As Promised...Cooling Enhancements
I wrote a little article for 3DHardware that you guys might find interesting. Most of you probably already know most of this stuff, but I think it's a good read anyway...and no, I'm not biased!
Big Fans Does Not a Cool Chip Make
When all the quality components that your [limited] financial resources can buy have reached the limits of their manufacturer specifications, many of us find ourselves wanting more, with no fundage to upgrade. So what’s left? The only answer has to be overclocking!
Let’s clear up a few “misconceptions” that some computer owners have about overclocking:
- 1. It’s not illegal. The overclocking Gestapo will not storm your house and cart your tweaked-out computer to a silicon work camp.
2. With an ounce of intelligence, you will not break anything. Computer components that are operating way out of spec will become unusably unstable long before you’ll let the magic smoke out. (For those of you unfamiliar with the operation of solid-state electronics, the technology is based largely on a leak of top-secret gadgetry plundered from a downed alien spacecraft stored in Hangar 18 on the Groom Lake Air Force Base, whose operation is based largely upon the movement of a mysterious gas commonly known as “magic smoke”. Solid-state electronics are often rendered useless when careless people let said magic smoke out of the little black boxes that we call “chips”.)
3. Overclocking will shorten the life of your components, BUT when the mean time between failures (MTBF) of solid-state devices reaches into the millions of hours, even if you halve the life of your components, you will have most likely donated your computer to your local YMCA long before anything actually breaks. So, if you expect to keep your computer for 20 years, don’t overclock.
With overclocking comes challenges. First and foremost among these is an increase in the amount of heat that is produced by the components. Heat is anathema to all computer owners everywhere. This is especially true for those of us that take special joy (read ramped fanaticism) in squeezing every last droplet of performance out of our rigs. The reason for this is twofold. First, the electrons moving through the magic smoke move in a forward and reverse direction on the order of hundreds of millions of times per second. When you increase the number of times that this movement occurs, this increases the rate of interaction between the electrons and the magic smoke and heat increases. Secondly, to increase the stability of overclocked components, it is sometimes necessary to increase the voltage applied to the component. More voltage means more power consumption, which translates to more heat. This is a little simplified, but it works to explain the principle.
So, how do we beat it? Following you will find a list of sure-fired ways to help to keep the temperatures down inside your computer. For those of us that are financially constrained, these tips are listed in order of price, so everyone should be able to find something of use here.
Case Placement Cost: $0
One of the simplest things you can do is to make sure that your case has plenty of breathing room. Cramming it into a compact space often prevents exhaust and intake fans from doing their job. Additionally, placing your computer near a heating vent causes the intake fans to suck more hot air into your computer.
Thermal Compound Cost: from $4
One of the worst conductors of heat is air. Air gaps between components and even the best heat sinks defeat the heat dissipation effects of the heat sink. To close these gaps a conductive compound can be used to fill in the imperfections in both the chip and the heat sink to ensure a good connection. Be cautious with your use of thermal compounds. No thermal compound is the best conductor of heat compared to the metals used in heat sinks. Therefore, too much is a bad thing as it might actually begin to act as an insulator. In addition, some of the more expensive/effective thermal compounds do conduct electricity. Be careful where you apply the substances as they will cause shorts, and they will break stuff.
Spacers Cost: from $10
To further increase surface contact between heat sinks and components, metal spacers are often useful. Both Intel and AMD designed their new socketed processors so that the die is not flush with the surrounding substrate material. Additionally, AMD mounted some SMD resistors and electrical contacts on top of the substrate. While it would be optimal to have heat sink contact with the substrate (whose primary purpose is to make the CPU manageably sized and to dissipate heat), we want to be sure that we don’t short stuff out. To optimize the effectiveness, you’ll want to apply a thin coat of thermal compound to both sides.
Heat Sinks and Fans Cost: from $20
There are a couple of ways to improve heat transfer. The two most prevalent are to increase the surface area exposed to coolant and to increase coolant flow across the surface. Heat sinks operate on the first principle. The fins of a heat sink drastically increase the surface area that you normally get on the top of the CPU. The more surface area, the more efficient the heat transfer. Therefore, heat sinks with more and higher fins will be more effective than smaller heat sinks. Let’s not forget about the material that the heat sink is composed of. Generally, things that conduct electricity well, conduct heat well. Therefore, the best conductors are found in the 10th and 11th groups on the periodic table. Furthermore, the more electrons that an element has, (and the further that electrons are located from the nucleus of the atom) the more effective a conductor it is. If you have your Periodic Table of Elements handy, you’ll see that metals like platinum, gold, and silver are good examples of great conductors. However, most of us don’t have the cash for a platinum heat sink. The best balance between conductivity and cost is copper. A copper heat sink is far better at moving heat away from the silicon than is aluminum, which is most widely used in modern heat sinks.
Fans increase coolant flow over the surface of the components and heat sinks. Two things to look for in your fan are flow rate, measured in cubic feet per minute (CFM), and noise, measured in decibels (dB). You want the first number to be bigger (in increase heat transfer efficiency) and the second to be smaller (to decrease your likelihood of being admitted to an institution). CPU fans are most prevalent and are usually mated with heat sinks, so be sure that you pay attention to the specifications of both parts of the package. However, there are fans that can be used to dissipate heat off of PCI cards and hard drives (two other big contributors to heat inside your case). These fans tend to intake or exhaust heat outside the case, which serves to cool the component and cycle air through the case. On of my favorite PCI fan solutions is the slot fan. This can be inserted in place of a PCI device in the back of the case. These serve to cool video cards and other heat contributors. This is a very effective and inexpensive solution.
Good Cases Cost: from $150
A good case can do a ton to improve heat dissipation. All the fans and heat sinks in the world won’t do a shred of good if you continue to recirculate the same hot air around in the case. This is why it is crucial that there be proper ventilation of the case to get fresh air in and hot air out. If you already have what you consider to be a good case (roomy, good power supply, easy access, etc.), consider making custom modifications to your case like adding blowholes and high quality exhaust/intake fans. It may take some time to figure out the best way to optimize airflow and work around dead spaces inside the case, but you’ll find the effort well worth it. If you are in the market for a new case seize upon the opportunity and grab a modified case. They’ve already done the math and figured out the optimal airflow. To boot, the cases are usually of high-quality manufacture and include all the latest case technologies. Be sure you spring for a power supply that will have the umpf to handle all those components in that computer. I recommend a minimum of a 300W power supply for any new system.
There are of course a dozen other things that can be done to get rid of that evil heat, including peltiers, active refrigeration, radiators, and springing for one of them new-fangled Kryotech systems, but anyone that’s in the market for these kinds of gizmos already knows more than enough about them. Therefore, I won’t go into details on these options here. Using one or more of these suggestions will help you to optimize heat transfer from your computer to the outside. With the spiraling cost of heating fuels this winter, I can’t think of a better way to save money…who knew you could use your computer as a space heater?
<p align=justify><font color="#ff0000">As with all tips, tricks, and downloads that you might get from this board and any other resources belonging to the August Knights, this comes with no warranty whatsoever. Whatever [stupid] thing you decide to do with your property is your responsibility. Improper implementation of any hardware/software modification that we point out is neither recommended nor condoned by the August Knights. In short, if you break it, it ain't our problem.</font></p>
[AK]Zorro
Chief Operations Officer
<a href="http://www.augustknights.com" target="_blank">AugustKnights.com</a> WizOp
Reply With Quote
