Ultra-D and Antec P180 cooling modifications

[osen]

Hello Got some inspiration on this great forum and wanted to share some modifications I did to my Ultra-D and Antec P180. Who knows, maby someone else will get inspired?

 

First off, I noticed that the heatsink up by the 4.0V jumper gets really hot (nearly burned my skin off when touching it for like half a second) and I read on the forum that active cooling was recommended. But in my quest for a silent system I came up with another solution.

 

 

As you may notice, this is actually a heatsink originally from a Lanparty NFII Ultra-B :shake: I cut of the mounting thingys, cut some fins of and drilled a hole. I then applied some thermal compound on the mosfet heatsink and attached the NFII heatsink with a screw. The airflow isn't that great around that area, but it works very well. After a few hours of prime I can still touch it and hold my finger on as long as I wish. So I guess it's somewhere in the 50C's.

 

 

Secondly, I got tired of the high noiced chipset fan. First, I moved my X800GTO to the lower slot and attached a Zalman passive sink. But I soon realized that the VF700 on the X800 got really little airflow and had to be moved to the upper slot. I bent the pins to fit (took a while) and cut 6 of 'em off. I then attached a 70mm fan from a AMD64 boxed cooler to the heatsink. It spins at ~1500RPM and I can't hear it even when trying to. The heatsink needs some decent airflow and now it's got it :cool: The fan also helps circulate the air around the VF700. My chipset temps never exceeds 40C. Here it is:

 

 

 

And lastly, I needed to fix something in the lower chamber of my Antec P180. My PSU (see sig) has no holes in the backside so the airflow was really crappy in the chamber. The Papst fan in the middle just pushed air right at the modular connections and flat backside. So I drilled out the metal bracket in the front of the case and attached the fan with rubber pins. Then I fabricated a metal "air guider" in the middle to get the airflow down under the PSU (where the fan is). Works like a charm, even if it looks kind of ghetto :shake: Anyway, here it is:

 

 

 

 

Thats it, sorry for my spelling and bad english

[Bullhonkie]

I like what you did with the Zalman NB47J on the chipset. I tried to do something similar but because of the length of my 7900GT and the way that capacitors are positioned on the PCB, I couldn't get pins bent far enough to give it full clearance into the upper PCI-E slot. It's a shame because I would've loved to rig up a thin 80mm fan in that area like you did. Instead I had to go with a VC-RE which is a little noisier than I'd prefer.

[miggs78]

even though I don't have that case, every little bit helps. Thankyou, and fantastic, awesome, eXXXtreme work :drool:

 

Keep it up.

[freakyGameR]

nice touch!!

[Chaos_2k]

How did you mount the additional 70mm Fan for the Chipset on the MB? Im looking for the same Solution, since i have an old AMD64 Boxed cooler lying around, and the Evercool VC-RE isnt aviable ion Germany. This fan is not as "thick" as other, normal 80 or 120mm Fans, right?

[Scott P]

Those are some pretty nice ideas. I'm trying to firugure out what I need to do to cool my system in that case.

[Guest LithoTech]

I like the idea of the extra sink on the top of the board! I'll be keeping my eye out for similar materials. Good one there, mate!!

 

On the same note, I used to keep a thermistor right on that sink in my system, and it never really heated up. I think max it ever hit was 40. Mind you, I have a 120mm fan blowing in that direction, mounted in the empty 5.25 drive bays beside it. I put it there primarily pointed to the ram, and it went in at the same time as the termal sensors, so I don't know what the temps are without the fan.

 

 

You can see I just stuck it inbetween a cap and the sink, it wasn't a tight fit, but not loose either. I see now how close that 120mm fan is to the right of it, I'm sure it has significant affect on temps.

 

I really really like to see that you took out the fan in the lower chamber and put your own in the front! I can't tell you how many times I've considered this myself. I'm not having a problem with getting air to the PSU, I just want to route the cables through where that big fan is! If I can squeeze a regular 120mm in the front, I would pull the fat one and most of my cable management problems will disappear in a very literal sense!! Bravo on this one! You have given me new motivation!

 

I have seen that Zalman bent and spread out like that on an Ultra-D somewhere before, and have one of the sinks on my shelf in case I want to try -- got a super "lost-leader" deal on it. I fully intended to try this out, but, well, read on...

 

I can't move my vid card down, my sound card is in the way and can't move it farther down or it will cramp and overheat the lower left part of the mobo. So this zalman or the VC-RE was the only answer, my chipset temps are always hitting 50.

 

I do have a VC-RE ready to go in next time I pull the mobo, found it at a mom and pop store after giving up on finding one anywhere else in town. This was after I got the zalman. Now looks like the zalman is going onto my brother-in-laws video card that has a noisey dying fan, so choice is made for me. Incidentally, a big supplier here is now carrying the VC-RE after tons of requests from DFI owners heheh.

 

I have that zalman bracket that comes with a 90mm fan and bolts onto the adapter slots - FB123:

 

http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=15&code=016

 

With a 120mm fan on, it reaches to the top of the P180, putting even more air on the ram and that chip and heatsink. Overkill? Maybe. Noisey? No, I use 3 speed Antec fans. If you put them on med or low they are silent. I run them on high when OC (which is always), with the case closed it is still the quietest computer in the room.

 

I had trouble finding a fan that would properly fit the air duct. I finally found one that did, fitting nicely into the recess, the 80mm Thermaltake Silent Cat. It isn't silent, but worked OK and not too loud. I added filter material to the intake using some patch material for fixing holes in drywall. Works like a charm, plenty of dust buildup on it, vacuumes off once every two weeks.

