Upgrading works

No, this post is not about ranting about the the election carrot, i.e. housing upgrading, but rather, it's about my computer. Well, not that I have nothing to complain about the upgrading plans but I think my efforts are better spent on doing a show-and-tell on my upgrading works, as compared to doing a commentary on the government's upgrading works - something that is really a function of the number of gullible Singaporeans around. Read "citizens"; PR or foreigners not included.

I went to Sim Lim Square today to get some after market parts, specifically fans. I didn't get anything yesterday, as that was more of a reconnaissance trip. So, here's what I bought.















Ta-da! Two fans, one 80mm, another 120mm, from Cooler Master. I didn't really mind their light colors or fan colors, as all I wanted was new fans to replace my stock ones. The 80mm cost 12 bucks while the 120mm set me back by 19.

After visiting several PC modding forums and websites, I felt kinda enthusiastic about the notion of PC modding too.I've seen super cool PCs with low operating temperatures or silent PCs with massive heatsinks but I have yet seen one that is clean. Thus, my plan was to improve the the overall airflow within the casing, to minimize the amount of dust going into the casing and the noise coming out of the casing.

To minimize dust intake is easy. All I need to do is to seal the wholes and to make sure that the air that gets into the casing is filtered. A few weeks ago, I've already covered the holes in the side panels and the rear part of the casing but as zealous as I was, I missed out a spot. A big one.

See the gaping whole at the bottom of the front casing? I decided to tape up the smaller holes too, just to be sure.







The end result looks not too neat but it does solve the problem.










Here's how the interior of my PC looks like. Pretty cluttered, isn't it? As you can see, I've already folded the IDE cables, short of using round ones but everything still looks messy. All that clutter isn't really going to help airflow much, so I have to reduce it somehow.

My first step was to install the new fans. I can barely contain my excitement as I ripped the plastic packaging apart. Incidentally, the packaging of the 120mm was easier to open so I install it first.

The empty 120mm bay right beside the CPU. This bay was designated as an exhaust and I leave it as that.








The 120mm fan in place. Luckily, the power cable was just long enough to reach the 3 pin power socket at the opposite of the motherboard, so I used that instead of the the 4 pin Molex connectors.

To reduce the vibration noise, I used rubber washers as spacers to decouple the fan from the casing.

The fan in operation. The LED is blue but like I said, it can be rainbow or no LED and I still wouldn't have bothered about it. On hindsight, the LED does add more "life" to the good old casing.



Next up, the 80mm side fan.
The 80mm mounted on the interior side of the side panel. Again, I used rubber washers as spacers. This fan acts as an intake source.





Same 80mm fan but viewed from the outside. What I really liked about the new fans is not the LED lights but the cool hologram.






The 80mm had white LED but what is really cool is the hologram! It looks real neat when it spins.








But I guess I won't be admiring the hologram for long. A piece of Scotch Brite mounted in front of the fan to act as a filter. It is supported by two protruding cable ties. Doesn't look tidy but I'll work on it.


I really wanted to get those filters that are used in vacuum cleaners but those are too expensive for my liking. A pack of delicate duty Scotch Brite has three pieces and best of all, I can wash and reuse them. Save the planet, right?















Another air intake was the top of the casing. I continued using the stock 90mm fan as I had trouble finding 90mm fans with cool looking lights. Thermaltake offers 90mm fans but I don't feel like paying a premium for fans without any special effects, although I mentioned that the lights were secondary.

Top view of the 90mm intake fan. I used only 1 cable tie as gravity would help me to keep the filter in place.







Filter in place. See how lazy I am? I simply left the whole piece of Scotch Brite untouched and uncut and used it as it is.






The third air intake is a passive one. I removed two 3½ front panels that was meant for floppy or Zip drives and placed an uncut piece of Scotch Brite there.




There are actually two fan bays at the bottom of the front casing but they are obstructed by the power/reset button panel. So, I guess this is a good alternative too.

After the fans were installed, the next step was to do a rearrangement of stuff. First, I swapped the places of the two hard drives. Originally, my PATA hard drive was below the SATA drive and that caused some minor problems when it comes to cable arrangement. I also removed the audio cable connecting the CD drive to the motherboard. Heck, I don't even listen to music CDs nowadays, so I have no use for that cable.

I shifted the PATA drive below and unfolded the IDE cable. I flattened the cable to the bottom of the casing with a right-angle fold and I think it looks a lot tidier than it was.



As for the SATA cable, I routed it to the other side of the hard drive bay and secured it there with a cable tie.







SATA drive connected.












Upping the ante on my war against clutter, I removed two components. First, the SPDIF output slot. I figured that since I'm not using it, I might as well have it removed to cut down on the clutter. I removed the connectors but kept the steel plate there and sealed the openings with masking tape.

The second was the rear USB and Firewire ports. Again, I have never used them and they have to go too. It was easier to tape up the opening than unscrewing the connectors, so I too the easy way out.

All in all, I must say that the upgrading works had been pretty successful. Though my CPU unit is still making about the same amount of noise, I'm sure I'll be able to cut it down. I'll have the stock 90mm fan replaced with a silent. Or perhaps I may go get some control panel, e.g. Cooler Master Aerogate, to control the fan speed and the noise generated. Airflow-wise, I think it's much better than it was. As for dust intake, I guess only time will tell.

Here's a final look at the revamped system innards.