Suggestions on homebuilt (cheap) cooling [UPDATE! 18/3]

[mei]

Been a while since I last visited this site and I'm so glad that it still exists! I had forgot how much I liked this site.

I recently got a new case from a friend of mine and have been modifing it for a day now. I didn't want to buy any expensive pre-built cooling-stuff, so I have just silenced my computer with stuff that I've found in my home. That is for example, a foam mat, screws, tape and some old fans. I also have lots of random boards, wires, old computer stuff and such. I also got my old case to spare (slightly modified) and all the nessesary tools for modifing it (such as a dremel). I'll probably change out the fans sometime, but that isn't the question this time. Besides this, I have another 120mm fan.

The material that I've used for silencing my case is just a foam mat that I found in the basement and I think that it worked out fine using it. I have some problems though. I don't know how I should cool down my CPU, PSU, and my GFX-card. I'm also not quite sure how to cool down my harddrives, but I have some ideas.

Here are two pictures of my whole case and what I've done until now.



Here is what I've thought of doing with my CPU, but haven't really done anything yet. Just an idea.






Here is my graphic card, which have worked fine cooling with just a 120mm fan @ 5V blowing from 5 cm's on the side of it.


Here are my harddrives and what I've thought of doing with them.


I've thought of building a own case for the harddrives, which the chassi will stand on. In that case, I will build something that holds the hard drives and cools them down.


Here are some pictures of what I've done to the front of the case.




So my questions are, how can I make this case as quite as possible without spending any money (or a very small amount of money)? Please feel free to edit the pictures that I have and paint your ideas in them, that would be great and I would understand a lot more (since English isn't my main language).

Remember, I have all the nessesary tools and lot's of random material!

My specs:
AMD Athlon XP 2800+
ATI Radeon 9600
Antec 300W SmartPower
2 HDD's, 200 Gb and 400 Gb

Thanks a lot!

[relitz]

Some things you could do are:
Suspend the harddrives with elastics (fabrics store for ~20kr).
Swap the fans for high-quality, quiet fans like Nexus (~100kr each) which you hardwire to 5V.
Swap the PSU fan too.
Add sound-absorbing material to flat surfaces like the side covers (~200kr).

[mei]

Some things you could do are:
Suspend the harddrives with elastics (fabrics store for ~20kr).
Swap the fans for high-quality, quiet fans like Nexus (~100kr each) which you hardwire to 5V.
Swap the PSU fan too.
Add sound-absorbing material to flat surfaces like the side covers (~200kr).

I've already thought of suspending the hard drives yes (build a case under the ordniary), but do you know anywhere in Sweden where you can buy some good elastics, and where you can find those Nexus fans (preferarly Stockholm).

I've already absorbed the sides with a foam mat, think it will work out just fine.

Thanks! :9

[xan_user]

and get some shorter screws so you can ditch the CPU fan shroud.

[speedkar9]

I've already thought of suspending the hard drives yes (build a case under the ordniary), but do you know anywhere in Sweden where you can buy some good elastics, and where you can find those Nexus fans (preferarly Stockholm).

Try pants elastic. Its about 3/4 - 1 inch wide, I've used them before in an Antec 300. You can also find them in your underwear too.

See my posts for pictures:
viewtopic.php?t=50697

[mei]

and get some shorter screws so you can ditch the CPU fan shroud.

Not exactly sure of what you mean, please explain further.

[xan_user]

Your cpu HS appears to have an empty fan shroud/body on it, limiting airflow over the HS.

Removal will not only help the cpu temps but also decrease case turbulence. This should enable you to slow the fans down more.

[mei]

Your cpu HS appears to have an empty fan shroud/body on it, limiting airflow over the HS.

Removal will not only help the cpu temps but also decrease case turbulence. This should enable you to slow the fans down more.

You suggest removing not only the black empty fan body (which I thought of removing sooner or later), but the metal base that is screwed around the coppar sink?

[xan_user]

You suggest removing not only the black empty fan body (which I thought of removing sooner or later), but the metal base that is screwed around the coppar sink?

if your not going to have a fan attached to it, remove everything but the HS and what ever clips or screws it takes to hold it on. ( can't really see if its clips or screws that hold it down.)

