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Post by devnull on Aug 31, 2004 14:41:50 GMT -5
Hey, I am at my house (not my dorm, where my computer is) and I was wondering if anyone with a gen3 knew if the fan cover could be removed. Now that I think about it, I kinda am wondering if this is a mod I should do.
1) on one side, the cover is there to direct air over the CPU and I am not sure if the cover would be best left on it to keep the CPU airflow really good
2) on the other hand, the cover is really ugly, takes up a lot of space, and could probably be removed without much loss of function, as long as I put a nice fan on the cpu unit itself.
3) even moreso, I could then be free to put ramsinks on various chips throughout the motherboard as well as add a better northbridge cooler. All for aestetics, of course (for the fact that XPS cant really be OC'd much).
Anyone have any thoughts?
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Post by crusier on Aug 31, 2004 15:34:01 GMT -5
Removal of the shroud would take the rear fans with it while the heatsink still needs direct airflow and the chassis still needs the heated air exhausted. Dell spent a lot of time with airflow sensors and air pressure sensors working that solution out. The XXXE cpu making appreciably more heat is an added concern both for the cpu and the cpu voltage source regulators. I't's most likely that solutions exist while not using the cover; some of which would likely be better. At least DELL gives you a lot to work with in the XPS.  |
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Post by devnull on Aug 31, 2004 22:54:02 GMT -5
cruiser, no offense, but wtf do those pics have to do with anything?
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Post by TRow on Aug 31, 2004 23:15:56 GMT -5
I always wondered what you looked like, and some of those pics are HUGE! I understand why you would "head back" before sundown, that doesn't look like the kinda place Id be camping in.
Devnull, your thread has officially been hijacked! ;D
T.RoW
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Post by crusier on Sept 1, 2004 0:45:15 GMT -5
I take a lot of pics with the digicam. I found it indespensable in having a reference to were the system was and what was done along the way. Uh...I had pics of the current puter insides in the digicam, but hadn't uploaded them to the puter yet. So, seeing as I was in the mood to post some pics, I went with what I had handy. All that clear air and back to nature stuff (yes...and the adrenaline pumping from encounters with those carnivores who consider mankind a food source) helps with the thinking process when it comes to cooling the XPS. I find visuals are more effective than words at times. ergo........ Besides the puter pics weren't all that good when I did upload them!
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Post by devnull on Sept 1, 2004 10:11:06 GMT -5
*anime fall* okay, so i see some (although very dissinant) reason for the pix
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Post by TRow on Sept 2, 2004 8:43:43 GMT -5
Hey, I am at my house (not my dorm, where my computer is) and I was wondering if anyone with a gen3 knew if the fan cover could be removed. Now that I think about it, I kinda am wondering if this is a mod I should do. 1) on one side, the cover is there to direct air over the CPU and I am not sure if the cover would be best left on it to keep the CPU airflow really good 2) on the other hand, the cover is really ugly, takes up a lot of space, and could probably be removed without much loss of function, as long as I put a nice fan on the cpu unit itself. 3) even moreso, I could then be free to put ramsinks on various chips throughout the motherboard as well as add a better northbridge cooler. All for aestetics, of course (for the fact that XPS cant really be OC'd much). Anyone have any thoughts? If you Remove the "Green Air Shroud", then you MUST Install a HSF. Dont waste your money on cooling the N.B. You CAN NOT overclock anything but your Video card, so if anything Install a VGA ATi Silencer(RamSinks wont be needed.) Im not sure what placing ramsinks on the mobo means, nor does it make any sense to do so. ======================================= My Theory: Replace All Fans, Concentrate on Known HotSpots. Known HotSpots: 1. CPU 2. VGA 3. Memory 4. HDD 5 Gap between CPU and VGA, Including N.B. (Hdd Cage Fan is great for this. Tip: Replace the Rear Fans, Increase Air Intake From Front, Add CPU Fan. Entertain notion of HDD Cage Fan. Done. T.RoW |
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Post by devnull on Sept 2, 2004 9:19:02 GMT -5
I know what your saying, and I will definitely take your advice as well as that very order of business. The only reason I wanted to replace the northbridge heatsink and ad chipsinks to the mosfets was for aestetics. They just look so sweet..... =D
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Post by crusier on Sept 3, 2004 2:36:35 GMT -5
I monitored the northbridge and a cpu voltage regulator inductor coil while checking out various fan configurations. They both got hot at various times. The heatpiped heatsink I installed here uses vertical fins and the northbridge was being heated by exhaust air from the cpu heatsink when a fan was mounted on top blowing into the cpu. Consequently I bumped the northbridge heatsink retention up (it wasn't easy to get it out), which moved the heatsink down, and placed a fan between it and the cpu heatsink blowing up. The voltage regulator inductors got warmer here than the mosfets.
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Post by devnull on Sept 3, 2004 13:57:30 GMT -5
is there any way you could take a picture of the parts you are referring to? I know where the mosfets are, i believe, but the voltage regulator inductors are a different story. thx
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Post by crusier on Sept 3, 2004 18:54:05 GMT -5
They are between the mosfet next to the cpu socket ('toroid' copper wire wrapped around a circular core).  |
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Post by devnull on Sept 5, 2004 13:17:01 GMT -5
hrm, those seem to be quite difficult to cool passively. I guess a fan is the only means. Hopefully, a fan on the CPU will pull air from the heated chips as well and cool them off...
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Post by crusier on Sept 6, 2004 16:36:45 GMT -5
I don't know about the gen3, but the gen1 had an open area in the shroud/baffle at the rear (directly above them) to direct airflow over them. I got the coils heating when running at max system load ( I assume it was caused by current and noise ). There is a yellow spot marker for the fan retention and a few extraneous ones as I recall in that pic. The air flow off the heatsink is heated and therefor fails to cool. The direction of the fins on the dell gen1 gen2 heatsinks were a major influence on airflow actually heating motherboard components when heatsink fans were mounted blowing air into the heatsink. Once the shroud is removed the air tends to flow above the motherboard and effectively cools no components.
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Post by devnull on Sept 7, 2004 15:10:16 GMT -5
so i take it your advocating keeping the shroud on?
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Post by crusier on Sept 18, 2004 14:36:22 GMT -5
Not at all...just that there are things you need to be aware of in removing the shroud, etc. The gen1 was starved for input air!
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Post by devnull on Sept 23, 2004 19:48:52 GMT -5
I will keep that in mind. The next mod I plan on doing will probably be just something for the graphics card, like TRows new VGA cooler. I am hoping to find one that is PCIe friendly, though.
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