Here's a short and simple guide to making your own custom aluminum heat spreaders.

-a piece scrap aluminum sheet from a modded lian-li side panel.


-the stock (generic) heatspreaders lolz!



-after cutting and cleaning up with my trusty rotary tool


-i used 3m double sided tape to mount the new heatspreaders in place. this will also act as a thermal tape to aid heat transfer **crosses fingers : D


-the finished product.

Building of a simple thermometer for PC will be described in this tutorial. The unit is extremely simple and cheap to build. You will only need one NTC resistor, one diode and capacitor and serial port connector.

Elements:

- Capacitor 10 uF or more
- Diode 1N4148 or 1N4001 or similar
- Thermistor NTC 10k or similar
- 9 or 25 pin female connector



Schematics:



Built Device



NTC thermistor is connected to other end of black-red wire.

Description
                 
Let's say DTR and TXD are zero at the beginning. Nothing is going on. Then we set DTR to 1 and start counting time. Capacitor is being charged through NTC resistor. The higher the temperature, the lower the resistance and capacitor is charged more rapidly and vice versa. We use DSR pin to monitor the voltage of capacitor. When it is charged enough, DSR goes to 1, we stop counting time. From elapsed time of charging we can calculate resistance of NTC, from resistance the temperature. After each measurement we set DTR to 0 to empty the capacitor through diode.

Theoretical background
                 
Charging of capacitor: Capacitor C and resistor R in series, connected to voltage U0. Typical time constant tau = R * C. Voltage on capacitor versus time t: U = U0 * (1 - exp(-t/tau) ) (Equation is solution of simple differential equation)

NTC thermistor resistance
             
The resistance of NTC thermistor can be approximated by exponential curve R (T) = R25 * exp(B*(1/T-1/298K)) (R resistance in ohms, R25 resistance at 25°C, B typical constant dependant on NTC value [unit is kelvin K]). Do not worry about those constants, we will not need them.

Calibration of device
                   
You need another calibrated thermometer for calibration of newly built one. The best is good ole' mercury thermometer with 0-100°C range. Measure temperature and write down capacitor charging time (you can get this data in program). Change temperature and repeat process. Be patient! Thermometer need some time to reach external temperature.<br />   
My way of doing it: I bound thermometer and NTC together and put them in plastic bag (to keep water away from thermometers). I put bag in glass with ice cubes. The ice melted, temperature of water began to rise because my room is hot (28°C). On every couple of degrees change, I wrote down temperature and time.

When you have collected temperature vs. time data, enter them in fitting program. MS-Excel can do it. Plot temperature vs. 1/log(time). Fit with linear function. In my case, equation for temperature in Celsius degrees is 2722*1/Log(time in microseconds)-217. Therefore constants are A = 2722 and B = - 217.
               


Time measurement/program

I wrote small Delphi application. For details, see source. First press "Calibrate" button to calibrate timing procedure. The frequency of your processor will be shown. Then select COM port and press "Open port". At the end you can finally press "Start". Do the calibration process as described above. When you enter correct factors also correct temperature will be displayed.<br />
Download zipped application with Delphi source:

http://www.electronics-lab.com/projects … pmeter.zip

Pinout of 9 pin serial connector
               
<p> Data Terminal Ready DTR = Pin 4
Data Send Ready DSR = Pin 6
Transmit Data TXD = Pin 3

Created by Natan Osterman (natan@email.si) (c) 2000

Casemodding, Modding is a slang expression that is derived from the verb, "modify", and the noun, "modification". The term can refer to the act of modifying a piece of hardware or software to perform a function not intended by someone with legal rights concerning that modification.

Case modification (commonly referred to as Case modding) is the modification of a computer chassis (often just referred to as the case), or a video game console chassis. Modifying a computer case in any non-standard way is considered a case mod. Many people, particularly hardware enthusiasts, use case mods to illustrate a computer's power (by showing off the internal hardware), and also for aesthetic purposes.

Another reason to modify a case is to improve the computer's performance, features, or cooling, when purchasing upgrades is not possible. Modified computers are often found at LAN parties where their owners display them. Case modding can be viewed as a form of self expression, resulting in some mods being built around a theme.
Contents

History:

When personal computers became mainstream, the majority were produced in simple, beige-colored cases. This functional design was often referred to as a beige box. Although this served the purpose of containing the components of the personal computer, many users saw their computers as "tacky" or "dull", and began modifying their existing chassis, or building their own from scratch.

Case modification later became more accepted when the Apple iMac was released, which had a design in stark contrast to the beige box. As the price of computers fell and competition increased, system builders began selling PCs in black, charcoal, and other colored cases. A new market for third-party computer cases and accessories began to develop. Computer cases now come in a large variety of colors and styles.

Today the business of "modding" computers and their cases is a hugely profitable endeavour. Modding competitions are commonly held at gaming events and prizes are awarded for categories such as the most original mod. Some of the most non-computer related items have been used as housing for computers (usually called artistic modding, where anything goes). Most competitors attempt to make something unique, and consider their creations works of art.

