Fly Like A G3

[Olli73]

Hi jeffball610,

concerning the PSU-Fans... I just don´t know... they put those things in there for a reason, maybe some of the pros will beg to differ, but i would be careful about leaving the PSU without decent cooling, especially if You plan to upgrade, as You say. I know that the higher priced PSU´s (Gold standard, if i´m not mistaken.)will switch off their fans if idle or in low use. Maybe that is the way to go? Downside might be, all of these have those big cooling-fans on their sides, not in the back and usually the switches don´t match the back-cover of G3/4 Powermac-casings. I put one (no Gold-standard) in my build anyway and it runs fine, despite the side-fan.

My two cents,

Olli

 

[rehpotsirhc]

… I know that the higher priced PSU´s (Gold standard, if i´m not mistaken.)will switch off their fans if idle or in low use. Maybe that is the way to go? Downside might be, all of these have those big cooling-fans on their sides, not in the back and usually the switches don´t match the back-cover of G3/4 Powermac-casings. I put one (no Gold-standard) in my build anyway and it runs fine, despite the side-fan…

You're thinking of the 80+ rating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Plus

 

[jeffball610]

So I took a small step forward and did something simple and cool to have some desktop speakers I wasn't embarrassed of.



It's just and Atari 2600 I picked up for $20. There's room inside to house the small 3" speakers I've been using with my no-name DVD/stereo thing. They actually have better bass inside this than they did in their regular housings. The Atari is still 100% functional and I didn't hack anything other than a small irregular bump inside the case. I simply hot glued the small 10w speakers to the floor and ran the wires out the stock AV hole in the back.
Now I just need to find a cleaner way to mount the monitor to show off the 2600 a little more

 

[jeffball610]

Small update. I've been hoping to improve cooling and reduce noise since I first got my Apple Pi running. I'm working on a HTPC and started ripping DVDs to archive and my CPU was running VERY hot. Even with the case open I was seeing 80*C temps from the CPU. With such limited space, I couldn't justify a cooler at the prices I was seeing. Then I decided to just get a small liquid cooler.

Sadly it's not really mounted, but it does cool the CPU well. I was seeing a max temp of 55*C while ripping DVDs today. I can still "prop" up the cooler at the PCI slots when it's closed and shouldn't have any issues. At some point I would like to build another unit with a mATX board and a real liquid cooler. This will do for now and no one will know what's happening inside. Not to mention it's quieter than the stock cooler