The best cooling system in the world...

[Mini-Me]

Hiya!
:)

I have decided, after many experiments with exotic CPU/GPU cooling fansinks, intake and exhaust fans, water-cooling, etc, that the best cooling in the world is simply a 15" or 17" box-fan, running off the mains, fixed to the side of the case.

You remove one of the side panels, and fix the fan to the side of the case with big cable-ties.

You do have to buy a fan with either variable speed, or at least three or four speed settings, and set the fan to it's slowest speed, but at it's slowest speed, it still pushes more air through the case then any cooling solution I have tried, and is also much quieter then most of them.

Also, it cools everything; CPU, GPU, HDD's, PSU, m/board.

Some of the exotic CPU coolers have fans with speeds in excess of 7000RPM, and they sound like mini jet-engines!!!
:D

The end result is a drop of more then 10'C of the CPU, GPU and HDD's
The high-pitched whines of the various fans running, is replaced with a nice gentle low-frequency hum of the big box fan running slowly...
Most box-fans have a rotatiing louver, and this is left on, blowing air to all corners of the case.

For a $17.00 fan(US$8.50), this has got to be the best cooling-for-money.


MM.

[jlreich]

That's one way to do it, and cheap. And you don't have to worry about taking off the HSF. :cool:

Only problem I can see is the major dust it must bring in. You must have to clean it out at least every week. Hmm... I guess you could go out and get a filter for it, mount it on the back of the fan.

[saphalline]

Hahahaa! That's pretty funny! True, probably the best cheap way to get that extra cooling you need. ;)

[Mini-Me]

Hi!
:)

To jlreich: yes, dust is a bit of a problem, but only if the room is dusty anyway, or the machine is sitting on the carpet.

Yes, about every 3 weeks or so, you need to "De-dust"!!!!

...but it's still the cheapest cooling I have found to date.
:p

Frankly, if you can keep the PC nice and cool cheaply like this, then where's the harm in having to de-dust every few weeks or so?(rhetorical!!! :p )

I will see if I can take a photo or two, and post via image-shack later tonight.


G.

[jlreich]

Yeah put up a pic for us to see. :cool:

Just think of all the overclockers that spent big bucks for cooling. They will be so jealous! :D :cool:

[Mini-Me]

Okey dokey - I will try to post a pic tonight.
:)

The trade off is dust(as you rightly pointed out), in that you get about 1000% better cooling with a big sucker of a fan like this, but you also introduce heaps more dust...

I am actually looking into your casual suggestion of air-filtering...

Am gonna visit the auto shop on the way home, and see if they can sell me air-filter paper...


MM.

[jlreich]

The paper filter might work as well, but I was thinking along the lines of an AC filter from the hardware store. You know the black foam type for window units that you can wash out when needed. You can get them different sizes.

I'm interested in how you have the fan mounted. :cool:

[i an not a nerd]

Just think of all the overclockers that spent big bucks for cooling. They will be so jealous!

Hey, I didn't spend that much, like 150$ candian for my W/C. Then I whent to a junk yard and got a car's radiation system and hooked it up right before my smaller radiator using a couple T-valves. The liquid goes into a reservoir where a powerful pump pumps it through the car system and out into the main reservoir inside my case. From there it gets pumped by the onboard system through the computer back out to the other res. The car system is out the window (my computer is in the basement) so I get completly quiet computing! Then when i goto lan parties, I simple switch the T-valves to goto the small (relativatly, that is) onboard radiator and detatch the car system. Instead of the liquid going through the extra res and car system, it goes through the onboard radiator. The only problem with this is in the summer when it gets hot! Then I move it into my Dad's work den and it acts like a nice fan.

[Mini-Me]

Hokey pokey then, here are the photos.

