It is getting all of my standard modifications, and one other that I had never done before. My standard modifications are :
1) I arrange things so that there is more fan power blowing air INTO the machine than there is blowing air OUT of the machine. This is done to insure that there is "Positive air pressure" inside the machine, so as to insure that any leakage of air is flowing OUT of the machine, NOT IN.
2) I use ladies nylon stocking material to create easily removable, (and cleaned), "Dust Filters" which go over every fan that is blowing IN.
3) I modify the HDD mounts so as to create a "Ducted Fan Setup", wherein air is taken from inside the machine, sucked across the HDDs, then blown OUT of the machine by way of a duct; thereby insuring that : a) Air used to cool the HDDs only gets used ONCE for that purpose, so one never has "Pre-warmed" air being used to cool the HDDs; and b) Other components DO NOT get warmed up by heat taken from the HDDs.
The one new mod I have done for this machine was using a "Scythe KMO3-BK-3.5" 4 channel fan controller which also features 4 separate temperature readouts for those things one wants to monitor. This thing fits in a 3.5 inch floppy bay, BUT is very ill suited for this HP case.
Problems being :
1) The Scythe is so short, that as compared to a floppy, it only has the front two mounting points on each side. (I wish Scythe would reconsider the length they make these things, because in fact they are so short that you can't get at the plugs without taking the whole thing out of the machine).
2) The HP case is designed in such a manner that ALL drives, including floppies are meant to be "Clipin" wherein the rear mounting bolt position, (Non existant on the Scythe), is used to lock the drives in position.
3) The HP case also has completely different top and bottom 3.5 inch floppy bays, wherein the front panels top bay requires the drive in that bay to be mounted about 1/8 inch FURTHER FORWARD than the drive in the bottom bay so as to fit flush in the front panel.
4) The HP case actually has the mounting points for the top 3.5 inch floppy bay located about 1/8 inch FURTHER BACK than the mounting points for the bottom drive; which would leave a floppy sitting about 1/4 inch too far back in the case. I suppose they must have intended this bay to be used strictly for an additional internal HDD.
So what I had to do was extend the length of the Scythe so as to enable the creation of rear mounting bolt points which are 1/4 inch further back than normally found on floppies. Got that part done now; fits and locks in perfectly.
The machine has a Gigabyte G41MT-D3 board in it with 4 Gig of Hynix DDR3 Ram, (which I think I am going to replace with Skill RAM); and the plan is to get an unlocked 3 GHz Quadcore for it.
The Vantec IDE Hotswap tray will be replaced with a Vantec SATA Hotswap tray, giving the machine a total of 3 SATA HDDs, one removable so as to enable mass import of files from this machine I am using now, which also has a Vantec SATA Hotswap tray.
(Done now, though since this machine only has 2x 5.25 inch bays it means there will not be an IDE Hot Swap Tray, Sigh !! I have 12 or 13 Vantec Hotswap trays 8 of which are IDE),
My research indicated that a "Scythe Mine' (SCMN-1000)" would be the best CPU cooler for this machine, as it gives excellent performance despite limited size; and this is a rather small case; BUT I have not been able to find one available; and I have learned that it is a discontinued item.
See : http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=8757
Suggestions anyone ? I am also open to suggestions re the video card, - I don't want to spend a ton of money on it, but would like something with reasonable performance. Say comparable to the 1GB ATI Radeon 4850 that is in this machine or somewhat better.
Thanks for any suggestions offered.
Am currantly working on the HDDs "Ducted Fan Setup", will post photos of that when done. It's kinda tricky to do for this case, because in order to allow the HDDs to be normally removable, (They slide in from the front and lock in position via a "Clipin" setup), the "Ducted fan setup" also has to be partially "Clipin" so as to be readily removable in order to be able to remove the HDDs; so It will take a fair bit of work to create all the necessary parts.
So far I have the main part, (which is the mount for the two fans), about 60% finished. After that is done, I have to make the "Clipin" retainer for it, then fabricate the "Clipin" part of the duct, and the clipin retainers for that. There are also a couple of minor case mods that have to be done re the fans mount and the "clipin" part of the duct. After that is all done then I have to make the parts of the duct that go permanently in place, and make suitable holes in the case for it all to work.
Then after all that is done, I will be modding the case to take either 2 x 80mm Front Chassis Fans, or 2 x 92mm Front Chassis Fans, (mounted side by side), and making the "Dust Filter" for them. Also have to relocate the stock speaker to make room for the front chassis fans.
