A band pass filter is sort of what we need. One not tuned to the PWM frequency. Simple L-C tanks act more as a cut-off than a band pass. That is, they reduce anything above or below the LC resonant frequency, depending on the configuration. The configuration I described is a simple low pass. IE. red...

...hard drive contained in a container that was surrounded by vacuum, except a vent tube that led to the back of the computer... It would need to be a strong casing on the hard drive to handle that. You would have an internal pressure of approx. 15psi inside the drive, and approx 0psi outside. IBM ...

Unfortunately Terry, as yet with analog electronics my knowledge is mostly cut&paste. I understand enough to be dangerous, and I understand quite well in principal, but I still haven't done my homework with all the math so I can't quite design all the stuff that I generally know about. Kids and wome...

I will call the controlled positive output Vfan. Put a big-ish cap on the output between Vfan and 0v. A small resistance in series after the cap (between the cap and the fan) will also help, but too much will cut the fan's top end too much. Or better yet an inductor. If you want to get fancy, use a ...

That all sounds good Cris, but PWM is OUT for quiet fan speed control. I have been working with a PWM-based thermal fan controller & it is not viable Mike, I think the key to your statement is that the one you've been trying isn't viable . PWM must be viable since that's how the whole PSU works. My...

Mike, maybe you & I should get together & make such a device. The downside is we need to rival the $10.00 fan speed (5-7-12V) control that is locally available. Hope you don't mind my butting in... 25¢ worth... ;) A PICµ could do a good job of controlling several fans, and reporting back via the SM...

Thanks Old Dude, very interesting info. Now I am just itchin': what voltage on the Pabst. I guess 12? The rest of your data is so precise it makes an interesting performance example.

About home-made heat pipes: I recently made a water based heat pipe with a good friend of mine in his small home metal shop. The basic procedure was as follows: - made a metal pipe about 3/4" by 2' long with a ball valve on one end, as well as a small vacuum guage T'ed in just before the valve. We t...

I know it would cost more than $300, but for the price range of the other commercial solutions I would expect a beautiful double-walled, all glass aquarium with a seperate hinged front door (breeding tank?). The PC would thus act as an aquarium heater, evaporative cooling would eliminate the need fo...

Check out this nifty idea from HiTechMODs: PCI Card VGA Cooler

Yes, now we must wait for IBM's soon to be anounced ear plug size hard drives. The next step in the Microdrive line.

Technically I'm not 100% sure if high humidity increases heat removal, although subjectively it feels like it on damp days. It reduces air density, an important factor when flying, and I would expect an important factor in heat removal. Otherwise, it sure does give a major reduction in static, and a...

wow, 3 concurrent posts!?

I give gregzeng my vote for most contrary forum question ;) Bravo! I do really sympathise with the issue, but I propose a best of both worlds solution: :arrow: Glue or otherwise attach a small cheap microphone to the drive of interest, then hook it up to one of the extra audio channels like CD, AUX,...

I've done lots of work with aluminum and sheet metal. Here's what I found to work well: Solid Plastics: Drilling with normal drill bits is cleanest, or for large holes a sharp hole saw or jigsaw. Cut with sawblades, handles very much like wood. Shape by filing, grinding, or sanding, but watch out fo...

Cool powergyoza, that silently sounds like a pretty great reduction . How did you put them together? We can conclude that the rubber idea works well, and if we need to improve it it's only the thermal issue that might want some help. :idea: you might be able to get a better thermal interface by just...

Maybe someone with a 'clickable' Pabst can answer a question here: If you stop the fan with your fingers, does it sit still for a moment before restarting? Does it give little 'kicks' to try to spin up? If so, are they at the same repeat rate as the infamous 'Pabst click'? I fully expect that the Pa...

Noren Products Enclosures ...came up recently in Article Reviews... Quote: "To make the units more compact and affordable, the ACL-RC series uses custom-tuned electrostatic air movers to assist in the removal of heat. The air movers stealthily pull air across the outer fins of our heat pipes, allow...

Just to complicate things, I'm not sure about curing time vs. exposed surface area vs. which type of caulking. A plain cardboard outer mould might be the right thing to allow a proper cure by gassing off, then soak it off afterwards in water and scrub clean. I'm also not sure about shrinkage vs. whi...

One other strange option is a slot 1 mobo with a slocket converter card. You can set the VCore and frequency with many better slocket cards, and I have seen modding info as well for full manual overides. You would have to be really careful though about Taluatin compatability. I know that's all prett...

Another component to cool inside the case these days is the mobo's VCore regulator. MSI's are using heatsinks on that part now, although most others still seem to just use the mobo as a heatsink. With a big bad CPU, that regulator, probably 80%'ish efficiency, is blowing some bigtime wattage. Unfort...

After reading up on numano's fanless pc website, I've been tinkering with the idea of enclosing my HD's in rubber. According to numano, silly-cone caulking stuff is a pretty good heat conductor. Seems like a couple extra jumbo contractor size tubes, or more of the normal smaller ones if on sale che...

First off, I will echo the often expressed praise and enthusiasm about SPCR. Bravo, and job well done. And since you asked I'll throw back a few thoughts about how you might tweak the structure a bit. 1) Does "articles" tell you enough about what that section is about? 2) Would brief summaries in th...

Thanks for the feedback hvengel. Looks like your temps are a little on the high side, but not too bad. I am getting this sneaking suspicion that because heatpipes are phase change devices, they have a non-linear thermal resistance. I think they have a higher basic threshold temp, but then can handle...

Thanks for the feedback hvengel

What are the specs on your system? CPU, Mhz, Vcore, cooling arrangements, etc. And where is the temp read, socket or CPU diode? The 68C sounds a little on the hot side if you're reading socket temps, which can be quite a bit lower than true core temps.

oops again,

IBM Microdrives have a breather hole, I'm not sure they are vacuum compatible. They say they work in zero gravity environments, but don't mention vacuum. Was probably only used inside. Oh well.

duh... :oops: ummm... :oops: . Of course you are absolutely right gommer, the heads fly on the air current. I knew that too. Thanks for having a brain. However, I just also remembered that IBM Microdrives are vacuum compatible. They have been used in outer space by NASA astronauts for digicam work, ...

Terry, Old Dude, check out Thermal Diode Calibration from SPCR's Unique Heatsink Testing Methodology regarding thermal diodes. Mike really gave us the lowdown on thermal diodes in there.

:oops: In casting my vote, I neglected due diligence, and failed to vote Kurt with Mike. He was nonetheless not forgotten. His name less often appears in these forums than dose 'MikeC', but we know he is ever present, the ghost in the machine. As to a Christmas prezzy, we know they need a good SPL m...

Very interesting point Asmordean. The voltage regulation has got to be a prime suspect. The on die (yup, knew that) thermal diode should not be a fault here. The SMB system monitor that reads it could be . I wouldn't be suprised if the core temp was way steeper & higher than the socket thermistor ei...