best passive cooler for syspended drive ?

madd02 · Post by **madd02** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 11:23 pm

Hey guys,

I have just tested the SilentBox from skythe and am going to return it for a passive cooler. My samsung sp2004c got up to 42 degrees inside the device. The heatlane and top plate radiator never really warmed up.

So i went back to my syspension (bungie cord) this runs at 32-33degrees idle. I have removed the intake fan (nexus 120) and now run the hdd passive. 32 degrees doenst sounds like much but if you put your fingers on the chips they feel really toastie. So being of the OCD persuasion i would like to cool the hdd further.

So my question is should i get the zalman heatpipe solution, the nexus twin disk or the Aluminium double U tube from the 'effective passive cooling' article ?

I am running a negative pressure system, much like ed's. The only intakes are the CAG and radiator for my abit Q-otes. The reset is completely sealed of, tested it today with incence smoke...pretty cool really.

The hard drive will be sitting at the lower front of the antec case, hangin from the 3 1/4 drive bay. There will be little air movement. Although i am considering ducting a small, say 2cm, tube from the front sealed intake. eg using the negative air pressure to cool the heatpipes of the zalman.

Ok a bit of a ramble but im interested in anyone else who has a similar setup or experience with this.

regards,
Adam

sanse · Post by **sanse** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:12 am

madd02 wrote:I have just tested the SilentBox from skythe and am going to return it for a passive cooler. My samsung sp2004c got up to 42 degrees inside the device. The heatlane and top plate radiator never really warmed up.

what's the problem with a hdd temp of 42 C?

JimX · Post by **JimX** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:24 am

None of the coolers will cool the PCB, only a duct could. I, being of the same OCD persuasion, prefer front to back airflow, even if it means more noise.

madd02 · Post by **madd02** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:28 am

sanse,
Ok not really the response i was expecting, but a valid question non the less.

When i removed the drive from the silentbox i check the chips under the drive, and figured that anything hot enough to make me remove my finger...was too hot ?

Also, the enclosure heated up the entire drive, every part was at a high temp. In contrast to the temperatures in free air, that appear to be just the underside chips and to a lesser degree the sides of the drive.

I just lost a drive recently so am a bit worried about it happening again. Figured keep temps below 40 at idle.

madd02 · Post by **madd02** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:23 pm

I have a spare nb32j zalman nb heatsink. (purchased for my bro whos to lazy to install it).

So thought..hey how about i make up some thermal adheisive and tack it to the chips on the bottom. Has anyone tried this ?

I have ordered the zalman hd heatpipe cooler. Based on a few comments from ppl who have them suspended.

sanse · Post by **sanse** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:44 pm

madd02 wrote:sanse,
Ok not really the response i was expecting, but a valid question non the less.

When i removed the drive from the silentbox i check the chips under the drive, and figured that anything hot enough to make me remove my finger...was too hot ?

most drives fail caused by bumps, sudden movements, while in action, etc. 42 C is waaay below the maximum temp of 55/60 and nothing to worry about. those chips at the bottom will still feel happy at even higher temps. don't worry. just use the silent box and enjoy the silence of your rig.

<at work i'm using a (noisy) intel desktop. the maxtor hdd in that box sits under the dvd-writer in a thermally very 'un-ventilated' position and runs at 48 C. has done that for the past 4 years during office hours. still going strong.>

madd02 · Post by **madd02** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 6:19 pm

As an update i have the Zalman HP HDD cooler installed. It seems to create a temperature cap at about 36 degrees. It takes a while to get to this temp but doenst appear to exceed it.

I have absolutly no air moving over the drive or cooling device. Thus the zalman cooler is just serving to hold more heat, that is slowly radiated off.

I am going to put a hole in the perspex (acrylic for american viewers) that i have used to seal of the intake vent. Then if i can find it, mount a tube to duct air over the heat pipe arches.

Also, as i suggested earlier, i am going to cut up the nb37j and thermal glue to the chips under teh drive. Well after the ducting test. The thermal adheisive approach seems rather permanent. Though i beleive , will be very effective, i held the nb heatsink to the underside chips while the computer was running today and the temp dropped by 2 degrees over 5 minutes.

Elixer · Post by **Elixer** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 7:25 pm

First off I would like to say that the temperature of the chips is not very important. Most all chips in a computer are less sensitive to heat than processors. If you can gently touch the chips for more than 5 seconds without burning your finger, they're fine. I know some sata controllers on hard drives can use more than a half a watt of power, so it would be normal for them to be warm. What you really have to worry about with temperature in a hard drive is the mechanical parts. If the top of the hard drive is warm, don't worry, there's not a problem until it gets hot. Don't sweat until the hard drive is at least in the 40s. Hard drives are designed to be able to run in ambient temperatures up to 40C, so you shouldn't worry if they get that warm.

madd02 · Post by **madd02** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 7:40 pm

Ok, so a NO to sticking heatsinks to chips then.

It appears that I am far to worried about the temp of the drive and that 36 is good.

I may still apply the duct (out of interest) to determine what difference it will make to the zalman cooler.

Thanks to all who posted comments.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 10:37 pm

yeah that zalman thing works really well at keeping heat from building up in any drive. add some airflow in the case and it really works perfectly.

people rank on it, say its crap, i never understood this. not even from a silencing perspective, it is better than SLK gromets, only bested by decoupling or foam block of course. suspending in a 5 1/4 bay would be my next step. I use them in every case I build, the rubber they come with, if i dont want to suspend it, I simply add this silicon grease stuff for use on automotive weather stripping to keep it resilient and moist.

shrugs.

madd02 · Post by **madd02** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 1:08 am

I agree...and to add...it looks super cool =)

I will have to get around to posting picks of my new setup.

The suspended HDD with the zalman hp cooler on it ...looks very cool.

best passive cooler for syspended drive ?

best passive cooler for syspended drive ?

Re: best passive cooler for syspended drive ?