Solo with different HD cooling!

mentawl · Post by **mentawl** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 9:21 am

Don't recall seeing this kinda setup before, and I was kinda happy with the little idea I had, so I thought I'd post it up =).

The subject is my fairly heavily abused Solo, and the specs are listed at the bottom of the post. Basically I removed the stock HD bay (partly because of graphics card length problems, partly because I didn't need it) and mounted an 80mm fan on the underside of the 5.25" bays to cool the HDs suspended in them.

(Large version at http://www.banzaiinstitute.net/ment/solo/1.jpg)

This was a little easier said than done. My method of cutting involves a 79mm Holesaw and a 2000w drill, and to do this I had to remove the topmost panel of the Solo by drilling out the 8 rivets, then attempt to make sure the case didn't shake itself to pieces while I drilled the hole for the fan

. But it all worked out, and the results are reasonably neat - the fan is offset because there are some raised areas on the bottom of the 5.25" bay, and they made it a little awkward for the pilot bit, so I shifted it to the side. It also proved impossible to drill the two bolt holes nearest to the side of the bays, so I attached one side of the fan using bungee cord, as seen in pic 2 below.

(Large version at http://www.banzaiinstitute.net/ment/solo/2.jpg)

This shows the front cooling setup - the two 92mm NMB-MAT fans are suspended in the opening left by the removal of the HD cage and front "door", using bungee cord. They're running at 5v. The 80mm fan is a Sharkoon "golfball" fan running at ~ 1000rpm, while the 92mm fan on the old and well-used Ninja is also a Sharkoon unit. HDs are a pair of 750GB WD GPs and a single 500GB Hitachi P7K500 (I think that's the one anyway). Although it's not really visible in the pics, the HDs are mounted closer to the fan side of the bays so that the 2 GPs are right above the fan.

Closeup of the HD fan hole :

(Large version at http://www.banzaiinstitute.net/ment/solo/3.jpg)

Thought the fan hole idea was kinda neat

. The front of the 5.25" bays is blocked off with a sheet of acoustic foam, while the entire case is treated with Akasa Paxmate combined with thicker acoustic foam.

Any comments are welcome! Thanks

Specs:

Core2 e6400 @ 3.2Ghz w/ Scythe Ninja rev.A (bit battered and abused!)
Abit IP35-E w/Thermalright HR-05 IFX.
6GB OCZ DDR2
eVGA GTX260 216-core
1x 500GB Hitachi P7K500
2x 750GB WD GP
Soundblaster Audigy, Intel GbE NIC.

sanse · Post by **sanse** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 10:19 am

heavy mod!

porkchop · Post by **porkchop** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:02 pm

a good idea- having them in that space with all the foam almost creates their own little box within the solo, it certainly isolates the hdds better than the normal setup.

i think you can probably get rid of one of the fans though, maybe the hdd fan. a little duct from the top intake to the hdds should sufficiently cool them- they don't need much

nightmorph · Post by **nightmorph** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:06 pm

mentawl · Post by **mentawl** » Sat Dec 27, 2008 11:10 am

nightmorph wrote:Interesting way to do your HDDs. Can you get another shot of them installed, with the stretch mounting? Similar to picture number 3's head-on view.

Sure, how's this?

(Large version at http://www.banzaiinstitute.net/ment/solo/4.jpg)

frenchie · Post by **frenchie** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:29 pm

Hi,
any way you could fix the pics ? The link seems to be broken...
Thanks !!

EDIT : oups... Proxy at work was blocking the site...

Lt_Dan · Post by **Lt_Dan** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 12:42 pm

interesting indeed!

what are the temp (c) it's running at?

stead · Post by **stead** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 1:40 pm

hrmm, i was going to go for watercooling to make my solo quieter, but after seeing your case, i'm tempted to get a bit more creative!

Lt_Dan · Post by **Lt_Dan** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:45 pm

i actually don't like what he did with it. cutting the case usn't the right thing to do, akso mounting the hdd as he did isn't great, especially that hey are so close together. the temps might change my mind..

what is the setup you want to use?

mentawl · Post by **mentawl** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 3:39 pm

Lt_Dan wrote:interesting indeed!

what are the temp (c) it's running at?

Have actually slightly updated the machine since this post - it's now running a second hand Velociraptor as the boot drive alongside the 2 GPs. While defragging, the VR hits about 34c (approx. 20c ambient) while the GPs stabilise just below 40. I'm happy with the temps, and I can't hear the drives at all unless I have the side off the case.

How was cutting the case not the right thing to do? It basically allowed me to create an HD box inside the case, with room for 3 suspended drives, that is inaudible to my ears while operating. Temperatures of the drives are fine (personally I'm happy with anything below 50c on a 3.5" drive), and the suspension is very secure - I regularly move my PC for LAN weekends and things, so this was an important part of the mod.

Lt_Dan · Post by **Lt_Dan** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:20 pm

that's cool!

about the cutting - i meant that i don't like cutting. that's just me. i'm sure you've done it great.