The 1st one is of the case guts without any fan:

http://img466.imageshack.us/img466/7250/10016045ct.jpg

The next one is of the fan itself:

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/2204/10016305xg.jpg

This is a shot of the fan fixed to the side of the case:

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/7567/10016345dc.jpg \

This is a shot of the cable-tie detail holding the fan to the case:

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/9531/10016360zo.jpg

And another of the mounting of the fan:

http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/9848/10016395vr.jpg

And a shot of the mounting holding the foot of the fan to the case:

http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/8749/10016405lu.jpg

And finally, a shot from the front:

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/8469/10016424tx.jpg

Note that there are a couple of drive-bay covers removed.
These act as front exhaust vents, to exhaust the air pressure.

Ta-ra!
:)


MM.

[saphalline]

Hehehe, that's pretty cool. No pun intended. ;) :p

[Sylvander]

Oh, that is good, that is REALLY, REALLY good. :)

At first I thought "what a great idea".
Then I saw the photographs and the tears of laughter were rolling down my cheeks.
This has really lightened my day.
Do you need to bolt the PC tower to the desk in case it tries to take to the air if you set it on high speed?
Just a little fun. :D

You know, if you modified it a little to make it look nicer, and went into production you'd probably have a very nice turnover.

I gave amysiko at this thread http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?p=264983#post264983 a link to here.
He's having problems with high CPU temperatures.

[jlreich]

I think it's great. :cool: It actually looks better than I thought it would. I imagined a big 20" box fan strapped to the side somehow. :p

So here is the big question. What are your temps now? And what were they before?

[Cavalier90]

Why is there a problem with dust? With that sucker attached I would have thought a few seconds on max would blow all the dust out.

[saphalline]

With that sucker attached I would have thought a few seconds on max would blow all the dust out.Haha! Yes, that just might be true. I guess only thorough testing will tell for certain.

[Sylvander]

With that sucker attached I would have thought a few seconds on max would blow all the COMPONENTS out. :D

[Mini-Me]

Hi guys!

Well, I did not think this would provoke such disscussion!
:D

I'm very happy that it has amused some of you reading this - if it gave you a laugh, it has made me very happy.
:)

I actually had trouble not laughing myself when I put the fan on there the 1st time, but once you kinda get used to the idea, it works so well!

There is a strong exhaust from the two front drive bay slot covers that are removed - strong enough to cool your legs under the table, as the air exhausts!

With the PC turned off, and the fan on(to test the air-flow), you get strong air fromt the front, but also noticable air-flow from all the empty PCI-slot case slots, and alse a gentle airflow from the back of the PSU, meaning it is helping the PSU keep cool too...

Temperature drop has been amazing over the stock cooling:

All measurements done with an ambient room temp of approx 30'C, and CPU running at 100%(encoding DivX) for a reliable test figure with the system working hard.

System is an AMD Athlon XP 3000+ CPU and stock fansink
750MB DDR ram
Two 120GB 7200RPM Seagates(IDE), and 80GB Seagate(IDE)

CPU:

Before: 62'C when working at 100%
After: 43'C when working at 100%

...that's a drop of 19'C in the full-load operating temp of the CPU...


MOTHERBOARD:

Before: 41'C
After: 21'C

...a drop of 19'C here too...


HARD DISKS:

Before: 54'C (drive on on-board IDE controller)
After: 29'C

...bloody near 50%(but not quite) drop in operating temp!...


The fan is actually quieter then you might think a monster like this would be.
It does get noisy, if run at full speed, but on the slowest speed setting, it is just a quiet low-frequency wind noise.

To Cavalier90: With a monster like this, it sucks and pushes heaps more dust into the case, then a smaller fan would ever be able to do, so more dust contamination happens. Surprisingly though, a blast at high speed does not really disturb the dust that has settled, and you have to cut the cable-ties every month or so, remove the fan, and de-dust the machine with a static-free brush, and a vacuum cleaner(and an anti-static wrist strap!)


MM.

[Mini-Me]

I'm actually gonna do a little experiment over the xmas break, removing all standard cooling fans from the CPU fansink(turning it into a heatsink only), and the PSU fan. I find that the most noise generally comes from the PSU fan(s).

I plan to pull the fans out, and then re-assemble the PSU, and see what happens.

