We English moan when its cold and moan even more when its hot!! And in fact it was so hot yesterday that a simple 2D RPG caused the temps to go so high they caused a reboot (my overclock is only about 99.9% stable). Not only that but the increased temps were making the room unbearable to sit in, let alone sleep in. I decided to do something about it, as I refuse to go without gaming this summer!
I picked up an air duct designed for a tumble dryer at my local hardware shop for £6.99, with the intent of attaching it to the back to carry the heat away and out the window. The idea was that not only would the Shuttle not heat the room up, but the air temperature around the Shuttle would be lower giving better cooling. (My Shuttle is in a fairly enclosed space you see)
I used an old 92mm fan from an ATX PSU, and I attach it to a bog standard power brick with some breadboard leads and crocodile clips I had lying around, hence no cutting or soldering required. I cut a square of card with a hole in it, screwed the fan on, and attached the duct with sellotape!
The other end is a peice of card, again sellotaped to the duct, but I used a peice of a thick plastic bag (from some old packaging) to make a 'skirt' around the ICE vent, so that no stray air would escape.
I attached it to the back of the Shuttle with strong sticky pads stuck to the thumb-screws. As you can see, the skirt eliminates the gap betweent the duct and the back of the Shuttle.
I then just cut a very shabby hole in my desk with a hole saw and a junior hacksaw to let the duct around the back, and point the fan out the open window
I didn't expect much out of it, but it really does work! I usually idle around 39C, and Im around 2~3C lower than that now, but at load it only just reaches 40C, when before I was pushing 47~48C at load
!
The real test will come when it hots up again. I was idling at 47C yesterday, which really scared me, but hopefully this should at least make the Shuttle usable in hot weather!
A 7C drop for £6.99 seems like a good deal to me
