Elite melted my PC...

BillD

BillD
Flavio said:
If you are a cheapskate and don't want to buy canned air, use a bicycle pump or if you are lazy like me, the vacuum cleaner will suffice but be careful you don't scratch anything.
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Bill makes note to self to retrieve the cooling fan from the vacuum bag and next time remove the power head from the vacuum :D

Yes Bike pump is ok if it does not spit out any grease. The dust usually dislodges very easily. Does not hurt anything except when it blocks vents etc

Actually I have recently switched to a sealed liquid cooling system they are very efficient and affordable. I just worry about what can happen in a few years time if I get a leak (well the cooling system I mean)

Bill D
 

Tar Stone

Banned
Tar Stone
The best method for cleaning out heatsinks is to get the fan right off it, and go at it with cotton buds.

Then get the cotton buds into the fan and clean the blades individually.

Edit - cotton buds = q-tips

Strip it out and clean it, it's supremely satisfying.
 
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jxm

J
fizzbann said:
Im curious about your system
Could you post your specs including heatsinks etc?
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Difficult to access the PC, but here's some info from the order confirmation email:

Asus P6T, Intel X58, S1366
Intel i7 920, D0 SLEBJ S1366, Nehal
Coolermaster RC-1100 V2 Cosmos case
2 x 2GB MSI HD 6950 Twin Frozr III
12GB (3x4GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3

Heatsinks? whatever came with the cpu... The case is pretty beefy though - big fans on the front, top and side. The problem is it kicks out so much heat it heats the room up and then it's sucking in warm air...
 

Hellhawk666

Hellhawk666
jxm said:
...
Coolermaster RC-1100 V2 Cosmos case
...
Click to expand...

That's a reasonably spacious full tower case and if you remove the two top fans it will accommodate a 120mm heatsink for a closed loop liquid cooler with no problems, however the board may be getting hot as well.

The 6950s can run a bit hot - can you adjust the fan speed to increase cooling?
 

Cyborg3000

C
I have a very old case that's open and I always keep a 1" brush nearby to clean the heatsink and fans.. and then vacuum up it up very easily. With compressed the dust ends all over the place or worse, in your lungs.
 

Flavio

F
Thomas Jefferson Jones said:
Holy hell I wouldn't put a vacuum anywhere near my opened PC case, - you're a brave man Flavio!
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It was a very old PC that was left somewhere with the side off and I wanted to see if it still worked, with spider webs etc, I got the vacuum cleaner out and it did an excellent job, especially the attachment tool with the brush (for upholstery I believe) but I agree that it wasn't my preferred option, anyway the pc did work so no harm done.
With my new pc, I would be using cotton buds rather than a vacuum as it was more expensive - its all about risk and reward or in this case risk and laziness :)
 

VR Mr Teatime

VR Mr Teatime
If you are looking for a new case then I can recommend the Corsair Carbide 540 - I've built 3 machines (2 were re-cased old ones) with these in the last few months and they are a revelation (easy to work with as well). Having all the cabling and PSU seperated from the MB, GPUs means air can flow thorugh the case much more freely.

Liquid cooling is also really easy in this case as you have the room.
 

Flavio

F
If you have real trouble in keeping your computer cool, buy one of those industrial walk in freezers and set up your computer room in there - just means you cant have a cup of tea while you surf the forums :)

Sorry about that but wanted to post something funny for my 1500th posting.
 

Cmdr Andy B

Cmdr Andy B
Flavio said:
If you have real trouble in keeping your computer cool, buy one of those industrial walk in freezers and set up your computer room in there - just means you cant have a cup of tea while you surf the forums :)

Sorry about that but wanted to post something funny for my 1500th posting.
Click to expand...

or to save you freezing to death you could go the water-cooling route and add one of these:

http://www.growell.co.uk/hailea-nutrient-chillers.html

they are great for growing hydroponic tomatoes as well *cough*

*innocent face*
 

jxm

J
Hellhawk666 said:
That's a reasonably spacious full tower case and if you remove the two top fans it will accommodate a 120mm heatsink for a closed loop liquid cooler with no problems, however the board may be getting hot as well.
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The last PC I built was this one - 5 years ago - so I'm a bit out of touch. I have no idea what I need to add a water cooling system (I just had a quick look and there are heat sinks, tubing, pumps, blocks, radiators, reservoirs, sensors, fluids etc - so I have no idea which of those I need - presumably there are some sort of kits available?

Is this basically a water cooled heat sink for the CPU, or does it cool the whole case?

Can anyone recommend a complete package that will fit this case? I'll probably end up building a whole new PC when I get time, but will probably keep this case anyway.
 

Googol

Googol
Thinking laterally here, if you are considering a new build in the near future you could simply replace the two HD 6950s (in Crossfire configuration I assume) with a single more powerful, but less power-hungry, card that you can then transfer to the new system when you are ready.
 

jxm

J
Googol said:
Thinking laterally here, if you are considering a new build in the near future you could simply replace the two HD 6950s (in Crossfire configuration I assume) with a single more powerful, but less power-hungry, card that you can then transfer to the new system when you are ready.
Click to expand...

I'd probably want to replace them with 2 more powerful cards in a new system... ;-)

But I'm not upto speed on graphics cards either - what is there around at the moment that can replace these existing two? and that I can maybe add another one to later?
 

Hellhawk666

Hellhawk666
AndyB(EDB50) said:
the Hydro Series from Corsair are a good all in one water cooling solution
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^^^^^^^^
Precisely this. These are water cooled kits for the CPU that are pretty much drop-in replacements for a passive CPU cooler and one or more fans. They are simplicity itself to install, and there are excellent how-to guides on Youtube at Corsair's channel, and also on the Linus Tech Tips channel. The power requirements would be no more than your current setup.

I've built two new machines in the last month, as well as the old one I rebuilt into a new case, and used the Corsair devices in all three. I used an H60 in one machine as it is quite compact and that case was space-challenged, an H75 in the second, and an H100i in the third, which was built for overclocking. It would fit your current case, I think - just be sure to check the clearance at the top of the motherboard and around the RAM.

Also - if you are looking for a new case I can recommend Fractal Design cases - well designed and made and delightful to work on. I used a define R4 http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-r4-black-pearl for the new living room computer to go next to the A/V system. It looks spiffy and is 100% inaudible even though it runs 6 fans. The other cases mentioned in this thread are also very good. Actually, most modern cases are better designed than what was around just a few of years ago.
 
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Skurrock

Skurrock
4 pips into Systems and drop a Heat Sink.
As of Friday I no longer need to, the parts for my custom rig will arrive and I can enjoy Elite: D in all its glory!
 
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