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General discussion

Cooling for 10000 & 7200 RPM on self build PC

Apr 19, 2006 2:30PM PDT

I recently decided to go ahead and get a 74GB WD 10000RPM SATA 3.0GB/s Raptop which will be used for running Windows/apps and games off of. But this thing is expensive... $160 at NG and the fact that I have an additional 300GB SATA 3.0GB/s 7200 Seagate ($105) doesn't help the price much. I could've gone with 36 GB but it was only $50 more for twice the space so I decided to get it.

This will the newest PC I've had since 1999 (with a good old P3 733MHz, 256MB RAM, and a whopping 30GB HDD). Cooling was not an issue with that PC...

I want to protect my investment since I can't exactly afford to buy a new PC very often. They both come with 5 year warranties which is great but I still want to be safe with my data. I hear these things can get hot if you leave your PC on overnight (which I tend to do).

So I was wondering, is it possible to set up fans to cool the HDDs? They'll be running separately of course... I just never heard of such a thing being done before or know if it's possible.

Thanks in advance.

Discussion is locked

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What case are you using ?
Apr 19, 2006 3:10PM PDT

Even air blowing directly over a drive can take a lot of heat away ...especially the higher speed HDDs. One mfg used to make a frame (with an 80mm or 90mm fan)that you could mount either as a 3.5" or a 5.25"...UC-002. It may be still around.

VAPCMD

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Case
Apr 20, 2006 9:36AM PDT

The case I'm using is a Cooler Master Centurian 5, not the best but for the price I think it's a great buy.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811119047

I see on the site that there's a front 80mm fan... so maybe that's what it's for. I've already upgraded the exhaust to a 77 cfm 120mm exhaust (up from a 35 cfm) and the intake to a 36 cfm 80mm (up from 26 cfm). I'll have those two extra stock fans to place in the open vent, which will blow air on the PCI slots (good for GPU) so that heat from the HDDs don't circulate inside the case... probably use the 80mm fan since there is no room for another 120mm. I think that should do it.

I hope that'll be good enough air flow.

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HDD Cooling
Apr 20, 2006 12:59PM PDT

UC-002 available here...maybe other places too.

http://www.daytonadirect.com/parts/parts.asp?cat=28

FAN ULTRA-COOL UC002 HDD COOLER 3.5/5.25 $14.95

You probably won't need it but track the HDD temps with HDINFO ...you'll get a sense whether it's needed pretty quickly. Pretty versatile, neat product.

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That'll work!
Apr 21, 2006 1:37AM PDT

Thanks, just what I was looking for. Combined with all the fans and these, I should have one cool machine (yes, all puns intended).Wink

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(NT) (NT) Glad it helped ..definitely a handy product.
Apr 22, 2006 1:56AM PDT