My SG31G2 - Silenced and cooling improved using fans - no case hacking, with pictures.

[MrGerbick]

Specs are in my sig, but here they are again incase it changes, along with some general pics:

(I had to bend, and indeed sabotage some of the Zalman graphics cooler fins to fit the PCI wireless in.  I also had to remove the chipset cover on the wireless card.  But it fits.  Boom-shanka.)

**  SG31G2
**  300w PC50 PSU
**  Core2Duo E6850 3GHz (@3.33GHz - 9x 370 FSB)
**  4GB OCZ 800MHz DDR2 (set at 667 and eventually running at 741 when overclocked...)
**  2x Samsung 1TB SATA2 HD (one not permanently installed, for backup cloning)
**  XFX NVidia 9600GT 512MB GDDR3 PCIe2 x16 (basic model - bios oc'd to XXX edition [700/1750/1000 speeds] using NiBiTor)
**  LG DVD RW / Bluray & HD-DVD ROM
**  Linksys WMP54G with Broadcom chipset (detected as Airport in OSX)
**  Case fan replaced with 92mm Noctua @1300rpm, 2x50mm Mini-Kaze, Zalman VNF100 on gfx
**  OSX/Windows7/XP







Things that made me do the (not a lot of) work:

*  CPU temps were nearing 70C under full load and stress
*  Nvidia card was getting up to 83C under full load and stress with the VNF100 passive heatsink cooler on
*  Stock Nvidia card fan used to spin at 100% until your OS and drivers have loaded - very annoying.  Still quite noisy once loaded.
*  Stock fan pretty noisy
*  Poor airflow in general

Putting the Noctua in was obviously a no-brainer.  I lost PWM functionality in the process, but it hardly matters because its quiet at all loads.  I am thinking about putting together a couple of variable resistors to control all my fans, i just havent worked out where to put them.


I was thinking about simply getting a PF16 case cover with more side holes, but they are fairly difficult to come by nowadays and where is the fun in that?  Plus that's still not going to allow for much pumping air into the case elsewhere (where it is probably needed more).  So I bought a small sheet of perforated aluminium from kustompcs and made a (roughly) 50x100mm piece that would fit snug into the space at the front of the case taking up the whole HD and floppy bays with the hard drive slid forward (i had to bend the little drive shelves down a bit to allow the non-HD screw holes to be used), like this:



Then I attached 2 50mm Scythe Mini-Kaze fans to my perforated floppy cover:





The cover/fans are only held in place by tightening the DVD drive screws at the front, but it also sits between the drive cage and front of the case so doesnt move about:









I used 2 soft screw mounts (that did the job and i didnt want to block any flow) and tied the two fans together in the middle.  They are connected at 5v so that they spin very slowly, though they still give the system something it definitely didn't have before!

CPU now idles at around 35C/39C (Core0/1) and stressed load is about 58C/63C (I really want to bring this down more and am surprised it's still peaking that high?  I have played with the ICE contact to the CPU...).  GPU idles at about 67C and never goes over about 74C.  I also took the opportunity to replace all thermal compound for CPU/GPU with silver Antec Formula S.

I say silent, but you're always going to get a whirr of sorts from fans.  But from 3 or 4 feet its nothing more than a whisper, and i'm really happy with it.  Now i just need to make the new vent black!

[jackstar7]

Nice work there. I have nothing else to contribute, but that looks nice and dang smart, too.

[MrGerbick]

I'm thinking I can get that load CPU temperature down a bit.

Might try lapping the CPU.  If that makes a difference then I wont touch the ICE (I think I trust the ICE more than the CPU lid!).

[Maturin]

Just checking, you did remove the honeycomb grill on the rear of the case right? Thats always the first mod to do to a G2 to improve airflow, noise and temps.

[MrGerbick]

Id like to replace it eventually with a better solution, but no i haven't yet.  No hacking was one of my aims.

Besides, the Noctua isn't making any noise at the back, and your airflow problems soon start disappearing when you have air firing in the front and straight out of the back of your case!!

With my fans this slow, i think i should take a look at the CPU surface next because it looks a bit squiffy to say the least!

-

EDIT!!!:

I'm now thinking about taking it off and sticking the cable-guard-grille-thingy on the back of the unit.  Though i need to find it first and i think ill need different screws.  I would imagine putting any more than that over the back of the unit will pretty much land me back in the same place...

And it's all Maturin's fault!!    Also thinking about cutting a hole in the side of the drive cage so that the VNF100 gets some of the breeze through the front.  Seems silly not to, especially now that ive fallen off the no cutting high horse, haha.  If it wasn't for the PS2 emulator (PCSX2) i use things would be fine - nothing pegs my GPU like that app.  I'm convinced it's just because it's a very inefficient app with too many developers...  it still gets me up to about 80/81C    Whereas the NVidia stress test wont go over 74-ish!

[Spare-Flair]

Does that Noctua actually push enough air at 1300 RPM to cool a CPU that was once hitting 70° at load???

Having tried about 6 different fans in there, I find it hard to believe the Noctua makes that much of a difference aside from noise level.

[MrGerbick]

The combination of better thermal interface, noctua and scythe's contributed to bringing my temps down, so its hard to tell how much it would do on its own.  But the rated CFM on my noctua at 1600rpm is pretty phenomenal - they're very good.

Having said that, it seems like the 2 scythe fans only really affect the ambient temp in the case and the graphics card as its passive, though it was sorely needed too.

Haven't got a decent enough tool to start cutting the drive cage yet, but i'd really like to crate a hole by the Zalman, and create a divide so one 50mm pumps through its fins and one forward into the case.

[Garrek]

Nice work man.

It's a good idea, but, the thing is that if you get an intake mounted and operating through the front of the case you'll be creating a wind tunnel right through the dead space of the case and be cooling not much other than your HD and cpu. If the intake supplies all the airflow that the exhaust requires than all the little holes that used to feed the rear fan will stop drawing in air.
I think my idea is more on the theoretical side cause I am pretty sure you are getting some positive results but still....

To get some more cold air flowing through the factory side ducts and over your mobo you may want to add an extra fan on the rear of the existing fan. Right on top of the outside grill. A push and pull kind of deal that SIMPLEOFMIND had suggested and I actually tried and am very happy with.



This thread is two mods in one. Check the bottom half of the page for the fan mod: http://www.sudhian.com/index.php?/forums/viewthread/103564/

[MrGerbick]

Hey,

Yes, i have seen the fan on the back trick and considered it before doing the mods above.  While you do create a wind tunnel of sorts, i do also find that the momentum is enough to keep everything cool enough.  It's actually the CPU I am now having most problems with, and am convinced it's the contact to the heatsink...

My temps aren't alarming right now, so lapping it should make things a bit better.  I also need to get some controls in for the fans so that i can take a bit more noise on the chin when gaming, and i'd like to make one of the fans blow straight through the Zalman fins but as i mentioned before this will involve hacking up the drive cage (which i think im prepared to do).

Cheers for the reply!