Cooling for Perc 5/i

evermooingcow · Post by **evermooingcow** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:02 pm

I recently got a Dell Perc 5/i for my new file server and I'm very pleased with its performance but not with how hot it gets.

There is a tiny heat sink on it that get rather hot. I put a expansion slot fan in the slot right below it but it has three problems:

1. It is too short. The fan unit is about 11cm long and the heat sink I'm trying to cool is just out of range of the fan. I think around 15cm long is what I'm looking for to get the fan dead center with the heat sink.

2. The fan exhausts out of the case. I think intake would be better for this purpose and the case currently has more total exhaust than intake anyway.

3. Its loud. Is there an expansion slot unit that would support mounting my own (quality) fan on to? It doesn't even have to exhaust to or intake from outside the case. I ultimately just need some spot cooling for the card.

I don't have a means of measuring temperature but with my current setup the heat sink gets hot enough that I feel I want extra cooling but not hot enough that I can't touch it and hold without hurting myself. Should I be worried?

Thanks.

Shuriken · Post by **Shuriken** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 2:07 am

I know what you mean. I had this card for a short while and the heatsink gets hot enough to burn your fingers on.

A silent solution is hard. Most people either install a little 40/50/60mm fan on the heatsink or replace the whole with an active Chipset cooler.

Those tiny fans are usually anything but quiet. You could try to fit a Zalman ZM-NBF47 or something similar and have a >80 mm fan blowing on it.

iakovl · Post by **iakovl** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:27 am

my own cooling

evermooingcow · Post by **evermooingcow** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:35 am

I really like the idea of adding that larger heat sink especially considering I have something that will probably work.

Time for some modding

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:41 am

I had a similar issue with my Adaptec 5805, with no airflow over the heatsink it heated up very rapidly - the monitor software said it was over 100C and an alarm went off. I swapped the stock heatsink for a Thermalright HR-05, and all seems well now, it trundles along at 60C

This isn't a solution that'll work in all situations though, it basically blocks all of the PCI/PCI-E slots below the card.

evermooingcow · Post by **evermooingcow** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 3:47 am

Woot. modded!

Very similar to iakovl's mod. I jacked a northbridge heat sink off of a dead Dell mobo. Fits the card perfectly. I don't feel very much heat on it anymore

I haven't found a way to secure a heat sink to the center chip though. Is that some sort of glue that holds it?

I would post a pic but I don't have a camera at the moment..

nutball that is a beautiful mod. Only if the perc 5/i had holes to mount a heat sink using screws..

iakovl · Post by **iakovl** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:40 pm

here is a 5$ solution for you

http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_page/ ... ml#chipset