Types of modding done on a typcal PC Cases.
   
Window mods: Putting a window within one of the panels of a computer case. This is most often done to the left hand side panel, and less often to the top panel. This modification is so popular that many of the major case manufacturers now offer cases with the windows pre-installed, or replaceable side panels with a window installed. Some companies even offer entire cases made out of transparent materials. A window kit may be modified to hold an LCD screen. Laser engraving can be done on acrylic windows to add a distinct look to a modded case.

Lighting mods: A lighting mod refers to lighting in or on the computer cases. This is usually achieved with cold cathode lights, LED case fans, or electroluminescent wire lights. The lights are sometimes paired with sound controllers that make the lights pulse in time to sound. CCLs come in long tubes and generally produce a little bit of heat. LEDs come in many sizes and forms, most often seen in bars similar to CCLs or within fans, called LED fans. Electroluminescent wire, which takes the form of a small light rope, is often embedded in cables such as SATA cables.

Lighting modifications are often paired with window mods to help show off the components.

Cooling mods: There are many modifications that can fall into this category. The most common one is simply drilling a mount for a new fan. Others include air ducts, water cooling, filtering, sealing openings to promote better air flow, or even the adding of a tank of pressurized carbon dioxide to the case. These modifications are often done by overclockers either looking for better cooling for hot components or sound reduction. Modding kits are available, and some companies sell pre-made cases modified for better cooling.

Spray paint: Painting a case is another method of distinguishing your work from others. Spray paint is the common method preferred among amateur modders. There are many spray painting guides for amateur modders. The finish cannot be compared to automotive paint or powder coating, but is a simple way to change the look of a case.

Modding 101 DIY blowhole Guide

Blowhole --- A blow hole is a additional fan slot added to a case to increase the case's cooling capabilities over stock. There are typically three places blow holes are added to a case: 1) Top of the case. (Chimney fan). Since heat tends to rise an exhaust fan at the top of the case makes sense, however the top of the case is also the hardest place to add a blow hole since not all case tops are flat, and most are not removable. 2) Side panel, near CPU. A blow hole placed near the cpu's HSF can have the great effect of either supplying the HSF with cool outside air, or exhausting the hot air off the CPU. (It's best to match the direction of the CPU fan. If it blows onto the heatsink then intake, if not then exhaust.) 3) Side panel, card area. A blow hole in the card area can aid the cooling of hot devices like Video Cards.

Here's a quickie on one of the essentials for a modded case. most generic cases come with precut or pre installed blowholes as stock. most of the time the pre-installed blowholes are either too small or not efficient enough for most high end systems.

This is the main reason why additional blowholes are needed for optimized airflow inside the case. this short tutorial covers the basic materials and simple steps on making a blowhole.

disclaimer: always wear proper safety equipment, power tools can cause potential injury when handled improperly. perform the following steps at your own risk

Materials:
-metal or acrylic panel
-pencil
-stove type fan grill (blowhole template)
-powerdrill (and 5mm drillbit )
-jigsaw or rotary tool.
-100 grit sandpaper for cleanup
                             
time to get your hands dirty...

-grab that pencil and fan grill and start tracing the template for the blowhole. I'm using a 120mm stove type fan grill and Plexiglas for the side panel window.



-now use the power drill with 5mm drill bit and start drilling the
screw hole for the fan. after drilling the screw holes we'll also need to make
a pilot hole for the jigsaw blade.



-time for some acrylic chopping. grab your jigsaw and start cutting away if you have a jigsaw with variable speed set it to medium speed.
unlike metals acrylics are a bit brittle and tend to crack when the cutting speed is set to high.
(note** it takes bit of practice to make perfect circles with a jigsaw, just be patient.)





-you can use the 100 grit sandpaper to clean up the rough edges. after your done sit back relax and admire your hard work : D



7

DIY: Optical Drive Painting Guide

  Heres a quick and dirty guide on painting your old beige optical drives. this guide includes a step by step tutorial on dis-assembling typical optical drive faceplates and later on painting them to your desired color.             

Materials Needed:

-canned spraypaint and primer                 
-small flathead screwdriver                 
-cotton cloth and isopropyl alcohol                   
-masking tape.               
-scissors                 
-a working psu/paperclip                   

Disclaimer:
any modifications done to you're hardware will void you're warranty. follow this guide at you're own risk!!!               
   
-disassembling the faceplate-



-our victim, a beige liteon cd writer :D



-we need to locate the four locking clips holding heres a shot of the top locking clip.



-the locking clip on the sides.



-now we need to connect the drive to a working psu or you can use a paperclip to push the emergency eject.  so we can open up the drive tray.



-we also need to remove the drive tray cover. start by locating the two locking tabs on the bottom part of the tray.



-use a small flathead screwdriver to unlock the four locking clips. slightly pull out the faceplate while unlocking the clips.



-the faceplates removed.

