I'm having some difficulties finding something to fasten the thermal blocks (to the back of the MB). I've noticed that you used "Dap Silicone Rubber Auto/Marine Sealant". I live in Norway, and I can't find this exact make - could I use any kind of silicon sealant?

Also, how important are these thermal blocks in the first place?

I advise looking for a silicone sealant product that is clear and appropriate for high temperature applications, though you can order exactly what I used even if you are in Sweden. Just use eBay and pay by PayPal, the seller is covered if he ships to the address that you selected during PayPal checkout.

The thermal blocks are certainly beneficial for transferring heat away from the components of the motherboard, although they may not be mandatory. To extend the life of your components and motherboard, their use is highly recommended. All of the articles I have read have shown results of lower temperatures for the CPU & Northbridge chip set when the blocks were used, and the same results should be expected for whatever area of the motherboard that you install said blocks. I bought up all the Zalman Rear-mount Thermal Block ZM-RTB1 that I could find, which ended up being 2 new packages total. I wish I took a picture of the attached blocks before installation, but I can tell you that I used double the allotted amount, a total of 16 blocks.

After you completely remove the old/used thermal adhesive from the blocks, clean both ends thoroughly with denatured alcohol. Let it dry, then use a small and consistent amount (just a drop) of the clear silicone sealant for attaching each of the Zalman Rear-mount Thermal Blocks to the motherboard. That is the ONLY area that I used the silicon sealant for adhesion and I advise waiting at least 24 hours for a full cure before handling. The Motherboard should rest on top of the applied blocks so that the pressure will help form an even elevation of the blocks during curing.

For attaching to the case I used the double sided Theragrip Thermal Tape, though I believe a better quality thermal tape surely exists. Ideally, the tape/pad would have double sided adhesion, be electrically nonconductive, have consistent thickness for an even application, and would effectively transfer heat. My gripe with the Theragrip Thermal Tape is that I had to custom trim each piece, the material was rather thin, and the adhesive properties could have been stronger. A precut solution would have been convenient.

There was a better silent and low power/heat solution released this past week, the passively cooled fermi powered GT 430 which has a lower TDP of 42.7 W, yet supports DirectX 11 and has a higher core and memory clock speed than last year's GT 240.
http://pden.zotac.com/index.php?page=sh ... t&Itemid=1

However, performance gains from replacing our GT 240 with the GT 430 would be negligible, but we would benefit from lower power consumption and lower heat. For gaming applications, I'm holding out to see a passively cooled GT 440 will eventually be released by Zotac.

Hi NeoGeo!

It's nice that you share your experience!

I also own a TNN300 with an old 775 motherboard. I plan to upgrade it to a 1156. One problem I expect is that the CPU heat pipes are a bit to short, since all 1156 motherboard places the CPU a bit lower than on 775 motherboards. I suspect that the heat pipes will only go half-way into the CPU cooler block. Do you have any comment on that in your build?

Hi NeoGeo,
first of all congrats to your first TNN 500 AF build. TNN is really great piece of hardware and its really a pity it's no longer available. However, it's not w/o issues. I've already noted in this thread that after 6 years of run my PSU broke and is already replaced by another fanless PSU. But PSU is not the biggest issue. The biggest issue is longetivity of electrolytical capacitor on the board under the load. I never use thermal blocks, I need to note that, but with my current build (i775+Q6600) I've been running Folding@Home for 2 years on 2 cores and one very hot day in a late spring I've found out my computer is broken. It could not boot and crash on various places during the boot. I've been quite desperate, but local expert here told me that the culprit might be capacitors. And they were, since he was able to change several of them and now board is running happily for more than half year already. However I need to note that since that time I've completely given up an idea to score more in folding@home.
So if you are going to use your workstation in workstation loads (I'm developer I'm doing compiles and such), then everything should be all right. But if you are going to use your workstation as a compute server, then I warn you, this will not last long! If the later is the case then your idea of installing some fan inside the case is the way to go. If the former is your scheme, then keep it w/o fan and be happy like me who is still using half-broken TNN but already considering its update to lga 1156 xeon.
Cheers,
Karel

