Taking an hour or 2 to make something better...

[Nomak]

The extra ram for my wifes machine showed up a couple days ago.  I decided to put it in tonight.  As I stated in another thread,  she has been having some performance issues and I was hoping a memory addition would help.

I pulled the side cover off of the machine and saw this...
 

What a mess.  I could have easily just slapped in the DDR and closed her back up, but I figured it was time to take some pride in this machine.  All to often I just slap things together without taking the time to do the best job possible.  I was in a rush to do nothing tonight so here we go.  The first thing I did was fire up the compressor and blow alot of the dust out.

I dunno why but this set of wires was really bothering me.  I just didnt like how they were laid out.


So I set my mind to finding better routing for them.  I pulled the front cover off the tower and just looked at it for a spell.  "I can run the harness around the other direction" I thought.  One at a time I unplugged and rerouted the bothersome harness.  Here is the new routing
 

After the rerouting I decided to reinstall the front cover......  I am glad that I paid attention while inserting it because it was going to pinch/damage my newly rerouted harnesses.  I took a pair of side cutters and made a "channel" in the front cover for my wiring to pass through.


Here is how the same harness looked once it was redone.


The next step was a fresh, unkinked ide cable.  I tried to route it tight along the chassis.


While looking for a new ide cable in my box of goodies I found this universal chassis fan that I had bought a while back and never used.  I decided to install it to try to bring down temps a bit and maybe even give me some more overclock room.

[Nomak]

After a bit of thought I decided that some increased airflow at the top/front of the tower would be helpfull.  Here is my universal fan install.


And finally here is a before and after of the project.


Here she is all complete and back on the desk.


I know it really doesnt matter and no one can even see this stuff once the cover is back on...... but sometimes its cool to do something like this just to do it.  Hope you like the write up.

Dave

[detch01]

Nice job Nomak . I do the same sort of thing with the wiring harnesses in the boxes I have here, although I don't get down to modifying the box itself. You get better airflow and subsequent cooling with the guts of a box tidied up properly - can't prove it (or at least haven't bothered to prove it) but it can't hurt.



Cheers,
asw

[eagl]

That's nice.  having everything nice and neat sure makes working on the computer a lot easier.

Do you have a fan blowing across the hard drive?  If not, that's where you need to put your front intake fan.  Hard drives ought to last a lot longer if there is good airflow across them, especially if you leave your computer running all the time.

I just installed a modular power supply and it really decluttered my case interior.  I didn't take as much time as you did but I did take the time to bundle and tie the cables up out of the way of airflow paths and into positions that make it easier to get at certain components.

Of course, after I did that I found that one or more of my case fans are starting to go bad.  I couldn't tell which one it was, but a fan howled for about 5 minutes after turning the computer back on after the power supply swap.  They're all turning fine and it quieted down after warming up a bit, but sooner or later I'm going to have to swap out the fans again.  I'm already on my third set of case fans, as even the more expensive ball bearing fans seem to go bad after about 2 years of nearly constant running.

[DREDIOCK]

But......
wheres the dust??

Nice job:aok

[GunnerCAF]

Nice job, it looks good!  Cleaning out the dust from the fins of the heat sink alone should make a large improvement in lowering temperatures.

One day my old PC started rebooting when playing AH.  A quick check of the MB and processor temperatures showed they were running hot.  I opened the case to find it filled with dust.  I had a temp monitor running as I blew the dust out of the CPU fins, and the temperature dropped quickly and stayed low.  It solved the reboot problem.  PCs are great dust filters

Gunner

[Brenjen]

Nice tidy job. You have to be careful blowing them out, you can blow dust into places it couldn't get on it's own. I prefer to slap on my anti-static wrist strap & vacuum it out. It takes a little longer & you have to be careful but I feel better about it. A little rubbing alcohol & cotton swabs for the touch up work.

 Also, wouldn't that desiccant pack draw moisture into your case? I mean, if it were sealed it'd be different, but open to the air it's going to be saturated in a humid environment pretty fast & won't be doing anything positive after a couple weeks anyway.

[Reschke]

I wish I had gone with a modular power supply in this new system. Its been a cluster trying to get it done with all these cables every where up in the top of the system. I am thinking about taking it back and ordering a modular one just to create less clutter.

BTW nice write up Nomak and a good tutorial for showing someone how to do it. Once I get mine finished I think I will do something similar.

[Sundowner]

Nice job, Nomak.

Regards,
Sun

[FBplmmr]

thats a nice looking case... what kind is it?  (i have been recycling my stylish beige case for many years now)

[Nomak]

Glad people enjoyed the write up.

Eagl..... No there isnt direct airflow on the HD.  Although the entire face of the case is perferated (as seen in pics) and I think that the entire case has good airflow at this point.  Do you feel that its worth taking back apart and moving it to behind the fan?  I havnt checked the HD temp in her machine....

Brenjen.... Those are some good dust removal tips.  I had not heard of them before.  Thx for the tips  

Reschke.... I have many regrets on the set up of my current rig.  Your not the only one  
 
FBplmmr....  Its a CoolerMaster case.  It was around $45 from newegg without a power supply.  I am very happy with it and I would use the same case and or brand again.  I spent alot more an my Thermaltake Armor.  Although my case is for sure a better case...... I sometimes wish I would have just bought 2 of the CoolerMaster cases.  Mine seems gauddy and a bit overkill at times.  Hers is Sleek, sexy and quiet.  I espically like the anodized blue trim.

Reorganizing the thermaltake is next!

Dave

[Roscoroo]

depends on the hard drive ... the faster it is the more cooling airfow it needs .

mine are 7200's and they get hotter then anything else in my case so i have a fan directly blowing air on them . (yes theres a full open slot between them)

lay your hand on the top of the hd ... if it feels "Hot" then it should have more airflow .  warm to lukewarm is ok  .


as for moisture in a case ... hell you'd have to live in the jungle were its dripping down the walls .. or a fairly extreame temp change in your house ..

mine are on water and i dont get any condensation at home ... used to get some at work but that was do to the temp changes and having the radiator laying in a freezer ..

[Brenjen]

Yeah roo that's my point, the desiccant pack isn't really going to help anything. I use them in my stored ammunition but that is a sealed ammo can & it only has to absorb the moisture that was trapped in when the lid was sealed. Open to the air, the humidity will saturate one & render it useless in a matter of a couple days in a humid environment.

[Bronk]

The only thing I kinda when eek on was the 3rd pic.

Did you so anything about that sharp edge you cut out?



Bronk

[Nomak]

Originally posted by Bronk
The only thing I kinda when eek on was the 3rd pic.

Did you so anything about that sharp edge you cut out?



Bronk

Its plastic.  And its not a moving part.  Rub through isnt an issue on this application.  At least IMHO.

Dave