Also looks like a small air short from empty video slot. I would cover it.

the front bezel looks restrictive..? It would seem the bezel intake/filter(?) is way smaller than the intake fan's size.

[speedkar9]

the front bezel looks restrictive..? It would seem the bezel intake/filter(?) is way smaller than the intake fan's size.

Looks like you could do some dremel work on your front end like what I did to my old P2:

Open up a huge hole directly in front of the front air intake fan to allow alot more air in the computer. This could cause noise to leak out, however. Make sure You have some kind of filter material to filter the dust in addition to the fan grill.

Or you could try some SOLO style mods, like venting up the area around the front bezel:


I cant really see how much space you have at the back, but you can also consider cutting a larger exhaust hole and fit a 92 or 120mm fan undervolted. With a 120mm and PSU exhausting, I'd doubt you'd need the intake fan, unless your ducting to your hard drives / video card.

Alternatively, you could try making a small rack and soft mounting your two hard drives in the space below those 3.5" bays, and putting the 120mm intake fan inside to reduce frontal noise emission and better cool your video card:

[ACook]

a mountain/hiking sports shop here had various ropes and elastics if you're looking for more robust stuff. Surely up north there's plenty of wintersports/hiking stores...


the stretch magic you can get online/ebay or try some hobby/jewelry store

[mei]

a mountain/hiking sports shop here had various ropes and elastics if you're looking for more robust stuff. Surely up north there's plenty of wintersports/hiking stores...

the stretch magic you can get online/ebay or try some hobby/jewelry store

Thanks! I never though of going to a hiking sports shop, will check it out!

if your not going to have a fan attached to it, remove everything but the HS and what ever clips or screws it takes to hold it on. ( can't really see if its clips or screws that hold it down.)

Okay, that seems like a good idea. There where some screws holding the metal-thinge, as you can see here. Will remove it and come up with some solution to cool it down later.

Also looks like a small air short from empty video slot. I would cover it.

The empty video slot will be covered when I put the card back. Or did you mean anything else?

the front bezel looks restrictive..? It would seem the bezel intake/filter(?) is way smaller than the intake fan's size.

You mean that the hole for the fan in the front is too small, or that I should modify the front plastic part of the case so it lets in more air?

I cant really see how much space you have at the back, but you can also consider cutting a larger exhaust hole and fit a 92 or 120mm fan undervolted. With a 120mm and PSU exhausting, I'd doubt you'd need the intake fan, unless your ducting to your hard drives / video card.

I thought of that too for a while, cutting a hole in the back, but I can't seem to fit either a 92 or a 120 mm fan there. A idea I got was building a 80 to 120 mm duct, which I'll probably do and attach it to the back of the 80 mm hole in the back.

Alternatively, you could try making a small rack and soft mounting your two hard drives in the space below those 3.5" bays, and putting the 120mm intake fan inside to reduce frontal noise emission and better cool your video card:

Yeah, I thought of placing my hard drives there too, but I realised that it would get too tight, so I built this (inspired by Bluefront's Lanboy).


Inside of this case, I will put my hard drives and use some elastics to mount them. Then I'll use this, which I also found down in the basement, to make it more quite.


Here are some more pictures of the box I built.








Now, I have some questions!

• How would I best mount the hard drives in that box?
  I'll definitly mount them with some kind of elastics, but my question is rather; where in that box will I put it?
• Where should I put the fans in the box and in my case?
  Is the fan in the front really nesseary if I for example drill a hole in the bottom of the case and the roof of the box and put a fan there (so that it'll also cool down my GFX)?
• Where should I let in and out air (almost the same as the last question)?
  Should I drill any holes somewhere to let in/out air?

All ideas of how I should use the box is appreciated! Here is how I thought of doing.

Please use one of the pictures and edit them, as speedkar9 did. I really appreciate that!

Thanks again for all of your replies! You guys are great :)!

[speedkar9]

I'd opt more in favor of keeping the HD's in the case, I think you can fit them.Use a front to back airflow design similar to what you see in BTX OEM's now:


For this you'd have to have a pretty much unrestricted front intake, so you could replace your drive covers with grill/ mesh/ filter stuff (like the Antec 300):

Or you could do a SOLO style mod as mentioned earlier and open the surrounds of the front bezel:


Your hard drive enclosure at the bottom kinda reminds me of a P180, which uses the PSU to cool the HD's in a separate chamber:


Remember though, orient your HD's so that they are parallel to the airflow rather than perpendicular as you depicted in your drawing before. This allows for air to pass between the drives and cool both of them better.

I do suppose you could get away with 1 120mm exhaust and the PSU fan as the only fans in your system, but I'm a bit worried about you running that Barton passive on a top down cooler... Usually those things
idle ~60*C..... Whats yours running at now?

Or you could just get a cheap ATX case and suspend the drives in the 5.25 bay, and change the fans to 120/92mm models.

Just some thoughts. I love paint.

[JamieG]

You could use something like this to duct the CPU cooler to the rear case fan. I'm sure there are a range of sources for similar products.

Suspending the two hard drives near the front of the case in some sort of wooden frame would be the best idea IMHO.

My $0.02 anyway.

[speedkar9]

Suspending the two hard drives near the front of the case in some sort of wooden frame would be the best idea IMHO.

Like this:
viewtopic.php?t=19147&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60

[mei]

Heh, first of I found out that they're are selling some Nexus Real Silent 120mm 22,8dBA here in Sweden. I guess I'll buy 2 of those for my case. Any opinons regarding that?

You could use something like this to duct the CPU cooler to the rear case fan. I'm sure there are a range of sources for similar products.

Suspending the two hard drives near the front of the case in some sort of wooden frame would be the best idea IMHO.

Like this:
viewtopic.php?t=19147&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60

Great ideas, I'll check if they're selling that in Sweden somewhere.
I'll check that link out too, long time since I last read it.

I'd opt more in favor of keeping the HD's in the case, I think you can fit them.Use a front to back airflow design similar to what you see in BTX OEM's now:
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/5967/style2m.jpg

For this you'd have to have a pretty much unrestricted front intake, so you could replace your drive covers with grill/ mesh/ filter stuff (like the Antec 300):
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8120/30454847.jpg

It would be really tight to fit two hard drives in the front of the 120 mm intake fan (including a thing that will suspend them). I have tried to fit everything in, but it simpily does not fit that good. I'd rather use my little box for that purpose, but the question is then; where in that box would be the best place to put them? Also, I think that there are to many fans in that drawing, for my setup. It would be okay not to cool it down that much I guess.
But it's a good idea, too bad it doesn't use the box I just built.

Or you could do a SOLO style mod as mentioned earlier and open the surrounds of the front bezel:http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/7761/40228196.jpg

That means cutting out the red marked-part in the drawing to let in air? That sounded like a good idea though, if I have my intake in the front.

Your hard drive enclosure at the bottom kinda reminds me of a P180, which uses the PSU to cool the HD's in a separate chamber:
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8020/style1c.jpg

Yeah, I've thought of that too, but the ATX-cable to the motherboard didn't seem to get all the way to the connector and the CD-drive. Sure I could re-solder all of them or buy some kind of extension cord, but that didn't seem like a optimal solution.

Remember though, orient your HD's so that they are parallel to the airflow rather than perpendicular as you depicted in your drawing before. This allows for air to pass between the drives and cool both of them better.

So I'll just flip my drives so that air can be blown at both of the sides?
Like this:
Fan -> || Airflow -> HDDS -> =
Rather than:
Fan -> || Airflow -> HDDS -> ll
?

I do suppose you could get away with 1 120mm exhaust and the PSU fan as the only fans in your system, but I'm a bit worried about you running that Barton passive on a top down cooler... Usually those things
idle ~60*C..... Whats yours running at now?

Dunno about the idle temps, but I'm happy if I can run the system on just 2-3 fans, really.
One blowing in the cool air and the other one blowing it out (and then one for the CPU). The intake-fan cooling of both the GPU and the HDDS, and then have another fan to get all the air out and cool the PSU down.

Thanks again !

[speedkar9]

Dunno about the idle temps, but I'm happy if I can run the system on just 2-3 fans, really.
One blowing in the cool air and the other one blowing it out (and then one for the CPU). The intake-fan cooling of both the GPU and the HDDS, and then have another fan to get all the air out and cool the PSU down.
Thanks again !

Put it so the hard drives are perpendicular to the airflow:


Putting the air intake on the bottom will reduce the chance of noise escaping directly out of the front from the hard drive. In addition the air doesnt have to turn 90 degrees through the hard drives up into the case.

Without a duct the gpu's heat will heat up the case (9600 ati's aren't as hot anyways). CPU duct is a good idea if there is no cpu fan directly on the heatsink. The use of 120mm fan is recommended over the 80mm you have exhausting (and even the psu). Since your case has negative pressure, I still think you should open up a few holes in the front to let air in.

[mei]

Put it so the hard drives are perpendicular to the airflow: http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/4964/58142768.jpg

Putting the air intake on the bottom will reduce the chance of noise escaping directly out of the front from the hard drive. In addition the air doesnt have to turn 90 degrees through the hard drives up into the case.

Without a duct the gpu's heat will heat up the case (9600 ati's aren't as hot anyways). CPU duct is a good idea if there is no cpu fan directly on the heatsink. The use of 120mm fan is recommended over the 80mm you have exhausting (and even the psu). Since your case has negative pressure, I still think you should open up a few holes in the front to let air in.

The distance between the 120 mm fan in the bottom and the GPU seems to be the same as before, which will work out just fine. Would you recommend cutting out a 120 mm hole in the bottom of the box too, or make it another size or something? Maybe cut it out somewhere else in the box and make some kind of air-tunnel which will reduce the noise?

I'll thought of something like this (very similar to your painting):


Would that be a good idea? I'm still a little worried about the GPU though.

[speedkar9]

The distance between the 120 mm fan in the bottom and the GPU seems to be the same as before, which will work out just fine. Would you recommend cutting out a 120 mm hole in the bottom of the box too, or make it another size or something? Maybe cut it out somewhere else in the box and make some kind of air-tunnel which will reduce the noise?

I'll thought of something like this (very similar to your painting):
http://www.emilfish.se/jr/spr/31.png

Would that be a good idea? I'm still a little worried about the GPU though.

Not good. You want the air to move with as least obstructions as possible to allow for maximum cooling. Running it through an air guide is going to cause so much fluid friction that the effectiveness of the cooling becomes questionable.

A direct path as was previously suggested should work the best, and having the hole at the bottom allows noise to stay at the bottom and hence away from the user (at the front presumably).

Your GPU isn't that powerful to even require a 120mm fan... Heck we've got people running Accelero S1's on ATI 4850's out here (which is a much hotter card) passively. A duct might seem like a good idea, that's something you will have to experiment with. Or you could make your own dual slot cooler (I've seen someone do that around here.... its where you mount the fan parallel to the card's HS and make a duct to the rear PCI slot).


|---------------------GPU-------|
| <--airflow ||||||HS|||||||-|
|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-Duct|-|-||-|-|

[Plekto]

What I did was open a drive bay cover for the air intake. If there's significant negative pressure, the air will squeeze its way through the opening at higher velocity and actually cool down. IME, a 3.5 bay cover or two are plenty large enough of an opening.

The CPU heatsink, though, should have fins spaced about 3-4x wider to allow for easy airflow that won't clog with dust in a couple of months.(problem of pulling air through tiny fins as opposed to pushing.

[mei]

Hi again! I've been busy with a lot of school work recently, but today I finally got some time to work on my case again. So it's update time!

After some measurements, I realised that it was actually possible to fit a 120 mm fan in the back. Since I was all out of cut blades for the dremel, I used the worst tool for cutting small and good-looking holes. It really looks horrible and it really is a sloppy job, but it works!




I also cut out some holes for managing cables.


Since it was a gap right in the middle of the 120 mm hole, I built this.



And this is how it all ended up.




I still got some small gaps which I probably will use tape or anything similar to fill in.


Any thoughts about this or how I could improve this?

Now, I will build some kind of duct for the CPU. Any ideas?

Thanks!

[mei]

Another update!

So I just tried everthing out, but I'm not quite sure how to cool down the CPU. I tried to blow in air to from behind on the heatsink, drag out the air in the PSU and then duct the whole thing, but it left me with a idle temperature around 55-65 degrees C. When I tried to duct the CPU like this a while ago...

... I instead got temperatures around 42-45 degrees C. And yes, I understand that you'll get lower temperatures when you blow air directly on the heatsink, but I still wounder what I should do about it. Any ideas?

Here are some pictures!