No way to wait here. This is my workstation, so I'm making my living on it. Fortunately I've found Silverstone reference on your *excellent* site. Thanks for it. Then I also needed to find Silverstone dealer in the Czech Republic, but that was different store.
Anyway, hehehe, no rocket-science mounting here, I just put the PSU on its side on the bottem of the case where is some space since I already demounted zalman PSU. So it's just laying there. Yeah, I also needed to get rid of this metal plate which locks extension slots card before removing/installing them and put the PSU cable through this luxurious hole. There is no time here for better modling, but I'm quite calm with this setup since in your review of the PSU you noted clearly it provides thermal sensors and switch-off in case of overheating automatically -- which I've not seen yet, so everything should be quite ok.
Karel

Hi,
I've contacted Zalman support with regarding to using ZM-CS5B as a TNN 500 upgrade option, but their reply was not that possitive:


so mounting it might be possible, but be careful not to bend your motherboard too much.

Cheers,
Karel

I can confirm that the 1156/775 converter (ZM-CS5B) can be used with TNN 300 system. I made such an install. The problem with bending of motherboard is less with 1156 motherboard (at least mine) because it has its own mini steel backplate behind the processor socket. My previous 775 motherboard did not had such a mini backplate.

I will see if I can get back with full details on my TNN 300 install.

I am not sure whether anyone else is still using their TNN 500AF but in case (no pun intended) anyone is interested it works perfectly with the Intel i5-2500K. In fact it runs so well I wonder whether the case is needed at all.

Specs are as follows:

Processor - Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz LGA1155
Socket Converter - 1156/775 converter (ZM-CS5B)
Motherboard - Gigabyte P67A-UD3-B3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - B3 REVISION
RAM - 8GB G.Skill RipJawsX (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel
Graphics - XFX HD 567x-ZH 1GB.

Aten CS682 2-Port USB 2.0 DVI KVM Switch

No backplate behind the processor socket was needed.
The chipset is so cool I didn't bother with the heat pipes.
The graphics card is already passively cooled and works happily without the Zalman heat pipes.
All told a remarkably simple installation.

I added the KVM switch info for anyone who may have been struggling to find a DVI KVM switch which will work with a programmable / gaming keyboard and mouse. Not only does the switch outperform every other KVM I've tried, it is remarkably neat was considerably cheaper. It is very similar to the Belkin Switch2 but unlike the Belkin in actually works with a 1920 x 1200 DVI monitor.

I'm still using TNN 500 AF and wouldn't like to get rid of it till I move all the work from x86 to ARM. Anyway, I'm still considering update to Xeon E3 so your information is valueable here.

Thanks,
Karel

Thanks for the information, both to NeoGeo and to tnnuser.

I have a 500AF here that I'll be upgrading to a 1155. I was thinking about using the 1155 asrock motherboards that have the C.C.O. (Combo Cooler Option) that allow for 775 coolers, but I didn't know about the ZM-CS5B. This will allow me to use other MBs

Can't get rid of this case and I might buy another 500A (€150)

Given that the last TNN cases were made some years ago, I'd venture that the integral fanless power supply is the weak point. The cooling system heatpipes & clamps can probably be changed or adapted for newer CPUs & GPUs, but.... PSUs wear, capacitors get weaker, and iirc, the ones in the TNNs had no better than ~80% efficiency, which means they have to be running fairly hot unless all the critical components were meticulously clamped to the case for good heat conduction. Sparkle (a close relative of FSP) was the PSU maker. In the TNN300, once the PSU goes, there's no place for a modern ATX form factor fanless PSU (like the Seasonic X or Kingwin).

That's good to know. My current case had the PSU block removed, cleaned and fixed again to the case and I've been using it as an audio workstation. The PSU never stressed and leaky capacitors can be changed
If the worst happens, I'll get a small PSU like those that are used in Dell's business PCs.

I just got another TNN500AF. This one won't even use the included PSU as I'll be using it for video editing and gaming. I'll just use a modular PSU hanging at the back. I'll open another thread to discussed this.

In my case, my PSU simply broke and there was none here who would repair it. So I looked around and found nice review of SilverStone ST-40 NightJar PSU, purchased it and put it on the bottom of the case to the position where original was. Although ST-40 is not connected to the doors so it's not cooled done by this, it runs quite stably -- I mean no issue with it so far at all. When it breaks, I'm free to replace it.
Anyway, this TNN 500 AF case is truly awesome so I'm going to keep it running as long as possible.

