Re: DS10L surgery report

i hate to be a killjoy but JF you have just voided your warranty !

David

--

David B Turner
Island Computers US Corp
2700 Gregory St, Suite 180
Savannah GA 31404
Tel: 912 447 6622 X201
Cell: 912 447 6622 X251
Fax: 912 201 0402
Email: dbturner@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Web: http://www.islandco.com
=====================================
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http://www.islandco.com/warranty.html

"JF Mezei" <jfmezei.spamnot@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:453C81BB.7A7C2C95@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tonight, I embarked into a fairly minor surgery for my DS10L, namely to
improve its ventilation characteristics. I am not comfortable with such
a hot portion of the machine in term of long term survivability.

part 1: Fan intakes.

The fan intakes (as well as the outless for the rear fan) are just small
holes through the metal, thus reducing airflow.
So, with some cutting pliers, I set out to remove the "perforated" areas
in front of each fan to give it easier access to air.

Removing the front bezel is not easy. The screws holding the fans to the
bezel are very tight. (and there are 3 easy screws holding the bezel to
the metal which are easier, but one is hard to access).

Once the fans are removed, it is farly easy with the cutting pliers to
just cut each strand of metal betwene the holes and thus remove the
section of metal in front of the fan. Then, with vise grips, you lock on
to the sharp sections protruding and just fold them contsntly until they
break off. This not only removes sharp edges left from the cutting with
cliers, but also enlarges the available ara for the fan to suck air.
Make sure you are very careful with any dust and particles that is
created.

When putting things back, make sure you screw the plastic bezel back on,
especially the left screw (where there is only one fan) before you put
the fan back in. (otherwise it blocks access to the area.). Removing the
disk drive also greatly helps to do this work.

The rear fan is harder to work on because of that silly handle they
placed over the outlet. And access os restricted by the cover as well.
It is impossible to give that fan full air flow because part of that
handle obscructs the airflow. Am seriously considering removing that
handle. The top right attachement point blocks a large area or the fan.
(I consider this is design flaw since they could have extened that
handle so the attach points would have enough distance in between them
to prevent them from hindering airflow.)



Other modifications;

The rear-left vent exhibited asymetrical airflow. The front portion of
the outlet allowed cool air to come out while the back portion allowed
very hot but low volume air to come out.

By plugging about half of that vent (the front portion), this forces
cool air to travel further towards the back of the unit to help cool
components.


The power Supply has 2 small fans ahead of it. Because of the way they
are mounted, they "bleed" air into the space above the power supply
instead of forcing it through the power supply. Metalic duct tape did
the trick.

Also, because the power supply has its own air inlet on the side, I
didn't want the valuable cool air from the 3 front fans to be drawn by
the power supply fans. So metalic duct tape used to block the gaps
between the main section and the second drive bay (where the power
supply draws its air. This ensures that the 3 front fans push air over
the electronics towards the back. Should I install a second drive in
that bay, I may have to revisit this area.

And a final modification was inserting a plastic strip between the hot
CPU air outlet and the PCI riser card. Hot air was bleeding across the
card to heat the PCI card and electronics below it. This plastic strip
forces the hot air to exhaust towards the back as it should instead of
leaking back into the electronics area. (I used a flexible plastic from
Michelin tyre packaging which seems heat resistant). I also used a bit
of conventional duct tape to block any hot air from leaking from the
front area between the PCI riser card and the CPU housing.


Prior to these modifications, system temperatures hovered at 46/47.

After first batch of changes, it went down to 44. After I covered the
front space between PCI riser card and CPU block with duct tape the temp
dropped to 43. And the area above the PCI card is now cool, whereas in
the past it was quite warm. By ensuring that all the very hot CPU
exhaust is directed towards the rear and not allow it to bleed back into
the system, it seems to make a non trivial difference.

What I don't quite understand is why they didn't simply duct the hot CPU
exhaust directly to the outside instead of dumping it to the back of the
cabinet and heat the components that are unluckily located there and
then use a second fan further away to finally push that air out. (with
second fan not as powerful as the blower use for the CPU housing).


(I realise that they had to work within the confines of an existing
motherboard which they couldn't change, but ventilation is one area that
they had to redesign anyways).


BTW, to see the CPU, you need to remove the 2 blue "screws" from the top
of the CPU block. You can then lift the assembly out and see the CPU.
The assembly contains the fan and the heat sink as well as the housing.
The heat sink is makde of very this blades.


.

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