Ducting Mod - Simple way to keep cool

[lchyi]

Looking to subtract 2-3C from your temps? Instead of investing in a $12 80mm hairdryer, take a look at the ducting mod by ThermalTake. It's a simple, cheap mod that my friend is using for his Athlon. He's running at about 2C cooler and it cost him $10 bucks at a local store but you can find them cheaper elsewhere I'm sure. For one, it reduces back pressure, the fan spins faster and with less noise because nothing's pressing up against it. I'm going to get one as soon as I figure out how the hell I'm supposed to mount one on an SLK-800u.

 

[dbwillis]

Let me know how it works on that HS, Ive the same one and was wondering the same thing...

 

[MichaelD]

:camera:s? Linkage?

 

[RedDog75]

I believe that this is what he's talking about...

 

[joekker]

Review, seems like an interesting item.

 

[xbassman]

Looking to subtract 2-3C from your temps? Instead of investing in a $12 80mm hairdryer, take a look at the ducting mod by ThermalTake. It's a simple, cheap mod that my friend is using for his Athlon. He's running at about 2C cooler and it cost him $10 bucks at a local store but you can find them cheaper elsewhere I'm sure. For one, it reduces back pressure, the fan spins faster and with less noise because nothing's pressing up against it. I'm going to get one as soon as I figure out how the hell I'm supposed to mount one on an SLK-800u.

Your post got me thinking......
I, like you, have an slk-800u. After thinking about this for a while I figured out a good way to mount one of these to your heatsink:

Take an old 80mm fan that you are not using and cut out the motor assembly leaving only the outer shell. Mount that with your heatsink clips and bolt the duct mod to the 80mm shell.

Well I looked around a bit and found somebody has already done that, except not for this duct mod.

Link

I remember a lot of discussion about the effect of the dead spot in the middle of traditional fans and wonder if raising the fan to help eliminate the dead spot is really the benefit of the duct mod...

I have a TT SmartFan II ordered and will receive it this week. I think I am going to try this out and see if it helps.

I have also thought about using one of these Overclockers kits from SVC mounted to one of my intake fans to bring the coolest air directly to my HSF.

Link

My current temps aren't severe, but any improvements are always welcome.

 

[aSnipingPenguin]

Take an old 80mm fan that you are not using and cut out the motor assembly leaving only the outer shell. Mount that with your heatsink clips and bolt the duct mod to the 80mm shell.

But the clips rest in the screw holes of the fan, and they don't allow flat mating between the fans. Does anybody know a good workaround for that? I'd like to know, too

 

[xbassman]

But the clips rest in the screw holes of the fan, and they don't allow flat mating between the fans. Does anybody know a good workaround for that? I'd like to know, too

oops...I forgot that the clips mout across the top resting both holes on each side.

Really that shouldn't be very hard to overcome.
You could bolt a small metal piece, where you adjoin the 2 fan housings, that protrudes out a little bit for the clips to attach to.
or I have seen people talking about using aluminum tape.

Remember there are multiple holes for those clips on the HS also, so there is some room to modify.

 

[lchyi]

Yea, sorry for the no linkage... good thing I have people to back me up. Anyway here's another review for the ducting mod.

Oh, and that dual fan mod is kind of cool. A good way to overcome to size of that is to drill out a slimline fan for the duct. Since the SLKs support 80x80x38 fans, that shouldn't be a problem with an ordinary 25mm thick and 12mm thick slimline.

 

[Bad Dude]

I am wondering if that dual fan mod really works. I was thinking it might just move the fan further and does not reduce much of the dead air space. But you might even need a more powerful fan to push the air through the distance.

 

[xbassman]

Originally posted by: Bad_Dude
I am wondering if that dual fan mod really works. I was thinking it might just move the fan further and does not reduce much of the dead air space. But you might even need a more powerful fan to push the air through the distance.

Hopefully I will get enough time this week to give it a good test.
I have parts ariving tommorrow. (to finish my wife's PC)
After I finish her PC, I am going to give it a try.

The only thing that might skew the results would be the thermistor control on the Smart Fan II I have coming.

 

[Bad Dude]

OK. I gave it a try and it does not make a difference at all. Here's what I got:
1) SKL900U
2) 92mm colored fan, rpm 2220-2909Max.
I cut out one of the old fans and the problem is the clips on the heatsink. When you put the two fans together the clips are no long enough to go over two 25mm thick fans. So I used small zip ties to tie the cut fan and the upper fan together. I then put the clips on the cut fan. The problem is now that the clips are not secure b/c of the 4 sides that cause the clips to bend and curve a little which can put one side of the clip off. Though it's still secure but with the side panel on, you don't know what might happen. So I use ties to tie the 4 sides of the clips to secure it. Anyhow, I ran it with idle and full load and the temp is still same as with or without the dual fan mod. 41C idle and 58C full load.
I also got the thermaltake ducting mod too, which I think might work better since it has the curse to it which helps put the air directly to the middle of the HS.
I think both the dual fan and TT ducting mod is not worth the time. If anything, the overclocking duct over at svc is better since cool air is coming from the out side. The price is what holding me back. It's going to be around $20 shipped. So I went to Home depot and saw the aluminum flexible duct for $5.94 and it was long. I might give it a try later on this week.
I have the Antec SX1000II and it has a side blow hole for the video and not for the CPU. I wish I had one and that would take care of all of my cooling problems. I bought the green metal filter from SVC and it's no help with the dust since the holes are too far apart to really filter any thing. I would call it the finger guard. 2cooltek has better tighter ones and it works well but more money though. But it's the shipping that's holding me back.

