J
jimmayor007
Guest
This information applies directly to my CPU/System,but will work on
any ATX set up in a tower case.It all began with my Raidmax mid-tower case,Gigabyte MOBO,& 3.4 GHz
Pentium 4 Prescott Cpu.If your a hardware junkie like me,I'm sure you know the reputation(well deserved)
of a Prescott P4-you could cook a meal over the heatsink if gaming,video encoding,or just about anything
above an idle.I really love this processor,except for the heat issues!I also love PC games(FPS) & burn/copy
a lot of DVD's,so at first the "Speedfan"reported temps were a little scary.OK,more than a little-45/48C at
idle,68/75C under load!I'm pretty sure this CPU starts to "Throttle Back"around 73C or so,& I was at
stock clocks,no overclocking at all!!
Here's the hardware I had to work with-A Raidmax Smilodon mid-
tower case,claiming to be "Prescott"ready.This means there's a 60/80mm vent in left side of case aprox.
where the CPU cooler would be on a standard ATX MOBO.My heatsink/fan is the OEM boxed unit that
comes with the CPU.The case has a 12cm intake fan in the front,an 8cm exhaust fan in the rear,& an 8cm harddrive cooling fan(intake)on the right side front.My Antec 600 watt power supply has 2 thermally controled 8cm fans.After an hour of "Fear" or "Far Cry"I was removing clothes to fight off heat stroke symptoms!And I'm outside the case,1.5/2 feet away!!I know machines/electronics don't feel pain or emotions-Thats good because I was feeling them for both of us!!!
I could have spent $60 to whatever the cost for the latest/greatest
heatsink/fan from the vast array of aftermarket manufacturers,or even fooled around with water cooling or
thermoelectric gizmos.Hardware mod's don't scare me,I built a few 500 HP/650 ft lbs of torque big block
Chevy's in my Hot Rod days & still make a living as an Auto Tech at a major new car dealership.It occured
to me that I could use the same methodology for this problem as building a Muscle Car.It was all low bud-
get,make it myself,copy pictures/parts from catalogs back then and it worked.I've got a little more money
now,but the do it yourself habit is hard to break & the feeling of pride/accomplishment/winning the battle with
common sense can't be purchased with money.
So here's what I did
-Bought a 9cm fan & small tube of "Arctic Silver
5" on "EBay" for $4.99 plus $2.50 shipping,at "Ace Hardware got 1 sheet each of 600/1200/1500/2000 &
2500 grit wet sandpaper for $0.24 each($1.20 total),& at "Dollar Tree" store picked up a clear,round spray
bottle for $1.00(plus 0.06 tax & 0.08 tax on sandpaper)Total investment in parts so far is $9.74.OK,all my
"Hot Rod" parts gathered up,time for the manual labor.My coffee table has those decorative squares on top
with glass inserts,10x10 inches.Pulled one glass square out and taped down on top of an old board from the
garage.On top center of glass,taped a 6 inch square piece of the 600 grit sandpaper down.In a cereal bowl
mixed up 50/50 water & dish soap,shut down the computer & removed the Intell heatsink/fan,removed the
fan from the heatsink(pops apart with flat head screwdriver),spread some old newspapers on coffee table,
put in "Serenity" to watch & in the next 1.5 hours I went from a dull/non-reflective copper heatsink base to
a mirror finish,way better than anything you could buy,using progressively finer sandpaper,always keeping it
wet with water/soap mix.When done,I could see my bedroom windows reflected in base of heatsink & they
are 30/35 feet down the hallway.Used an old toothbrush in the sink and cleaned all dust/grit from heatsink &
put in dish drainer to dry.
Already had left side of case off to remove CPU heatsink,so just removed
window from case side.Oh Yes,"Prescott Ready" vent is slotted grill in large Lexon window,plus,at each
slot in vent there were 2 raised plastic fins aprox.1/4 inch high,about 20/25 fins in all.This would have been
a challenge if you were sticking with vents original 8cm size,but I was not.Used my new 9.2cm fan as a tem-
plate on inside of window,& centering on original 8cm vent,marked the new larger area to remove.Got out
my trusty 20 year old Dremel & cut out a round hole matching inside of 9.2cm fan.Then carefully drilled the
4 holes to mount fan.On the plus side,most of the plastic fins on the outside of window were removed with
fan hole mod,on the minus side there were still at least 10 or so of the fins around outside of hole so had to
carefully grind down at least 1/4 from edge of hole so fan would mount flat.Only 1 slip & scratch on window,
Oh Well,can't see it under desk anyway.Mounted 9.2cm fan to outside,yes outside,of window & carefully
tightened,window will crack easy under pressure.Used included chrome fan grill & cut a square out of old
window mounted home ac intake filter aprox.3/4 inch larger than 9.2cm fan on all sides.then simply folded
over & secured with a rubber band.
