Modifying my PC Other Vista Discussions Discuss Modifying my PC in the Windows Vista forums; Wow, your flexiglass window turned out beautiful!! With components as pretty as that heat sink fan a window would be almost a requirement in my opinion for the visual esthetics. ...

[Vistanoob]

Wow, your flexiglass window turned out beautiful!! With components as pretty as that heat sink fan a window would be almost a requirement in my opinion for the visual esthetics.
I keep my PCs off the floor too, to help avoid the dust, and I bought a little vaccuum just for electronics that won't generate dangerous static. It's really handy for instances where blowing wouldn't work, like removing dust from the intake vents at the front of my Sony case, or clearing dust off an optical drive.

[felix8406]

Thanks. The best thing is the price; less than $10.00, as opposed to $30.00 and up for a window kit. You can cut most PC's access door or side and install a clear window. Get a piece of plexiglass from a hardware store and a car window seal from a junk yard; one that doesn't require adhesive. Though you can install the plexiglass using screws, like I did, you may need the seal to cover up flaws and sharp edges. Mine was factory cut, so the edges are smooth and clean, but is not an easy task to accomplish using common tools.

I have been running the PC with just one 120mm case fan and the CPU fan running at it's lowest speed, the temp is hovering around 25°C or 77°F, or about room temperature. By the way, the paste applied between the cooler and CPU has a cure time, so the efficiency should increase some after so many hours. The cure time depends on the type compound used. Don't expect too much efficiency if using tooth paste, as some people have and still do.

[felix8406]

Today I completed the final stage of building my PC; cable management. Making sure the wires don't interfere with any moving component and the flow of air is not disturb, specially by the EIDE flat wire. I have one EIDE installed and the mobo included an EIDE HD flat wire; as long as it doesn't interrupt the air path, it's good enough. Right now the temp is running at a cool 21°C or about 70°F; that's awesome.

The total cost to build the PC, not counting the used parts and case, is as follows:

CPU, 2GB RAM, MOBO, 256 DDR MB Nvidia Card, 250MB HD: $155.00
SATA 500MB drive: $80.00
Thermaltake CPU cooler: $53.00
120mm Case Fan: $16.00
LightScribe DVD Recorder: $37.00
Miscellaneous Items: $7.00
Total to Build PC: $348.00
Vista Experience: 4.9
My Total Experience: Priceless

[felix8406]

I got a few BestBuy gift cards (which they were from newegg though) and I just got a Logitech surround sound speaker system for the PC I just built and the sound is awesome. Sound is crisp and clear, just beautiful.

[felix8406]

My son-in-law built a PC for my daughter. He used a mid-size gaming case that has a 120mm cooling fan on top, a one 120mm on the side, two 90mm on the back, the video graphics has one 80mm, the CPU has a 90mm and the power supply has two 80mm...or a total of eight cooling fans. He ran the PC and the CPU temperature was 17 degrees C or 8 degrees below room temperature.

I always thought it was impossible to acquire a temperature lower than ambient using cooling fans, but apparently it's possible. Of course, there are going to be variants and errors of plus or minus a few degrees. Anyways, I decided to test my PC, which has been running a bit above room temp with three cooling fans: case 120mm, CPU 90mm and power supply 80mm. I added a second case fan, 80mm, on the back, exhausting the air out. The room temperature at the moment is a nice an cool 21.7 C and the CPU is running at 20. Thought it's still within the margin of error, it does run about nine degrees cooler.

[Znod]

Originally Posted by felix8406

I got a few BestBuy gift cards (which they were from newegg though) and I just got a Logitech surround sound speaker system for the PC I just built and the sound is awesome. Sound is crisp and clear, just beautiful.

Great job on your computer Felix.

[Snuffy]

Have you seen the newest cooler... I think its called a "KoolTron". runs on 12vts, has a Hi Speed fan which moves outside room air over (looks like a series of criss crossed aluminium fins) which is attached to a square with fan in center for air... the square has a temp of normally 36 to 38 degrees, depends on room temp. which uses a 120 mm fan to move the cool air inside the chassis... I have looked for the ADD again, and seems the cost was in the 59 to 69 USD range... there was an evaporator pan to catch any moisture which might accumulate when the room temp was too warm.

[felix8406]

I went to their website but all I could see was industrial stuff. I want to install one or two cooling fans on top of the PC case. I've been trying to find a kit that will blow the air sideways, as opposed to blowing the air straight up. Any ideas?

[felix8406]

Just received two 140mm case cooling fan and a 4-input fan controller. The PC had one side panel 140mm fan (which I thought it was a 120mm fan until I pulled my tape measurement) and two 80mm front fans, but the two front fans were too loud for my taste. I reamed a larger diameter size blow-hole on the front and drilled four holes to mount the fans. I mounted the fan using rubber fan mounts instead of fan screws. They isolate the fan from the case, reducing vibration and noise. I installed the fan, the controller and connected the side panel fan and the newly installed fan to the controller. With the controller adjusted to minimum RPM, the fan temp stayed at 23°C and the fans are whispers quiet. My next step is to replace the power supply 80mm fan with the other 140mm fan received. As of now, the power supply fan is the loudest noise within the PC.

Note: To make sure the fan was perfectly positioned, I taped a piece of cardboard to the fan, marked the mounting holes then transfer the template to the case. To measure a perfectly round/size hole, I used the bottom part of a CD package. It’s perfectly round and the exact size I needed.

[felix8406]

Got the Power Supply (PS) 80mm fan replaced with the 140mm fan. The CPU temp stayed about the same, which was expected. The exhaust air from the PS is over 10 degrees cooler though, probably to the fact that the blow-hole diameter went from 3” to over 5”. Basically, the new fan sends cool air to all PS components at once, as opposed to the smaller diameter fan/blow-hole combo where the air pretty much traveled from one component on to the next. The noise level just went down dramatically as the new fan is running at about 1200 RPM, as opposed to over 4000 RPM for the smaller diameter fan.

Adapting the 140mm fan to the PS was not difficult; after removing the bottom cover plate, I cut a larger blow-hole and drilled the four fan mounting holes. Then I used rubber isolators to attached the fan to the cover plate before installing the cover plate back onto the power supply. However, when I tried to installed the PS into the case, it would no fit in between the top portion of the case and a brace that's installed alongside the case. I had to drilled out two rivets that supported the brace the the back of the case, then pushed the brace down to allow for the PS to go into the case. I then used two screws to replaced the two rivets previously removed.

One thing I failed to mentioned on previous post; the PC has two HDs installed, so in order to accommodate the larger fan to the front of the case I bought two sets of brackets to adapt the 3.5 HDs to the 5.25 bays. I attached the brackets to the HDs and then attached two set of locks to the brackets. The locks permit the removal and installation of HDs into the bays without using screws; they can simply slide in or out without any effort. Installing the HDs into the 5.25 allows for a larger clearance between them, permitting much better air circulation. You can get the brackets for about $3.00 US, and the locks for about $2.50, so they are not a bad investments.