| Enlight 7237 Case w/300 W P/S |
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| Abit KT7A M/B | |
| Athlon 1GHz 266fsb | |
| GlobalWin WBK-38 w/ 60mm Delta jet engine on top | |
| 512mb Micron PC133 CAS2 SDRAM | |
| IBM ATA-100 7200rpm 40GB drive | |
| VisionTek GeForce3 Ti 200 64 mb w/tv-out | |
| Creative Labs 52X CD-Rom |
[Ok, it took a lot to upgrade the CD-Rom. ]
Anway,
one of the main reasons I got the particular items I did, was from all the
reading around about getting the best bang for the buck. Besides,
my CD-Rom needed upgrading. I was hoping for something neat in the
CPU department, but, I just left that up to fate. Ended up with the ARGA
series from week 23. (pig in a poke kinda deal)
It didn't default to a gig when I booted, just 750MHz. That bummed me a
bit. However, after getting into Abit's SoftMenu III, it was all a matter
of setting it to run at 133MHz fsb, which brought it up to 997 (1GHz).
I use Motherboard Monitor 5.09 to keep track of things, and I found the temp was running around 46 to 48° C while working steady at regular desktop / internet junk. So, I wondered if I could start jacking up the speed a bit in the BIOS. Got it figured out finally that I had to stay at the 7.5 multiplier settings ( haven't unlocked the L1 bridges yet ) so I bumped it up to 140MHz and let 'er rip. No problems booting (one would hope with all this stuff), but the temps tended to run up to around 50° C and stay there. To me, this was my ceiling. If it went over that, I wouldn't try messing with any other speeds. I use my computer for developing sites, among other things, so frying a chip just to get a couple more MHz out of this is not an option, since I don't have a spare lying around. And I don't have a CD-Rom in my other one anymore. heh. Well, Just before I went to sleep last night, an idea came upon me. Although the Delta does a remarkable job of moving air, it was still moving warm air around. Lots of it. I'd already tried making a duct from the heatsink to the rear exhaust fan just above it, but that didn't seem to make any difference, if even not making things worse. I remembered reading about folks using air conditioning ducting, but that leads to moisture, etc. But, I wondered, how about just a plain old duct going directly to the Delta on top the GlobalWin from the outside? I envisioned many different places to place the intake hole, but none seemed more logical than directly from the side. It's basically a 60mm hole we're dealing with. After searching out WallyWorld and my junk room, I finally found the perfect solution, and deadly cheap, right up my alley. An empty ViewLoader 100rd. paintball tube was just right. I mean, perfect. It's lightweight, yet sturdy, and the perfect diameter. And a roll of Aluminum Foil Tape lying around. It's flexible, strong, fire resistant, cool looking: imagine Reynolds Wrap with sticky on one side. And my Dremel. Have Dremel, Will Travel. 
First
I placed the tube on top the Delta, and placed the side panel below and
to the side to get both measurements for the hole. Then it was just a
matter of using a compass to draw a circle, and it took about 10 minutes
tops to cut the hole out and smooth it with my Dremel,cutoff wheel and
grinding stone. For moulding, I sliced a length of window screening rubber
(that holds the screen into the frame) for the edge of the hole.
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Resting
on Delta
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Attached
to Heatsink
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Another
View
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Yet
another View
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Another
Delta View
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Finished
hole
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Direct
- on View
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With
92mm Fan Guard
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With
'Muffler' - Ugly, but efficient.
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| How
well does it work? -- How about around 8° to 10° C
cooler System/CPU reading? I've been running around 30° to 35° System
Temp with around 4° to 6° CPU Temp differential above that. (currently:
30° C Ssytem / 35° C CPU) It's most definately a VERY cheap fix
(unless you don't have any paintball friends, you'll have to buy some ViewLoaders
at WalMart for about $4 or $5 bucks. The Aluminum tape -- don't know where
you can get that, but probably anything will work, like Duct Tape? An added
bonus is the introduction of more cool air overall to the case, rather than
the HSF reheating up already warm air. Did I mention the noise level? Whew.
If you think the Delta is loud with the cover on.....that's why I put that
'Muffler' on. Hell, I don't go anywhere, and I don't have anyone to impress,
and the thing works great. When Bill Gates drops by for some advice, I can
always pull the Muffler off. The hardest part? Deciding if I really wanted to cut a hole in my brand new case. Once the first scratch was made, that wasn't an issue. I was impressed with how the Dremel went right through the steel, too. The worst part? The noise level just went up about 10 notches. I have my case to the right of my desk, and I may have to put it on the other side. I'm afraid to walk in front of it, though, that Delta really does some sucking, and I'd hate to get sucked into my heat sink, shredded, and sprayed all over my motherboard. Moot point, have since added fan guard so all small animals are safe. Getting the side back on could have been an issue. Either luck or design, leaving 1/4" extra to extend out the side really didn't interfere with putting the side on. The tube is flexible enough to move that 1/8" to get everything back together. I'm not impressed by much, but I have to say I impressed myself with this little fix. If'n you're feeling bored, frisky, or whatever, and have about 20 minutes on your hands.............. UPDATE: I bumped the fsb up to 150 MHz this morning, and it's now running at 1125 MHz (7.5 x 150). System temp is: 34° C and CPU temp is: 38° [God help me from taking the thing completely apart today and penciling in the L1's. Sometimes I get tinkeritis, and things get broke. heh.] UPDATEx2: Too late. I just did it. Didn't help much. All I could get was 8 x 140, anything else locked up or no post. I am assuming (and we know what that means) that it is the ARGA series chip. Guess I'll have to wait a month or so until I can afford a nice little AYHJA or something. UPDATEx3: 10-22-01 * This ARGA does not like to go fast. I've settled for 8x140 @ 1120. This speed is the most stable with all my apps. I've also slowed the sound acceleration a notch in the dxdiag box, from a tip somewhere, and for the life of me, I don't know where I picked it up. Maybe at one of the best KT7A sites I've ever found... Paul's Unofficial ABIT KT7 Motherboard FAQ . Ah, well, the price of XP's should be coming down in awhile. I have the BIOS flash that accepts them, too. |