any ATX set up in a tower case.It all began with my Raidmax mid-tower case,Gigabyte MOBO,& 3.4 GHz
Pentium 4 Prescott Cpu.If your a hardware junkie like me,I'm sure you know the reputation(well deserved)
of a Prescott P4-you could cook a meal over the heatsink if gaming,video encoding,or just about anything
above an idle.I really love this processor,except for the heat issues!I also love PC games(FPS) & burn/copy
a lot of DVD's,so at first the "Speedfan"reported temps were a little scary.OK,more than a little-45/48C at
idle,68/75C under load!I'm pretty sure this CPU starts to "Throttle Back"around 73C or so,& I was at
stock clocks,no overclocking at all!!
Here's the hardware I had to work with-A Raidmax Smilodon mid-
tower case,claiming to be "Prescott"ready.This means there's a 60/80mm vent in left side of case aprox.
where the CPU cooler would be on a standard ATX MOBO.My heatsink/fan is the OEM boxed unit that
comes with the CPU.The case has a 12cm intake fan in the front,an 8cm exhaust fan in the rear,& an 8cm harddrive cooling fan(intake)on the right side front.My Antec 600 watt power supply has 2 thermally controled 8cm fans.After an hour of "Fear" or "Far Cry"I was removing clothes to fight off heat stroke symptoms!And I'm outside the case,1.5/2 feet away!!I know machines/electronics don't feel pain or emotions-Thats good because I was feeling them for both of us!!!
I could have spent $60 to whatever the cost for the latest/greatest
heatsink/fan from the vast array of aftermarket manufacturers,or even fooled around with water cooling or
thermoelectric gizmos.Hardware mod's don't scare me,I built a few 500 HP/650 ft lbs of torque big block
Chevy's in my Hot Rod days & still make a living as an Auto Tech at a major new car dealership.It occured
to me that I could use the same methodology for this problem as building a Muscle Car.It was all low bud-
get,make it myself,copy pictures/parts from catalogs back then and it worked.I've got a little more money
now,but the do it yourself habit is hard to break & the feeling of pride/accomplishment/winning the battle with
common sense can't be purchased with money.
So here's what I did
-Bought a 9cm fan & small tube of "Arctic Silver
5" on "EBay" for $4.99 plus $2.50 shipping,at "Ace Hardware got 1 sheet each of 600/1200/1500/2000 &
2500 grit wet sandpaper for $0.24 each($1.20 total),& at "Dollar Tree" store picked up a clear,round spray
bottle for $1.00(plus 0.06 tax & 0.08 tax on sandpaper)Total investment in parts so far is $9.74.OK,all my
"Hot Rod" parts gathered up,time for the manual labor.My coffee table has those decorative squares on top
with glass inserts,10x10 inches.Pulled one glass square out and taped down on top of an old board from the
garage.On top center of glass,taped a 6 inch square piece of the 600 grit sandpaper down.In a cereal bowl
mixed up 50/50 water & dish soap,shut down the computer & removed the Intell heatsink/fan,removed the
fan from the heatsink(pops apart with flat head screwdriver),spread some old newspapers on coffee table,
put in "Serenity" to watch & in the next 1.5 hours I went from a dull/non-reflective copper heatsink base to
a mirror finish,way better than anything you could buy,using progressively finer sandpaper,always keeping it
wet with water/soap mix.When done,I could see my bedroom windows reflected in base of heatsink & they
are 30/35 feet down the hallway.Used an old toothbrush in the sink and cleaned all dust/grit from heatsink &
put in dish drainer to dry.
Already had left side of case off to remove CPU heatsink,so just removed
window from case side.Oh Yes,"Prescott Ready" vent is slotted grill in large Lexon window,plus,at each
slot in vent there were 2 raised plastic fins aprox.1/4 inch high,about 20/25 fins in all.This would have been
a challenge if you were sticking with vents original 8cm size,but I was not.Used my new 9.2cm fan as a tem-
plate on inside of window,& centering on original 8cm vent,marked the new larger area to remove.Got out
my trusty 20 year old Dremel & cut out a round hole matching inside of 9.2cm fan.Then carefully drilled the
4 holes to mount fan.On the plus side,most of the plastic fins on the outside of window were removed with
fan hole mod,on the minus side there were still at least 10 or so of the fins around outside of hole so had to
carefully grind down at least 1/4 from edge of hole so fan would mount flat.Only 1 slip & scratch on window,
Oh Well,can't see it under desk anyway.Mounted 9.2cm fan to outside,yes outside,of window & carefully
tightened,window will crack easy under pressure.Used included chrome fan grill & cut a square out of old
window mounted home ac intake filter aprox.3/4 inch larger than 9.2cm fan on all sides.then simply folded
over & secured with a rubber band.
