Opinions on an unusual idea

[Mephistopheles]

I currently have a Thermaltake Polo 735 (as in here) cooling an Athlon XP 2600+ which is hitting temps beyond 60 or so (load) if kept at a reasonable noise level. The actual cooling problem here is the case: there are no air intakes whatsoever (it's not a good case...): if you open up the case, the temps in load actually go down to 53-54 and stay there, but they hover around 63-64 when closed.

This is a little too much for my taste, and it's obvious this case really has cooling issues. So what I was considering was the following:

1) Use a power drill (yeah, I'm really annoyed by that case) to drill a series of ventilation holes in a rectangular/square pattern right above the CPU cooler.

2) Get one of these 80mm to 120mm adapters (I've checked and it fits the case) to put directly on the Polo heatsink with a good 120mm fan. I think

If I do both, the 120mm fan will pull air from a square 12cm x 12cm hole array and cool the processor with fresh air.

What do you think? I'm thinking (1) will make the biggest difference, but (2) should give a nice boost as well. I also want this to be as quiet as possible....

 

[joefriday]

I think you should leave the side off the case.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

That's not so unusual. I did it myself about a year ago and documented it! Here is a link to what I did:

Scott's Airflow Project

I ended up throwing that case away. Newegg has some cheap RAIDMAX cases for $30 USD.

 

[Fox_granit]

The other thing i would recommend would to put a hood on the opening, this way the air is directly drawn into the sink. Other than that, sounds like a great idea......

 

[jap0nes]

i think it's a good idea.
the holes will increase fresh air intake, and bigger fans usually spin at lower rpm, reducing noise.
i think the final result will be a mid term between with and without the side. Also, you should consider adding another fan blowing hot air out of your case. the problem may be hot air exhaust, not fresh air intake

 

[Aids]

Too true, You should drill the holes for a 120mm fan in the side blowing in air on your cpu, and then drill holes at the top of your case for a 120mm fan blowing air out. As he said, hot air can linger around and be even more of a problem than not enough fresh air.

 

[DrGadget]

Also keep in mind which components get the fresh air first.

 

[Aids]

Yeah, its probably better for you to fork up like 29.99 and get yourself a 3 - 4 fan case, probably save you a headache.

 

[jap0nes]

and what about the noise? what about the fun of building your own stuff?

 

[Aids]

Haha yeah i did forget about that, i mean nothing cooler than getting out the tools and doing something on your own. Your friends can come over and marvel at your modded masterpiece. I did forget about this.

 

[IVAces]

I have somthing similar going on with my box. I have a "Demon" case with a 2600+ running "high preformanc defaults". It has a 120mm and a 80mm cpu fan. It has been faithfully running at 30C in the case and 42C-50C cpu for the last several months. Recently it started to creep up to 50C-55C. I havent changed anything. I'm going to blow it out with air and see if that isn't the cause.

Mephistopheles, you could try cutting a hole in the top and putting an 80 or 90mm or even 120mm fan that is pulling heat out the top.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Hey TechnologyCoordinator, your Airflow Project seems to be very interesting!

Unfortunately, though, I also understand why you got rid of that case. Nothing beats a well-designed case. The case I want to mod is not actually my own, it's my brother's. I've got a Thermaltake Armor (silver, the one in aluminum) which is absolutely won-der-ful for cooling. The tunnel effect that the two 120mm fans give is so damned good that taking off the side of the case actually doesn't even change temps by more than one or two degrees!! I just *love* this case.

I'm still deciding on what to do... I just came up with another interesting idea: I could use the thermaltake polo fan somewhere else in the system (at mininum rpm, this 80mm thermaltake "street fighter" fan is very quiet). I'm particularly interested in another exhaust, preferably on the top of the case!

For the 120mm CPU cooling fan, I'm leaning towards an Akasa Amber Series fan - which should be pretty damned quiet..........