Still interested in suggestions re CPU Heat Sink and video card.
As promised here are pics of the minor case mod required to make the HDD Cooler's "Fan Mount" so as to be "Clipin". The HDD mounts in this case, look like this :
The drives slide in from the front with the bolts fitting into the slots on either side and the rearmost bolt serving as a "Lockin" device when it passes by a springy plastic clip. This meant that I had to make my "Fan Mount" readily removable so as to be able to service the drives.
At the bottom of the lower floppy bay there is a piece of sheet metal sticking out forward; See item with 3 small rectangular holes in it in next photo
My fan mount for the HDDs is designed to slide into place from the left side of the machine, and it is fitted with narrow flanges that fit under retaining strips which except for the ones at the top, I have not yet made. You will notice it is about 1/8 of an inch high so as to create space for the nuts which will hold the fans in position when it is finished, and allow the whole thing to slide smoothly into position without any interference being caused by said nuts.
The minor casemod involved was to cut the piece of sheet metal with the 3 rectangular holes in it so as to cut a strip about 5/16 of an inch wide on both sides, then bend those strips down and cut them short so as to form the top clips that hold the fan mount in place.
Needless to say, in addition to making the retaining strips, I still have to create the "Fan Holes" and bolt the fans in place. -- Not to mention creating a custom made receptacle for their wiring, AND creating the "Clipin" mounts for the "Duct" as well as creating the "Duct" itself. Lots of work in front of me.
If anyone here wonders why I bother with these custom made HDD cooling setups, it is because I found that a pair of WD 40 Gig IDE drives were running at 77 degrees C in one of my AT machines. Further, see the following from Wikipedia :
Power consumption
Power consumption has become increasingly important, not just in mobile devices such as laptops but also in server and desktop markets. Increasing data center machine density has led to problems delivering sufficient power to devices (especially for spin up), and getting rid of the waste heat subsequently produced, as well as environmental and electrical cost concerns (see green computing). Heat dissipation directly tied to power consumption, and as drive age, disk failure rates increase at higher drive temperatures. [50] Similar issues exist for large companies with thousands of desktop PCs. Smaller form factor drives often use less power than larger drives. One interesting development in this area is actively controlling the seek speed so that the head arrives at its destination only just in time to read the sector, rather than arriving as quickly as possible and then having to wait for the sector to come around (i.e. the rotational latency).[citation needed] Many of the hard drive companies are now producing Green Drives that require much less power and cooling. Many of these Green Drives spin slower (<5,400 rpm compared to 7,200, 10,000 or 15,000 rpm) and also generate less waste heat.[citation needed] Power consumption can also be reduced by parking the drive heads when the disk is not in use reducing friction, adjusting spin speeds according to transfer rates, and disabling internal components when not in use.[51]
NOTE : I searched some other sites, and I did not find a single reference to HDD cooling other than my own. Frankly I was surprized that nobody seems to care about their HDD temps. Cook a processor, and all you have to do is replace it and you are back where you started. Cook an HDD and you've lost a heck of a lot of data.
Since my HDD Cooling "Fan Mount" was made by the method of cutting grooves in a sheet of metal to enable bending it precisely at 90 degrees along a precise line, I decided to "Solder Fill" the cut grooves for strength so the thing stays rigidly in shape. I did the same with SUPERPUPPY 3s "HDD Cooling" setup., which is why you see solder inside it.
Not as pretty as it could be; but it works.
I've made the clipin mount for the fan mount now and installed it. The fan mount's flanges slide in under the flanges on the clipin mount. To remove the "Fan Mount" you just slide it to the left until it is completely out from under the clipin mount's flanges. It is a pretty snug fit, so no lockin devices are necessary.
Because of the "Incredibly Idiotic" processor location on "ATX" boards, (Top Centre - the hottest part of the case), thereby forcing the HDDs to be mounted in the lower front part of the case, the "Duct" design for this thing is going to be pretty "Mickey Mouse". Not at all good for "Airflow", but rather convoluted as all get out, so as to :
1) Fit neatly inside the case,
2) Not interfere with the airflow from the "Front Chassis Fans",
3) Be partially readily removable so as to allow the servicing of the HDDs,
4) Not interfere with any other components.
Question : Why do we allow computer mobos to be designed by morons ?
Anyway, that is where it stands now.
