Found a use for my pci slot cooler!

They make noise, too.

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Pete
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2003 7:24 pm
Location: Georgia, USA

Found a use for my pci slot cooler!

Post by Pete » Sun Nov 23, 2003 8:17 pm

I purchased an Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer a few weeks ago. It does what it's supposed to do on my 9800 - run quiet (at slow speed), cool the card, and exhaust hot air off the gpu out of the case. But I also noticed that the other side of the card still emits a lot of heat and my cpu is only a few inches above it. I started to think how could I rig something up to cool the opposite side of the card in pretty much the same way. So I used what I thought was my useless Vantec pci fan card and "installed" it above the video card. Actually there's no pci slot above the video card but with a little electrical tape I was able to get it positioned to exhaust air out the adapter plate opening at the back of the case. As you can imagine, at full speed the slot cooler makes a racket but at 7 volts I can't hear it at all. The great thing is that after I put this baby in, my cpu temp went down 3 degrees. How's that for putting to good use what most of us would never use in a quiet case!

ez2remember
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Post by ez2remember » Thu Nov 27, 2003 8:46 am

I was thinking along the same lines when Mike reviewed it. I thought hold on a second, surely the back of the card would still emit some heat.

My method of cooling my ATI AIW 8500 is similar to the Artic Cooling except it's made out of cardboard and cost next to nothing. The hot air is exhausted through 2 pci slots. (I have 5 in total I don't use) It's a shroud that goes around the whole card and with a Panaflo 80l1a @ 5v mounted parallel to the video card. There is fan hole cut out. It's hung onto the cardboard with ear grommets.

I am unable to hear it, and has helped to reduce my cpu temp by 2C. Not much, but every little helps.

My plan is to create an efficient computer. The cooling setup in standard ATX is quite poor, if you think about it. Cool air outside enters into the bottom-front of the case. This cool air is then warmed by the HD, VGA & memory etc. This warm air is now used to cool the cpu and (probably hot air by now) finally it's exhausted out through the PSU (which is bad) and case fan(s).

If we could separate the cooling so that the hot air is exhausted out before recycling this air, it makes for a far more efficient cooling setup. I am planning to have my HD outside of the case and inside the Smart Drive 2002. (If it’s too noisy, then I guess I'll come up with more ideas )

My idea is to create temperatures so that both ambient temp and case temps are almost identical. (both measured with a probe, many onboard readings are wrong)

Pete
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2003 7:24 pm
Location: Georgia, USA

Post by Pete » Tue Dec 02, 2003 4:25 pm

Your shroud idea is a great heat/noise solution for your video card. I don't know how hot the 8500's get but every bit of hot air that you can quietly expel from your case is a plus.

I'm fairly close with my ambient temp of 20C and case temp of 23C. I can remember a few months ago while I was working on my quiet pc project, the rush of hot air coming out of my case when I opened the side panel. Not anymore - can't even tell the difference.

I've also thought about somehow placing my HD's on the outside of my case. That would eliminate the need for my front case fan. When do you plan to try this - anytime soon? Also, what HD will you be using?

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