 

[beatle]

The poor man's version of this might also prove useful. Remove the center motor and fan blades from an old 80mm fan (or whatever size you're using) and then remove any excess plastic that held the motor in the center. Screw this "shell" to your heatsink and then screw your cpu fan to the "shell." Hmmm, maybe I'll try this myself.

 

[lchyi]

I'm sorry your mod didn't work bad dude. It might depend on what kind of fan you use. I'm going to try it with my Tornado pretty soon and CFMs might not be a problem. The only reason I hesitate to buy SVC's kit is because the thing is butt ugly if you have a window. I mean, it looks like those tubes those quarantine guys used in ET.

 

[Bad Dude]

If you have two of the TT ducting mod and you don't need the overclocking kit. And it looks much better too if you can get the LEDs to put on them. With two of the modding ducts, it works perfectly if the back fan and the CPU fan align correctly.
Problem is I got this duct for $5 from a member on the for trade forums, but buying a new one would means I am out of at least $10. Too much $$$ involved and there's no guaranty it would work.

 

[0roo0roo]

ideas to mount, put a old fan housinig on the bottom, cut out the fan. or even better, have two fans, one on each end. fans in series fight back pressure much better. makes mounting on slk possible to boot. i'm thinking of doing that eventually.

 

[ProviaFan]

Now this is my idea of a ducting mod (picture of a system by "darkamage" at the hardforum). I'd be curious to know what kind of material he used for those ducts... it looks like metal clothes dryer vent tubing to me, but I could be (and probably am) wrong.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: jliechty
Now this is my idea of a ducting mod (picture of a system by "darkamage" at the hardforum). I'd be curious to know what kind of material he used for those ducts... it looks like metal clothes dryer vent tubing to me, but I could be (and probably am) wrong.

That is what I thought of as well when I read the title.

And that is regular old dryer ducting. it costs about $5 for 20 feet.

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: jliechty
Now this is my idea of a ducting mod (picture of a system by "darkamage" at the hardforum). I'd be curious to know what kind of material he used for those ducts... it looks like metal clothes dryer vent tubing to me, but I could be (and probably am) wrong.

Is that a dual processors setup? It looks like it. Or is the second duct going to the RAM sticks? He got a similar case I do with the PSU going up rather than sideway. I wonder how he holds the ducts in place?

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Evadman

Originally posted by: jliechty
Now this is my idea of a ducting mod (picture of a system by "darkamage" at the hardforum). I'd be curious to know what kind of material he used for those ducts... it looks like metal clothes dryer vent tubing to me, but I could be (and probably am) wrong.

That is what I thought of as well when I read the title.

And that is regular old dryer ducting. it costs about $5 for 20 feet.

home depot had it for more then that, i think around 8 dollars for 12 feet. i have a bit. its not as good since its not smooth inside, so any turns really create resistence, you definetly need two fans to force air through them.

its good for ducting to fresh air, but not for getting rid of dead spot. i guess you could combine the two.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Bad_Dude

Originally posted by: jliechty
Now this is my idea of a ducting mod (picture of a system by "darkamage" at the hardforum). I'd be curious to know what kind of material he used for those ducts... it looks like metal clothes dryer vent tubing to me, but I could be (and probably am) wrong.

Is that a dual processors setup? It looks like it. Or is the second duct going to the RAM sticks? He got a similar case I do with the PSU going up rather than sideway. I wonder how he holds the ducts in place?

Yea, that's a SMP setup.

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: Evadman
And that is regular old dryer ducting. it costs about $5 for 20 feet.

home depot had it for more then that, i think around 8 dollars for 12 feet. i have a bit. its not as good since its not smooth inside, so any turns really create resistence, you definetly need two fans to force air through them.

its good for ducting to fresh air, but not for getting rid of dead spot. i guess you could combine the two.

Hmm, I didn't think of that. Some case mod place sells something that looks like that dryer tubing; I'm not sure if that would be more smooth.

 

[FMann]

My take on why sometimes ducts and adapters do not improve temperatures is due to problems with resistance to air flow. Quite simply, if you use the TT ducting mod, you won't get significant improvement unless your fan can generate the pressure to penetrate in to the heatsink from the added distance and angle.

The dryer duct mod is a good idea since it brings guaranteed cooler air to the CPU.

Besides, according to reviews for the TT ducting mod, at best it can lower your temperatures 2-3 degrees C. If you ask me, it's not worth the trouble for cooling, but the supposedly decrease in fan noise might be more important, especially if you are using an 80CFM air cannon.