UK 2003 heatwave calls for drastic measures

The UK was in the middle of a heatwave and things were hotting up inside the case. Originally the case did not have the large blue LED see-through fan. In its running state the room temperature of the office was to much for the RTL and system crashes started to occur.

Extreme heatsink changes

The additional fan was making the RTL noisy so a re-think was needed. I had an idea of replacing the original heatsink with a new one from Zalman, which would normally be used on a Northbridge chipset, this heatsink was a lot larger than the orignal EPIA one and I proposed to use the new one without a fan attached as the current 80mm fan was placed directly above the CPU heatsink.

To reduce the noise of the fan I used a fan controller to reduce the speed of the fan when there is no heat inside the box. This was the plan.

The Zalman ZM-NB47J is a prime candidate for replacement of the original heatsink and fan. Removing the heatsink was easy. Run the machine so that the thermal paste underneath the original heatsink is warm. Pull out the push pins (turn the machine off first) with some pliers whilst applying equal pressure down on the heatsink top and motherboard. The heatsink now seams to be stuck to the CPU  but it is just the thermal paste. Move the heatsink gradually by placing a small screwdriver in one of the mounting holes of the heatsink and pushing the heatsink from side to side. Eventually the thermal paste givesway and the heatsink comes off. Install the Zalman heatsink as instructed in the instructions included with the Zalman.

The Pyramid Smart Fan Controller slows down the fan speed when the temperature is cooler than required for the fan to operate, thus reducing the noise of the PC. The plus point is it also comes in different colours.

The finished result runs between 24 to 38 degrees centigrade, 38 being under extreme load. These measurements were taken by a thermalprobe placed with thermal paste onto the top of the centre of the heatsink.

Wider angle view of Zalman and Pyramid fan controller

Time to close the lid

The fan seats itself just over a corner of the heatsink and the fan controller is place in the opposite corner. In testing the first siting of the fan controller by the heatsink but the fan kept the temperature sensor too cool and the desired change in fan speed was not achieved until the controller was placed in the location shown in the picture.

RTL in the dark

And finally to show the blue lighting off to good effect a shot of the RTL taken in the dark...