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Our friendly and knowledgable SCompRacer wrote a step by step guide on how to nylon mesh the annoying wires in your case. This is an excellent way to tidy up your case and improve air flow inside the case.

Please click here to read the guide.

Originally posted by RoboTech
Hi Guys,

I finished my own review of the new SLK-800 heatsink and compared its performance to the AX-7, Sk-6 and a custom AX-7 waterblock...

This review will compare the features and performance of three popular socket-A Thermalright heatsinks: the SK-6, AX-7 and SLK-800. Each heatsink will be tested on the same overclocked CPU using the same settings. In addition, three different fans will be used on each heatsink to see what affect airflow has on performance. For the fun of it, I also included a custom AX-7 waterblock into the mix.

Check it out... Thermalright: Head-to-head (comparing the SLK-800, AX-7 and SK-6 heatsinks)

I hope you find the information useful...

RoboTech

Originally posted by RoboTech
Hi guys,

I FINALLY finished part 2 of my Thermalright heatsink review...

This time I tested the SK-6+ and the SK-7. Here is a comparison of all five heatsinks tested on an overclocked T-bird.



Thermalright: Head-to-head Part 2 (Comparing the SK-6+ and SK-7)

Thermalright: Head-to-head (Comparing the SK-6, AX-7 and SLK-800)

Part of the reason this took me so long was I had a hard time believing my own results and kept going back and re-testing. Both the SK-6+ and SK-7 are admirable performers...

The SK-7 is my new personal favorite (over the SLK-800) and with the AX-7 in limited production, it is the logical replacement. Check it out...

RoboTech

[Renod]

Acoustic Absorption Case Material

The flat sides of the case act as a sounding board. Every vibration in your system (hard drives, fans, etc.) can be amplified by the metal sides of the case and become sound waves. If you are targeting a quiet system, you may want to dampen the transfer of sound. The dampening material can raise the internal case temperature slightly (1 to 3C), so you must make sure you have good case air circulation. DO NOT USE THIS IF YOU ARE HAVING CASE HEAT PROBLEMS! Solve those first!!

There are several commercial products being sold for this purpose. Akasa Pak-Mate Acoustic Kit is one that I have tried. It does work, but didn’t provide the level of dampening that I wanted. It was a little expensive at $25 for a single system kit. You can use several different materials intended for automotive use in stereo installations. Most of them are asphaltic material and have a strong odor when they get warm. Some of them are also hard to cut and shape.

After much research and testing I found the Adhesive-Back Damping Sheets from McMaster-Carr , part number 9709T19. You can get a sheet of Polymeric Mastic which is 0.070" x 32" x 54", and is rated for temperatures from -30° to +300°F, it is Black in color. The McM-C part number is 9709T19 and cost is $12.79 (shipping about $6), which gets you enough to do all four sides on about 4 systems. This stuff doesn't smell at all as it is supposed to be for a high temperature installation. You can cut it with scissors, stick it in place, roll it flat with a piece of dowel, and then do final trim with a box knife.

Works great in a variety of places. I stuck a pad of it on top of my power supply also (not where the vents are) as well as used small pads of it on the drive cages to kill vibration there. My wife's machine is really quiet now since I used this stuff on the case top-bottom-both sides. We just used it on a very loud server rack and it killed a lot of the vibration and sound.

If you tap a flat piece of metal and it seems to ring or vibrate in response, then that’s a place you could use the Mastic sheet material. Be careful not to put it on your hard drives directly as it would act as an insulator and possibly cause overheating.

[Renod]

When you are playing around with various fan configurations, sometimes you want to try a fan at slower speeds to see what you really need. Instead of spending money on adjustable fans make some of these from those Molex Y adapter power cables you have laying around: http://www.dslwebserver.com/main/fr_...7-adapter.html

This way you can try fans at 3 different speeds before making a permanent (or expensive) choice.

Here's a way to 7V a 3 pin connector: 7V a 3 pin Fan connetor

[Renod]

Robotech wrote the book on how to cut out case grills and why with great pictures: http://w3.one.net/~robotech/cool__quiet_pc.htm

I bought two tools that I have used on systems I didn't want to take completely apart to cut out grills or make holes.

First at Sears I got pair of compound snips, great for cutting those little connecting pieces of metal and trimming, (http://www.sears.com/sr/product/sum...pid=00942764000).

Then at JDR Micro I bought a hand Nibbler (http://www.jdr.com/interact/item.asp?itemno=NIBBLER), which eats away the metal or plastic a little nibble at a time without making a big mess. The Nibbler is the cleanest of all of the tools for a neat cut, just be patient. It really works great on Aluminum.

