ToastChem Build - G3/G4 case mod with core i7

[ToastChem]

Thanks mini hack - Thoughts are always welcome!

My sealing up and running the tests again showed little improvement - At idle the temp difference reduced to 7°C, but under load the temp rise was the same at 20°C.

My original thinking was to have air in at the bottom front, air out at top rear, and use the PSU fan to pull air across the memory chips (they are right in front of the inlet) and blow air near the disk drives (top front), Leaving the processor to pump air up (going in the direction of the exit). However, the PSU fan is quite weak and obviously something is failing to sweep hot air away from the processor.

I may have been better with a stock heat sink (which blows down on the processor) and keeping the original side inlet fan Which, as you say, drives the cold inlet air direct to the processor fan.

I agree a front to back sounds possible - I could rotate the processor heatsink 90° (it does fit both ways) and make a couple of baffles to ensure most of the inlet air goes that way. Would also cool the RAM better.

I think I do need to change this as it has not worked as planned - Thanks again for your thoughts.

 

[ToastChem]

Have been having a long think about heat removal - But before I hacked the case again, I did a "best case" comparison to be sure that some other factor was not limiting heat transfer. I ran the machine under full load (using Prime95 to max out the processors) with the case as it is (still with the tape covering most of the holes), then opened the case and put a large desk fan blowing a massive volume of air into the main cavity (being careful to blow in the same direction as, and not to blow against, the main processor fan). Using hardware monitor to track temps.

With the case closed, I got my standard 70°C average for all 4 cores. With the side open and the desk fan on full, I got average readings of 61°C for all cores. The limiting factor in the open case must be the Mugen cooler (or the thermal paste, although I did use Arctic Silver and used the recommended vertical stripe application method).

So even with some very big fans fitted, I would only get 9°C drop in processor temps. However, I will still make some changes, as there are some gains to be made.

The simplest change would be to stick with the bottom to top flow that I have and put a 120mm fan directly over the processor in the top of the case to help remove air directly from the up pumping processor fan. If I turned the processor cooler to go front to back, I would be limited to a second 80mm fan and would have to relocate the mains socket (not a major problem, just move them lower down).

Or I could fit liquid cooling, and save the Mugen cooler for when I Hack my G5 PowerMac case!!

 

[iTz Crush]

Should make a video


Great Build!

 

[roto31]

I have a 120mm fan on the side of the case with mine. To attach it I still had the original fan cage on my build. If you can find a way to attach a fan to that area of the case to provide an exhaust fan that will help. Also remove the side of the case and drill more holes the same size as the 120 outlet or similar size as an 80mm fan. The Antec case fan I used had the rubber pull through fasteners so if you were to drill holes for those you could mount the fan that way. The same with an 80mm fan if you made vent holes to outlet the air. I think the biggest culprit is there is too much hot air in the case.

link to 120 Antec case fan I used at Microcenter
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0364132

 

[ToastChem]

Thanks iTz Crush, just didn't have time to do a video of the build, but when finished I may do a fly-by to show what I ended up doing.

Finally added a firewire card without problems - seems to sleep/wake, and connect without issue so far with no driver changes, just plug and play. I chose the Best Connectivity SD-PEX30009 from Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002S53IG8/?tag=tonymacx86-21 (sold as a Syba product, but they are the same device). Has Firewire 800 x 2 ports and 400 x 1 on the back, plus a 9 pin internal, so I can have firewire on the front when I fit the breakout panel. So I get my iSight camera on the 400 port, a Lacie 1Tb external on an 800 port, and a spare 400 port on the front panel for my camcorder.

Thanks for the link roto31 - I have measured up inside and I could easily fit that fan or another of the Scythe gentle typhoons on the top of the case, but I like the idea of venting into the side panels or rear as it doesn't show - however, I have concerns that the side panels ultimately vent to the floor, which may get sucked back up by the base fan I have, so recycling hot air. I don't think I can use the side perforations (conflict with the cooler)

Another option is to use a blower, as I have one of these from a previous project:
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/centrifugal-fans-blowers/4684674/

They shift similar air flows, are a little more noisy, but fit in very small spaces. I could mount this above the 80mm fan also blowing out the back. Or I could mount this above the processor fan and vent through a tube to specifically remove processor heat.

Last night I did a very long video encode (moving several movies to the new machine into AppleTV format), and the ambient air sensor of the motherboard, showed a slow but steady increase for the whole 5 hours, so I am building up heat, only 5°C increase, but had not stopped rising, so I should fit an extra fan. I could get some improvement by changing the response of the processor cooler (so it runs faster), as it is very quiet, and quite a big fan

Thanks again for all the ideas - I think this weekend will involve more drilling!!