Cheers,
Karel

We can always cram a full size atx PSU inside if the MB/GPU leaves enough space. Depending on the power needed we can even run one or two mini-itx PSUs (very small) and use external power bricks.
I would love to get someone to dissasemble a passive Seasonic (or other hi efficiency PSU) and mount it to my case, where the original is. This would be just perfect and run a very powerfull rig.

Why would you need to disassemble? For example my ST-40 does have nice alluminum plat as a heatsink and if you press it against to TNN500AF doors where the original was mounted, then if should work quite well. The problem is you will need few screws, some metals strings or clips to hold it tightly. You can of course also make a holes in TNN's doors in place where the mounting holes are in ATX PSUs...

I've not done this yet as I'm running just Q6600 and some low power NVidia card here...

Karel

Sorry for not responding sooner about PSU of TNN-500AF.

The PSU of my TNN-500AF recently failed as well so I totally gutted it and I decided on an external PSU solution. It literally made a popping sound when I tried to turn it on one day, so I decided it was time for a new build. That really was my greatest fear with this case as I knew this PSU's lifespan was beyond its intended lifespan. I even tried to source a matching replacement Zalman PSU for this case to no avail, well before it failed on me! My new build is currently work in progress and I will be sharing the finished results publicly soon. I decide to gut/remove the fried PSU of the case for a cleaner look because the cables of the PSU were not modular.

There are benefits of having an external PSU. For one, you can get a far better (more efficient, more powerful, & modular) PSU since what was packaged with the TNN500 is now 9 year old tech! Also, you are removing a chunk of heat from the case and allowing for lower temps of your other components. It’s not like we use our 90 pound TNN500 for portable computing so I don't mind the extra step of disconnecting the modular cables of the external PSU to work inside the case if the need ever occurred.

Preliminary pics:



As you can see, squeezing a standard sized PSU inside the TNN-500AF would be impossible in my situation since I’m using a 2 slot video card, a raid controller card, and a PCI-E SSD. All PCI slots would need to be empty in order mount a PSU on the side door if utilizing the lower section. Top section of case door is now occupied by 4 SSDs & DVD burner. I actually had to downgrade to low profile RAM/memory because I couldn’t close the case door since the case plates that the SSDs are mounted to were impacting the heat sink fins of the memory. Short of powerful swing(s) from a sledge hammer, there’s simply no physical way to squeeze the case door shut regardless of where you try and place a standard sized PSU within my TNN500 rebuild.

Besides, when optimizing for heat dissipation, the PSU is best placed outside the case. I took this a step further by opting against integrating the GTX 650 with heat pipe integration and settled with a prebuilt passively cooled solution instead, this time going with ATI. The video card would be the largest source of heat residing within the case since it draws the greatest amount of power at full load, yet without heatpipe integration, this will allow for lower temps for case and in return, lower temps for PCB & CPU. Sure, this translates to a hotter GPU, but I’d rather swap out a fried/failed video card than rebuild the entire system because of a fried capacitor on the motherboard. I also like to upgrade video cards regularly. Heck, I’m already on my 4th video card upgrade over the course of this TNN500 rebuild, so I wouldn’t want to mess with swapping heat pipes each time anyways.

My latest build utilizing TNN500 should be completed before xmas and I’ll post a new thread to share. Then you can decide if an external PSU solution is elegant or unacceptable in your opinion.

Btw, I discovered that using a new PSU with your TNN-500AF will cause you to lose the handy ability of turning on your system by using the remote because the infrared sensor of the case must receive constant power from a 2-pin cable that branches from the 24-pin cable of your PSU. This 2-pin connection is proprietary so you'd need to do custom cabling work unless you were willing to sacrifice this amenity.

Here's the custom cable request page that I submitted to Martin of PsychoSleeve: http://www.neo-geo.com/personal/i5-fanl ... quest.html

The finished cables are in transit and are scheduled to arrive Tuesday of next week.

NeoGeo - many thanks for the update - I look forward to seeing the finished article.


Have added an SSD and Windows 8 to one of my two TNN500AF machines but otherwise (touch wood) they are still going strong.