Dremel: I also added some fiberglass-backed cutting wheels for my Dremel, but that is a messy cutter and might throw filings into your case. Sure made a neat cut on the plastic grills on some of my cases, then used a grinding bit to smooth it all out and make it look pretty.

Finally, I bought the hole cutters like you see in Robotech's article. 3" is the right one for a 80mm, 4" for a 120mm. Big mess, but a neat hole when you are done. Follow Robotech's directions exactly and you won't go wrong. At Sears: http://www.sears.com/sr/product/summ...d=00926069000.

Here are some links that talk about different case fan noises.

Noise shootout of 80mm case fans

Listen to that fan

[pitchafit]

For HSF's:
http://dansdata.com/coolercomp.htm

Directly from Thermaltake's website...

http://www.thermalright.com/installation.html

[RoboTech]

Hi guys,

I finally got around to modding one of my DD5s...



I am usually not one to cut corners or do things half-way, but in this case I decided to modify one of my DD5s without any delicate soldering (you will have to solder some wires) and without buying the expensive blue LCD back lights. I already had a bag full of assorted blue LEDs so I didn't have to buy anything. My method involves disassembling the DD5, carefully clipping off the two orange light bars and then gluing four super-bright, blue LEDs to the circuit board next to the display.

Blue DigiDoc5 Ghetto Mod

Note: The brightness and contrast are both weaker with the blue LEDs than with the original orange back lights. The display is actually a darker blue color than it appears in the picture above. This is in part due to the LEDs I used, which are rated at 3.5 VDC for full illumination so running all four on 12 VDC doesn't quite bring them to full power. The LCD may incorporate a filter or polarizing filter that is optimized for the longer wavelength orange light - I don't know. Anyway, it is still quite readable and looks very cool.

RoboTech

[tvodrd]

No soldering required. Blue wannabees and dim blue power LEDs seem to be a frequent topic here. It's not very hard to "mickey-mouse:"



Upper left, from the top:
1. Cartoon of LED with the polarity marked.
2. The LED- this is a 5mm or T1 3/4 common size- Lian Li uses it.
3. The resistor- around 425 ohms, I used a 390 here. 1/4 watt power rating is fine, though a 1/2 watt is larger and more electrically and mechanically robust.
4. Some psu harness to cut into. Note the offset of the bared/
stripped 12V wires. This makes them less likely to short or contact each other.
5. Some wire(s) to connect from the harness and resistor to the LED. Small gage stuff, like 24 gage is best.
6. A pocket knife or something to strip the wires.

Lower left:
I started by twisting one of the resistor leads around the stripped area on the harness 12V lead. Twist it around several turns for a decent connection. Yes, you can put it on the negative lead instead if you want.
The black lead is similarly twisted around the negative psu harness lead.
I cut a short length of 1/8" heat shrink tubing and slipped it over
the 24ga yellow lead, before twisting its stripped end around the
resistor lead. Bend the last 1/4" or so of the resistor lead 180deg
so you can pull on the wire without it easily coming off- see the
lower LED lead for example. Slide the shrink tubing over the
resistor. You can use electrical tape instead of shrink tubing, but it looks like hell and will eventually unravel.

Strip the other ends of the 24ga wire(s) and slip short pieces of
1/16" shrink tubing over them. Connect the stripped ends to the to the LED. (Positive to the longer lead on the LED!) Note the (still open) bend on the lower LED lead. Pinch it shut after you have twisted the 24ga wire around it. Slide the shrink tubing over the "connections."

Upper right:
Shrink the shrink tubing. (Note the Bic)(And yeah, heat guns are nice.)
Use electrical tape to insulate any exposed bare metal- use scissors to cut a couple of 1/4" wide strips.

Lower right:
The results (The LED is a 20deg viewing angle type and drawing 21mA.)

(Those of you with soldering irons/pencils/guns should use them.)

tvodrd

DO NOT PLAGIARIZE
I wrote this for my technical writing class....
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How to Install a Socket A-based Heatsink

By Tawcan

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In a computer system, the Central Processing Unit (CPU) performs millions of calculations every second. During each calculation, heat is produced as an unnecessary side product. The heatsink, combined with a fan, uses cool air to dissipate heat produced by the CPU. The instructions below provide computer users with a guide to install a Socket A-based heatsink.

The heatsink first makes contact with the CPU core and dissipates heat by absorbing the heat generated by the CPU. The heatsink is then cooled by the fan on top. This process is called air cooling; it operates on the principle that the heatsink can continuously absorb heat provided that it can be quickly cooled.

