when it must (when it connects to the motherboard)

2. Give air a direct path toward the processor and other heat producing elements of the computer (ie hard drive, video card, northbridge)

3. Keep the heatsink dust-free. The dust buildup on a heatsink can grow quite quickly, so make sure you clean up all the crap that gets stuck on your heatsink every month or so.

4. Use larger fans which spin at a lower RPM to provide the same air flow.

5. Cut out restricting fan grills! Not only do these impede airflow, but they also create extra noise!




These ones I've thought of for the last few months or so when my computer has overheated quite drastically (cough 70degrees C under load cough)

1. Open up all the front bezels that you can. Although this will let in a lot of dust, it will also let in lots of cool air.

2. If possible, stick a 12cm fan at the front of your case (three 5 1/4'' bays are required for this). The CoolerMaster 4in3 will be great for this operation. It basically converts the 3 5 1/4'' bays into 4 3 1/2'', while putting a 12cm fan in front of it! [But what I would do is just buy a 12cm fan and use string to secure it to the drive bays. I use string because it reduces lots of vibration as well.]
 
Oh man do i have a nice air flow in my comp. Pics are not too great but as for cutting down on restricting air flow i would recomend buying a UltraX Power Supply.






UltraX pic
ULT31558_LR_1.jpg
 

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That's definately useful. I recently finished a little side project that involved sleeving all of my Power supply cables with a UV reactive sleeving kit by Vantec. I had to disasemble my PSU completely and remove the connectors on the cables themselves in order to do it. Once I get pictures taken of my computer I'll post it up. It looks so much better now.
 
I used to have UV lights in my computer, until I read an article that talked about how many people were having their computer go up in flames because the transformer, or whatever that black box is that is on the electrical cord for those lights, would blow up and start on fire. It was in a computer magazine. How true do you think that is?
 
I've heard of stories of computer fires caused by a uv light. I remember one story, some guy had his computer running while he was away on vacation for a week. His water cooling shortened out and stopped running during his trip. Everything overheated, ended up killing his pretty little x800.

Another good tip; Watch your room's tempature. It really does make a difference, sometimes by 10 degrees (c). I know because i've been experiencing fluctutations in room tempature resulting in record high temps for my cpu.

Here's my wiring job, it's not so great but I have a new case, new fans, sleeving kit, and fan dampeners on the way so I have an excuse. This one consists of 2 80s in the front, 2 in back. 92 for the cpu and an 80 on the side blowing into the case onto vidcard. ...dust owns me 👎 :grumpy:
www.eevo7.com/kyle/wiring3.jpg
www.eevo7.com/kyle/wiring2.jpg
www.eevo7.com/kyle/wiring.jpg
 
cardude2004
I used to have UV lights in my computer, until I read an article that talked about how many people were having their computer go up in flames because the transformer, or whatever that black box is that is on the electrical cord for those lights, would blow up and start on fire. It was in a computer magazine. How true do you think that is?

The inverter? I seriously doubt that the Inverter would cause a computer to catch on fire unless you use an inverter with a different set of lights other than the one(s) that it came with.

I'm completely done with the project now minus a problem with one of my floppy drive connectors. I think I've managed to swap one of the power wires because my status indicator is always on.
 
Matrixhasu77
The inverter? I seriously doubt that the Inverter would cause a computer to catch on fire unless you use an inverter with a different set of lights other than the one(s) that it came with.

Mutant Mod inverters (even though used with their lights) are notorious for catching on fire, blowing up, melting, etc etc. :)
 
I realise this is an old thread, but rather than start a new one, I thought i would ask this here.

I just installed a couple of new 80mm UV LED fans, and I immediately noticed that the existing ones (same brand from the same place only a few weeks beforehand) are nowhere near as bright. I had a look at them and saw that they were coated in dust, I cleaned them a bit with a rag, but they are still fairly dirty (we smoke in the house, but don't preach, I know it's bad).

My question is,

What do people use to thouroughly (sp?) clean their fans/mobo? I remember reading somewhere that White Spirits is okay, but I thought I would ask the more knowledgable members here.

Currently my cooling is
-Twin 80mm in the front, blowing over my Hard drives (sucking in)
-80mm in the side, sucking in
-80mm in the top, blowing out
-80mm in the rear, blowing out (sucking from the CPU)
-120mm in the bottom of the PSU (sucking out of the case, into the PSU, and out the back

I also have 90% of the power cabling hidden behind the mobo mounting plate, and I am using round cabling.

Yes the CPU fan is spinning

-edit-
I just noticed that my CPU fan actually blows the air towards the heatsink! Which would be why it is still getting too hot for my liking (currently sitting at 47C at full load), I have created a vaccuum!
 
Removing fan grills, although may prove to provide airflow and lesser noise, can also bring in larger pollutants into your case. I've seen a marble chucked through the case of a PC, smashing the 120mm fan it went through, and damaging the Graphics Card to the point of repair. You also run the risk of more dust getting pulled in, because there's no filter mechanism.
 
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