 

I stopped using the air duct when I figured out that I could add a second fan to the zalman bracket, a much bigger and quieter 120mm 3 speed Antec Tri-Cool that moves a ton more air and took a crapload of temp off my video card and chipset. That airduct is history!

 

So I've somehow managed to collect 6 x 120mm fans in the upper chamber of this P180, and when I put the XP-120 in that will be one more 120mm fan. Gahhh!

 

When I put the AC Freezer in and ditched the stock HSF, I had to relocate the zalman fan bracket, the Freezer is too tall and will hit the bracket and/or fan. It also hits the air duct that I no longer use.

 

I moved the bracket to the other side of the case. I couldn't believe my luck, the holes line up just perfectly with some of the holes on the side of the 5.25 drive bays. I flipped it over 180 degrees, bolted it on with longer bolts and some washers. Both fans are almost perfectly positioned! I still prefer them on the other side, but the point is they are doing their job just fine here.

 

Now, if I were to buy another bracket, YES, I could fit another two 120mm fans in the upper chamber! There is room! That would be a total of 9 x 120mm fans in the upper chamber of a P180! World Record?? I just might do it one day!! LOL!

 

Here are some pics of various stages of the above. First a few with the air duct and the zalman bracket with only a 90mm on it, then a couple with the 120s in there.

 

 

 

[Guest LithoTech]

Here are the fans all numbered, the one tucked in the 5.25 drive bays is hard to see, it is a black AC, very quiet and moves a ton of air. The suction it draws through the front is quite unreal:

 

 

This was all supposed to be temporary. I bought a front panel display with three thermal sensors with the intent to use it as a removable device, leaving it in my toolbox and using it on various computers to monitor temps with XP is not yet booted etc. I sleeved the wires for extra durability, and that caused extra storage problems when it is in my P180 in the floppy slot. I need to move it up to the 5.25 drive bays, and have to fabricate a tray to hold it and a face plate.

 

 

 

I bought this old mobile HDD rack at a swap meet for $2 with the hopes I could come up with something using my trusty dremel, then paint it. I could then still use it as a removable device only larger.

 

 

Once I had it apart and started dry fitting things, I found certain things seemed to fit naturally, snug and tight. Besides, that teeny-weeny little fan that came with it just won't do. Noooooo, we must put in a much bigger fan, yes!

 

 

 

 

[Guest LithoTech]

Ran into a couple problems when putting the mobile rack into the drive bays.

 

1) The mounting screw holes are too low and the whole thing lines up way too high. Since the thing was barely more than a plastic bracket, I tried flipping it upside down. While this worked in the end to temporarily mount my 120mm fan towards the ram, it still doesn't line up properly and makes it more difficult to mount the FPD into the lot.

 

2) The whole unit is too long. It is just barely short enough for me in my case, but in another case this is not going to work.

 

This is OK, I think, because as I was looking at the front I was pretty sure I would be cutting off a good inch to replace it with a new face plate, so I can shorten it as much as I need. I'll drill new holes for the mounting, no worries there. Final touch, paint the whole thing black.

 

 

 

 

You can see, this is quite the wind tunnel, and it really does suck a lot of air. I was quite suprised at how much air is being drawn in through here, and it makes me wonder how much the air filters are hindering the other two intakes. Nevertheless, I've come to insist on a dust free case for this computer, and the next step is to fabricate a frame to hold some more of that drywall repair material for the front bays. Crap, maybe I'll just buy some grill material, this part will be in plain view when the door is open to see the temps on the panel.

 

Still to do:

 

I have an XP-120 going in to replace the Freezer very soon, so the zalman bracket will go back to the left side where it belongs.

 

I need to finish off the mobile rack so I can move the FPD up to the drive bays and get the sleeved wires out of the mobo area.

 

I need to fabricate a filter system for the drive bay intake area.

 

I need to pull the mobo and put in the VC-RE.

 

When I pull the mobo, I will allocate at least 2-4 hours to make a concerted effort to try to route my cable management behind the mobo as much as possible. If I can get the main ATX power cable back there I'll be happy. The rest of the cables should easily route behind, it is just the big ATX one that will be tough.

 

I'll have to rethink pulling the lower fan and modding in a regular on in the front before doing the cable management because this could simplify things a lot.

 

This system is 90% complete. It will never be finished, but it is nearly complete in that I have almost all the components I intended to have in it.

 

Overall, I am quite pleased with the cooling in this case. The flexibility is phenominal, allowing a lot of customisation without really doing anything custom. I've tried a lot of different things and it's still the same case, ya know?

 

As for actual temperature readings, check this post where I recorded some:

 

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.p...61&postcount=15

 

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51995

[Chaos_2k]

I ask again...

 

How did you mount this fan to the MB???

 

http://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=c...tcooling7qv.jpg

[ebdoradz]

LithoTech

 

my g/f use a similar drive with a 80gig maxtor HDD, and i found one black which is more appropriate for her case, it would be more nice a black one for you too, but if its cooling enough, that the way to go

[snugglealufacus]

LithoTech, i was looking though your pics, and have a question.. in post#8, pic #1, you have the fans unmbered. i was curious as to how fan #5 sounded and performed since it looks like it is about 1/2 inch away from where the side of the case would be. if it isnt too bad i might try that idea and a VC-RE to cool my chipset down, which currently idles 45c and loads at 55c at stock settings w/ AS5.