#040 Cooling!
9 messages in this thread
Does your A4000 overheat? It probably does, even if you don't know it
yet. Ambient air tempatures inside your machine of over 110 degrees F are
potentially damaging to all of your components, shortening the life of
chips, hard drives, etc. The poor fans in many power supplies combined
with the heat generated by 040s and high speed harddrives make for a real
struggle to keep reasonable temps inside. The A4000 is underdesigned for
cooling.
When the temp in my office goes over about 75, my machine is often too hot
for where I want it to be. So I've been thinking about buying a heat sink
fan and an overtemp alarm (to alert me if the machine does get too hot for
some reason). I want the insurance of better heat protection for my
A4000. Since I'm sure many other A4000 owner have similar concerns, I'm
thinking about ordering a bunch instead of 1.
$78 is the list price for a fan and an alarm which draw power from a
harddrive power connector. The alarm goes off if the fan stops (I think
if it drops below X rpm) for some reason or if the temp goes over 110.
Please let me know in email or cmail if you'd be interested in buying one
so that I can make an order. I think that I can resell these for $26
fan-only, $26 alarm only (no connector to a fan), $37 for alarm only (with
connector to a fan) and $60 for alarm and fan.
—
Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing
Dale…
You can put me down for a fan and alarm.
For about the first year the 4000 would run so hot at times you
couldn't place your hand on the back of the case by the hard drive and
power supply. I don't know if there's any connection but the machine
hasn't run that hot since the motherboard was upgraded last Nov…
Thanks…
Eddie.Ski
All I wan to know is who _was_ the bonehead that came up with the current
fan placement on the 4000?!?
I mean seriously…The concept of sucking hot air into a leaky metal power
supply case really blows! (So to speak. :^)
Now would this heatsink fan go ontop of the 040? (My GVP already has
one…)
Thanks,
Erik Flom
Yeah, the heatsink fan is for your 040. So you'd only need the alarm. I
don't know whether the model which also monitors fan RPM would work with
the GVP fan, but its probably worth a shot.
My A4000 blows air out the power supply. (OK, it doesn't really blow, it
kinda gently wafts.) Maybe you should risk voiding your warranty to make
your's blow out.
I've been thinking about looking into replacement power supplies with
heavy-duty fans and better regulation. I assume you'd want one if I found
suitable replacements. 🙂
—
Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing
Dale:
I think the company that sells the 300watt A2000 power supplies also
upgrades A4000 power supplies. I don't know if they do anything with the
fan though. I can't think of the company name off hand.
Norm
From Connecticut
>>>>On AUTOPILOT…..
When I said the fan 'sucked' warm air into the PS, I was referring to
bass-ackwards design of putting the fan in the middle of the ventilation
stream (pulling air from the interior of the case, pushing it into the PS
case). As you say, warm air 'gently wafts out' of the vent in the back.
As for voiding my warranty (warranty?? that's a funny concept for a dead
co.!), it's too late. I've already had to replace the fan because the
bearing failed on it! (Oh yeah, SMG said they'd fix it – it would _only_
take 5-6 weeks!)
I would be _very_ interested in a somewhat burlier power supply with a
_quieter_ fan the was positioned properly for maximum ventilation. Please
keep me apprised.
BTW, 486 heat sink/fan combos can be had at the local Fry's for $19……
(They have a little lip on the bottom edge, but this can be filed off.
I've got an extra one I'd let you have for $15?)
PPS: The company that sells bigger PS's for the 3000 is Micro R&D.
Erik Flom
I've seen some really weanie heat sink/fan combos. Is this a nice one, or
a weanie one?
Sometimes I really wish there was a Fry's near me.
—
Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing
Dale: Is this a fan that replaces the one in your power supply, or
actually fits on top of the CPU? I did have to add a fan for my Warp
Engine because the 4 SIMM's plus CPU generate a lot of heat. So much so
that I was getting memory errors even with the Warp set for 1 wait state.
Mounting the fan above the SIMM's seems to have taken care of the
problems.
// John (Speeding on the Information Superhighway)
\X/ Mercury@ins.infonet.net
This is a fan which attaches to the 040.
—
Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing