Zen: suspension tweaking

[colin]

Compared to the simple suspension shown in the review on this site, I've been able to get slightly cooler HD temperatures in the Zen ST62K by:

-- snipping out the 3.5" bay that's immediately below the optical drive bay (the lowest, removable bay was removed for the first suspension exercise).
-- removing the fan shroud and relocating the fan outside.
-- using the new space to hang the HD lengthwise, and higher, with 8" of doubled aluminum C-channel heatsinking per side.

The main idea was to get the HD away from the northbridge heatsink. This seems to have worked. Not only have HD temperatures dropped 2 degrees celsius, but the gradual rise over multiple hours in its temperature, which seemed attributable to proximity to the NB heatsink, is reduced if not eliminated. I'm doing this preparatory to reducing airflow.

Getting rid of the shroud and middle drive bay really opens up space in the zen. There's probably room to suspend one of those HD silencing boxes.

A possible side benefit might be better vibration isolation, because I'm now running the bungees from the upper corners of the case so the lengths are longer. But I can't tell as the fan is still the dominant noise.