| Product: |
How to Build the Perfect Computer |
| Date: |
08/06/01 (515 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Gives a little info on system cooling. More so my story on my experience with my Juno P6
Disadvantages: Also has my flaws listed =P
What’s one of the most important things to you, if you are a computer system modifier & overclocker? Yes that's right, trying to keep the damn thing cool. The cooler it runs the better it runs *Just don't get it to cold, as i found out recently* heh.
So here's my story.
I bought a Juno P6 Full Tower casing, Now this is going back a few months, and I had the thing sitting there for ages rotting away. Till one day i finally pulled the plug outta my ass *Can I say ASS on air?* and did something with it.
Now this system is now using a SuperMicro 360DE7 Motherboard, Dual 1ghz P3's. Has 1gig of ram at the moment but can support up to 4gig's.
Got a nice IBM Raid controller which in coming weeks will be the source to helping my 6 80Gig hdd's.
As standard this casing comes with a 300watt PSU and 6 YS-Tech fans. Now unfortunately the first problem i ran into was with the power supply. The motherboard needs an AUX Power connector. and the PSU I had didn't have one. So i was restricted back to my old 200watt PSU.
*when you hear what’s in the system you will wonder how 200watts is keeping it alive*.
So anyway, MB, HDD's, GFX Cards, CD drives, memory, leads etc etc.. all went it.. booted it up an the system would power up and then shut itself down.. Now this was a problem in itself because the 200watt supply wasn't feeding enough Motion lotion to the system. So by modifying the 300watt supply to support/hold the AUX PS Connector. We were back in business.
Until.......
PSU started to overheat. So i installed an additional 80mm fan to the internal workings of the PSU, and then put 2 80mm YS-Tech fans sucking out the hot air. Now that PSU will power anything i throw at it. *which is sweet* Yes i know most of you are saying "Why don't you just buy a new PSU?". Well to answer that,
A) What fun would that be?
&
B) How would you l
earn about hardware and systems if you kept doing that?
=)
Use everything as a learning curve..
Now my next feet was to try and cool my CPU's & the GFX Card's. Now these CPU's were running at about 38 degrees C. before I got at them. Aside from heat sinks on the CPU's I binded together 2 80mm fans and made a casing to direct the airflow directly over the 2 CPU's. As a note those CPU's have gone from running at 38 Degree's to running at 24 degree's.
Then we have the GFX card. Now this was actually a problem. For some reason the GFX card was running at little over 60 degree's. Which is a little to hot. Now i have 2 Geforce 256 cards in this system. Now these come with heat sink's and 20x20mm fans. But that really was not enough to keep them cool. So I put 3 80mmYS-TECH fans at the very bottom of the casing. And this helps blow the hot air out to the top of the casing. And push in the cold air. *as anyone knows, Hot air rises, so if you get fans to the bottom to help push out the hot air, then you are sorted.*
So where does the hot air go? Well at the top of the casing there is 2 side by side 80mm fans pulling out the hot air, and at the very top/head of the casing there is 1 120mm fan also pulling out hot air.
Also to note there is 20x20mm fans on each HDD rack.
Now the problems that were being faced now was THE F**KING NOISE!!, this system was like a space shuttle heading for orbit. And I was getting a little worried that with all those fans the system would take flight .. hehe =).
So on I hoped to the internet to look for a solution, and where did I find the solution? Yes I found it at non other than my trust store, www.overclockers.co.uk. Where i went on to purchase a Digital Doc 5. Now this comes with 8 thermal sensors, and 8 Power connectors to connect up your fans.
So basically what it does is, Through the use of the sensors it monitors the temperatu
re of each component, and when the area of the system or component heats up over the preset temperature, the fans in that section of the system are kicked into life and bring the temperature back to earth.
Now all sounds wonderful, but as normal it's not as straight forward as that. The fans hold a 4-pin male molex connectors. But the ones on the Digital doc are 3-pin female molex connectors.
So back onto the net i got, and went looking for an adapter. But the only ones that are available are 4-pin female molex to 3-pin male molex. So at this point I am thinking I am royal bent over a barrel. Until someone introduced me to the www.maplin.co.uk site. *kind of went a lill crazy buying from this site=)*. By browsing through there site, I came across:
PCB latch hsng 3-way connectors
& the PCB terminals.
and had to do a do it yourself job, strip the wiring connectors and wiring on the fans and wire up new fittings.
So all is working fine with that now.
I have CPU's, GFX Card's, Top of casing, Bottom of Casing, HDD's, Raid Controller and other temperatures monitored 24/7 =).
Now I have my fans in place and i have them controlled and the noise kept to a minimum. I started working on airflow.
Now most people are going to think this is silly, but I will explain.
Now the normal IDE Straps/leads that you have going from your MotherBoard to your HDD's CD-Rom & other Media Devices. Are flat grey and horrible.
So what’s the problem you ask? Well this is simple. If those leads are lying in front of a component or fan, it stops the blast/bulk of the airflow going from the fans to the component and you start loosing out on crucial airflow. So what I went for was the rounded ATA 66/100 Cables. which will allow now for smoother airflow over the cables into your components. Also it could be worth bunching all your loose wires into some shrink wrap or something, and clump them all together
.
Now my system is nice and cool at the moment, looks good and runs better. But me being me I have to go overkill, So I am building a custom water cooling system for my system, Made from Alloy & Titanium. Now what this cooling system does is pump the water continuously from the reservoir into a cooling unit, which waits till the water reaches a preset temperature, before going on to pump it. Now I hope to build it so i can have it run over the CPU & if possible the GFX cards.
* I will post full details, schematics etc.. of that project when it is done, onto dooyoo*
Now i have the system as cool as myself *hehe okay lame joke but it seemed appropriate*. I then started working on looks. Nothing better than having a system that looks the business to show off. So i bought a PC Mods Oval window kit and fitted the window into the left side panel of the system, to allow viewing of the inside of the system.
That looked good, but it still looked boring on the side. So through the use of a 10" Neon green light placed bellow the oval window. It looked great. especially against the yellow IDE leads etc.. *plus the casing is a see through green =)*. Then with Neon Green string, i ran the string underneath the bottom of the casing. So when you knock out the lights, you have a glow from below the casing as well.
Now as it stands I have no immediate plans to do anything else with it. Perhaps additional components. But that’s about it.
And that’s my the story..
<recap>
Cobra noticed that his work was done, and he has built the ultimate computer system. As he quietly sneaks off into the Neon Green lightset in the happy knowledge that he has built a legendary machine.
</recap>
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Info on what is mentioned above
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##################################
## Note: Do not work
with you ##
## systems hardware unless you ##
## really know what you are ##
## doing. As you can really ##
## damage your system. ##
##################################
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Links:
-------------------
www.overclockers.co.uk
www.maplin.co.uk
www.theoverclockingstore.co.uk
www.overclock.co.uk
www.clockers.com
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Info:
-------------------
HDD's = Hard Drives
MB = MotherBoard
RAM = Random Access Memory
GFX Cards = Graphics Card/ Display card
PCB Terminals :
Used for the pin connectors in a connection socket.
PCB latch hsng 3-way:
Is the actual connection socket.
YS-Tech fans:
Possibly the best fans available,
80x80mm = Push out 47 CFM.
60x60mm = Push out 26 CFM.
120mm = Push out 105-135 CFM
Neon Lights:
Just make the system light up nice and pretty =P. Cost about £20 and come with 4-pin molex connectors.
Digital Doc 5:
Found on most overclocking stores. Such as the ones listed above, This accessory is a must have for any overclocking and system nutter.
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Finally finished =)
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Summary:
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