The complete installation of the heatsink will take approximately 20 minutes. You should be able to find the necessary materials and equipments in most computer and hardware stores. You will need the following items:

• One Socket A-based heatsink
• One Philips flat-head screwdriver
• One 35 cm x 25 cm anti-static bag
• One ATX Socket A-Processor based motherboard
• One AMD Socket A-based CPU

The typical heatsinks that are commonly used for AMD Socket A-based processor are shown in Figure 1.



Figure 1. Typical Socket A-based Heatsinks

Source: www.amd.com

2.0 STEP-BY-STEP PROCEDURE

In order to install a heatsink, you must follow the two major steps explained below. We will assume that the computer is turned off and the CPU has already been properly installed.

2.1 Pre-installation

2.1.1 Remove the motherboard from the computer case. Then place the motherboard on an anti-static bag to prevent possible static electricity build up that can damage electronic components.

2.1.2 Make sure the 4 rubber pads are installed on the CPU and the lugs are on the socket as shown in Figure 2. Before proceeding, replace any missing components.



Figure 2. CPU and CPU socket diagram

2.2 Installation

2.2.1 Remove the thermal pad cover to expose the thermal pad.

2.2.2 Slide the heatsink slowly over the CPU so that one of the heatsink clips goes over the top center lug. The stepped portion of the heatsink base should be facing the top center lug (see Figure 3).

WARNING: Do not tilt and push the heatsink while doing this because it may damage the CPU.


Figure 3. Underside of heatsink

2.2.3 Use the flat-head screwdriver to apply force on the remaining heatsink clip. Push firmly only on the end of the clip. First push down on the clip (see Figure 4), then move the screwdriver slightly outward so the clip goes over the bottom lug on the socket (see Figure 5).

CAUTION: Never push down on the heatsink. This can crack the processor core. All pressure should be applied only to the heatsink clip.




Figure 4. Heatsink Side View 1



Figure 5. Heatsink Side View 2

2.2.4 Connect the heatsink fan connector with the motherboard connector marked “CPU Fan.”

3.0 CONCLUSION

Installing a heatsink is simple and takes very little time. After you install the heatsink, make sure the heatsink fan connector is properly attached. When the power is turned on, verify that the fan is spinning. It is essential to understand how to install a heatsink for computer assembly. AMD processors are known for high temperature, and a properly installed heatsink will ensure a stable performance of your computer system.

(Graphics were obtained from www.amd.com )

[Renod]

This guy did a really good test of various thermal compounds: Thermal Compound Test .

Interesting results......

[hl3395]

Here's a tip for removing thermal compound like arctic silver from the ceramic of your CPU.
Get some stick glue, the kind that you dispense using the lip stick tubes, and tear off a nice 1/5 to 1/4 of the tube's worth. Then let the stuff dry on a non-stick surface, like glass for example, for about a day or two. After the glue has reached the consistancy of bubble gum play around with it till you notice it not leaving pieces of glue left on your fingers.
Then the fun part. Push the semi-dry glue against the ceramic and gently pull it off. Make sure you pull fast enough that you don't leave half of the glue in your hand and the other half still on your CPU, motherboard, or whatever you are cleaning. When you notice the glue's surface is filled with thermal paste, just stretch and fold the glue and you'll have a new surface to clean with.
I don't recommend this as a sole cleaning solution, but it does remove more than alcohol, while being more efficient than a cotton swab. You should clean the surface after wards with some isopropyl alcohol.

[Renod]

Cable Organizer Products .

They have a great selection of colors available at Cable Organizer. One unique product is the 'Wire Loom Installation Tool' which I am getting immediately. Can use this in all of my stereo and PC wiring cleanup! No more finger cuts!

[Renod]

Here are a whole bunch of sites with directions on BIY fan regulators:

Fan Controller DIY

bit-tech PWM Fan Controller http://bit-tech.net/article/51
DIY Fan Temp Controller http://www.heatsink-guide.com/tempcontrol.htm
Fan Noise Solutions http://www.cpemma.co.uk/index.html
Fan Speed Control is Cool! http://www.maxim-ic.com/appnotes.cfm/appnote_number/707
Fan Variable Regulators - Adjustable Linear Regulators http://www.cpemma.co.uk/reg.html
LM317 Voltage Regulator for Fans http://casemods.pointofnoreturn.org/...rial-full.html
Pulse Width Modulation Controller http://www.cpemma.co.uk/pwm.html
Small and Simple Fan Voltage Regulator http://www.overclockers.com/tips910/
The Fanbus Electrobus DIY http://bit-tech.net/article/52/5
PWM Motor Speed Controller / DC Light Dimmer http://www.solorb.com/elect/solarcirc/pwm1/