Provided there is sufficent air-flow provided by the 17" box fan, there should be no problem with the PSU overheating.

This remains to be tested...

Also, I am gonna build a little interface box with a relay in it, which will power-up the fan, when the PC is powered on.(and shut it off when the PC is shut off)
Dead easy to do with a mains relay, and a tap from the 12v rail of the PSU...


MM.

[Cavalier90]

You are brave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sylvander]

Once I had stopped laughing I would take this very seriously indeed. :)

As the song says:

They all laughed at Christopher Columbus
When he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother
When they said that man could fly

They told Marconi
Wireless was a phony
It's the same old cry
They laughed at me wanting you
Said I was reaching for the moon
But oh, you came through
Now they'll have to change their tune

They all said we never could be happy
They laughed at us and how!
But ho, ho, ho!
Who's got the last laugh now?

They all laughed at Rockefeller Center
Now they're fighting to get in
They all laughed at Whitney and his cotton gin
They all laughed at Fulton and his steamboat
Hershey and his chocolate bar

Ford and his Lizzie
Kept the laughers busy
That's how people are
They laughed at me wanting you
Said it would be, "Hello, Goodbye."
But oh, you came through
Now they're eating humble pie

They all said we'd never get together
Darling, let's take a bow
For ho, ho, ho!
Who's got the last laugh?
Hee, hee, hee!
Let's at the past laugh
Ha, ha, ha!
Who's got the last laugh now?"

Take a bow Mini-Me.
More power to your elbow and keep us laughing all the way to the bank. :D

[Mini-Me]

I know you are laughing with me, not at me(I hope! :D )

Who wrote that song?


MM.

[saphalline]

Hmmm... if you could rig up a delay timer to the "off" relay, that would be the best. Then the fan will stay on a little bit after the system powers off and continue to cool your components once they're off. Brings them back to room temp quicker, and I hear it can improve the lifespan of your parts just a bit. ;) Especially the PSU, since it's so tender when it comes to heat and you'll be removing the fans. :p

[Sylvander]

"Who wrote that song?"
Lyrics: Ira Gershwin
Music:George Gershwin

Full Lyrics here http://www.lyricsdirectory.com/portal/staceykent/005.htm

[Mini-Me]

Re: Sylvander - cheers.

Re: Saphalline: Oh, that is dead easy. I can do that simply with a PIC, which, now that you give me the idea, is what I think I will do.

You program the PIC to switch on the fan when it senses a high-level on one of it's input pins(PC switched on), then it looks for a low(PC switched off), and at that point, starts a basic timer(say 2 minutes?) after this elapses, the PIC switches off the relay, switching off the fan.

Thanks for the idea!
;)


MM.

PS: Actually, you could easily program the PIC to look for various hot-spots, and have three relays in the interface(one for each fan speed), and have the pic change the fan speed according to the temp of the PC, but then, I don't wanna invent more work for myself!!! I'mm supposed to be quiting work for a few weeks!!!
:D

[Pharoah]

if you were running that computer with its side on before you put the box fan on it id say lack of case ventilation was your problem i seen no slots on the backside for fans and only one fan on the front i am running an amd 64 3400+
and a thermaltake cpu cooler and have 6 case fans 80mm in size this machine i use for an online game server and believe me cpu usage is very high all the time and no probs with heat what so ever the issue was the case not the cpu cooler but anyway looks like you solved your heat problem it was a very innovative idea to add such a large fan to it :)

[Mini-Me]

You are quite right - the case this machine was built on, was from the Duron 1300 days. There is no provision for case exhaust fans at all. The fan at the front was just rigged up by me, to help cool the HDD array down there on the bottom of the case!(there was four drives down there at one point, but now down to two - I needed drives for new builds, so...)

Question: With your 6 fans, do you get much fan-noise?
I would expect so, but maybe your case has much better airflow?

You can run the 12v fans on the 5v rail, but then sometimes, they run so slow, that you can't get enough airflow to cool things!!!
:D


MM.