My PSU ducted Sonata

[trpltongue]

Here is a link to my PSU ducted Sonata.

http://www.anycities.com/user/trpltongue/sonata.html

Components include:

Antec Sonata Case with 120mm case fan connected to "fan only" connector.
Abit NF7-S V2
Zalman NB47J Northbridge cooler
AMD Barton 2500+
Zalman 7000A-Cu Heatsink and fan turned all the way down
Corsair 512MB XMS 3200 Ram
ATI AIW 8500DV video card
WD 250GB 7200 RPM HD (Data disk)
(2) WD 120GB 7200 RPM HD's (OS and Backup OS)


I have cut out the bottom bezel area for improved air intake and added a PSU duct in the top 5.25" drive bay. The PSU duct helped immensly! Right now it is cardboard and duct tape, but I'll be using steel plate and aluminum exhaust tape for the final build. Also will be adding a front washable air filter.

Stock temps:

case: 34C
CPU: 46C
250GB HD: 38C
120GB HD: 40C
Room temp: 24C

Modded bezel temps:

case: 33C
CPU: 45C
250GB HD: 35C
120GB HD: 39C
Room temp: 24C


Modded bezel, PSU ducted, zalman 7000A-Cu, Zalman NB47J temps:

case: 28C
CPU: 44C
250GB HD: 30C
120GB HD: 35C
Room temp: 24C


Adding the PSU duct dropped my case temps by 5C! All of the cool air is now going over my components instead of through the PSU. It really helped my HD temps as well. Down 5C as well. The ambient room temp remained the same throughout. Also, the Zalman is completely inaudible, yet still cools almost as well as the stock heatsink which was very loud.

The Zalman 7000A-Cu does fit the Abit NF7-S but the silver mounting bracket touches the nearest capacitor and the outer mounting holes have to be cut off. You *could* reverse the blue and silver mounting brackets, but that would be putting uneven stress on the AMD die and I don't want to chance it. The Zalman is so heavy that I'd be really nervous with uneven pressure and such a massive heatsink.

The Zalman NB47J had to be modified a bit to get it to fit the northbridge, but it was worth it. The stock NB fan is horribly loud. The mod was easy with a set of tin snips and removal of the stock H/S fan was as simple as removing the 2 retainers and lifting up. Abit uses thermal goo, not thermal epoxy so it just comes right off.

I didn't have enough length on my ATA cable to do a great cablegami job, but I did manage to get them out of the way enough to allow airflow.

Now I have to tackle my video card (probably replace with a fanless ATI) and try to suspend my HD's somehow. The Sonata doesn't have much room in the HD bay area and my configuration is desktop style so I can't just rip out the HD bay and elastic suspend them. Working on something though.

Anyhow, feel free to give me your comments.

Russell

[dasman]

Russell,

Good direction with the PSU duct/passive northbridge rather than the original design

Regarding your AIW 8500DV -- that's the same card I have in my rig -- you can pop the HSF off of that baby and thermal epoxy on a northbridge cooler -- I used the gold colored zalman nb cooler (similar to the blue one you've got on your NB).

Works great, been running it passive for about 6-7 mths now. You can see the card/nb cooler in the link I gave you in the other thread...

As for suspending the HD's, you can use "Thread Magic" (can get it at most craft stores -- search the forums for "thread magic", you'll give a couple hits that show people suspending their HD's with it -- you string it in a pattern similar to the "No-Vibes" suspension).

I picked up the 1.5mm version for about $3 and suspended my spinpoint in my BQE cage (minus the sleds) -- eliminated the annoying vibration completely.

If you can't find anything showing it, I can snap a couple pics and post them (I've been meaning to update my rig in the gallery anyway )


Dave


EDIT Just noticed you're HD's are WD's -- not sure which ones you have, but most are pretty dang loud. Even after suspending them you might not be happy...

[trpltongue]

Thanks for the tips Dave!

Regarding the video card, I've got a 9600 non-pro on order

The 8500 will be going in my wifes work rig.

About the HD's. I'd love to see a pic of how you are suspending them. My case is in a desktop config so it's a bit more complicated than the standard tower config. I'm still trying to work on that. I'm thinking some bungee or thread magic stretched across the bottom to "catch" the bottom of the HD's and then using some more around the drives to space them evenly. Haven't had a whole lot of time to think about it yet though.

Yeah, I didn't realize how loud the WD drives were until I silenced the PSU, CPU, and NB. Now I can tell they are making almost all of the noise. Oh well, I can't do much about that except suspend them because I'm not paying $300 for a 250GB seagate plus another $240 for 2 120GB Seagates

If you're up for it, I'd really like to see how you've got yours suspended. As far as I've seen, I'm the only person with the sonata on it's side instead of vertical.

Russell

[dasman]

Russell,

Just to hold you over until I can take pics -- here's a link to another JosephClemente masterpiece (HD's suspended with stretch magic)

I'll try to take pics tonight or tomorrow...


Dave


PS Cancel the new ATI card and put it towards a HD -- you'll be happier in the end...


EDIT Read down towards the end of the JosephClemente link -- he ended up suspending his drives vertically in the cage by using lexan and holes in the bottom of the case with stretch magic, that sounds like the ticket for you. Since your case is horizontal, that would put the drives horizontal for you...

[trpltongue]

Dave,

I have to get the ATI card, I really need DX9 in hardware (HL2).

I'm surprised josephclemente was able to hold his drives in place vertically without any support on the bottom of the case. I guess the stretch magic is taught enough that it's a friction fit. If that's the case, it'll make my job a lot easier. (makes note to stop by joann's on the way home)

Thanks for the link.

Russell