-prepping and painting

-remove any stickers and labels on the faceplates and use a soft cotton cloth and alcohol to clean the faceplates.
-use some masking tape to mask out any areas you dont want painted. i masked out the eject buttons since painting them would be useless because the paint would eventually fade from frequent pushing of the eject button.
-start by applying thin even coats of epoxy primer, let dry for 30 mins.
-start appyling the color paint. i used flat black bosny acrylic epoxy paint i've had great results with bosny paints on plastics. just make sure to properly prep your plastics prior to painting. acrylic epoxy paints take around 2 hours to properly dry and about 24 hours to cure.

heres a shot of the painted face plates.



and finally the finished product.

PMAers Guide to Blower Fansrev 1.0c



Blower Fans (or just plain fans), are part and parcel of our daily computing PC habits. From the near silent HTPCs (Home Theater PCs), to the roaring and raging OverClocker's delights, pushing their PCs to the hardware limits.

This is due to the fact that most modern-day PCs need to be actively cooled using air, which is the easiest and most hassle-free way to cool down those components within. Passively-cooled heatsinks don't just cut it anymore. So a cool breeze running through one's case and heatsinks would be the cheapest and most effective way to tame the roaring temps of modern processors and video cards.

This brings me to this discussion about blower fans. Their most commong properties, characteristics, proper usage, and tips on buying the right one for you.



1. Types And Sizes

Blower fans for PC use normally come in a few pre-determined sizes. Since these fans have a square frame, the measurement that comes with each refers to the length of it's side.

The metric unit used in this measurement is the millimeter (mm), with 1 inch being roughly equal to 27mm. Sizes then range from:

1. 40x40mm - or 1.5 x 1.5 in - Often seen in chipset heatsinks and in old videocards.

2. 60x60mm - or 2 x 2 in - Often used as exhausts of mATX cases, old ATX mid-towers, and as heatsink fans for Pentium III and old Athlon XP heatsinks.

3. 70x70mm - or 2.5 x 2.5 in - This fan size is what AMD uses as the stock fan for all their Athlon64, Sempron 64 and X2 stock heatsinks.
4. 80x80mm - or 3 x 3 in - This is the typical case fan size. Almost all PC cases nowadays have holes or provisions for at least one or two 80mm fans on them. Some aftermarket heatsinks also sport this fan size.

5. 92x92mm - or 3.5 x 3.5 in - Some high-end cases, noticeably the ones coming from Casetek use this fan size for case cooling. this is also the favorite fan size of high-end aftermarket heatsinks for the past years, only as of late have they been replaced by 120mm-fan heatsinks.

6. 120x120mm - or 4 x 4 in - This is the current best choice for enthusiasts. High-end cases often sport at least one 120mm in them, with the really huge towers accommodating up to 3 or 4. The best aftermarket heatsinks also use this fan size for cooling due to it's extremely large airflow. The Scythe Ninja and Thermaltake big Typhoon are examples of such.     


2. Speed, Airflow And Noise

As with all things in life, nothing comes free. This is the same with fan technology. The faster a fan spins, the more air it pushes, and consequently, the noisier it will get. That's one thing I have repeated dozens of times when responding to inquiries. Different people have different tolerances for noise, thus, it's important to obtain the fan that suits your noise-levels, while not scrimping on performance.

Speed is measured in Rotations Per Minute (RPM). The higher the RPM of a fan, the more air it pushes, which leads me to...

Airflow is measured in Cubic feet per Minute (CFM). This literally is a rate of how much cubic feet of air a fan can push while running for one minute. CFM can vary anywhere from 5-15cfm (for 40mm sizes) to as much as 150-200cfm (for those 120mm monsters). As such, the higher the CFM of a fan, the higher its noise level will be.

Noise is measured in Decibel Amperes, or Decibels for short (dBA). The most often problem in measuring noise is that some manufacturers grossly "exaggerate" their claims on the noise levels (and sometimes airflow rate) of their fans, especially those catering to the general PC user populace. Industrial fan manufacturers meanwhile, cannot scrimp on this information since mission-critical applications and workplaces depend on these specs of theirs.


Thus, the baseline I'll use is that of fans made by Delta Electronics, a well known industrial blower fan manufacturer whose fans often cater to high-end, high-speed PC enthusiasts.

3. General Airflow Categories

5-10cfm - Only applicable to small 40mm fans. Hardly felt at all with larger fan sizes.
20-30cfm - The normal range for most generic 80mm fans. Pretty weak, hardly felt on one's hand if exposed directly to the fan's airflow.

45-50cfm - Fast 80mm fans are at this speed. Not too noisy, but very good for case cooling.
- Medium speed 92mms.
- Very slow and silent 120mms. Generic, Quad LED and UV Reactive 120mms are also found here

60-75cfm - Ultra-fast 80mm fans, usually for aftermarket heatsinks. The Thermaltake Volcano 12 fan and Smart Case Fan 2 are at this level. Extremely noisy too.
- Fast 92mms are found within this airflow rates. These are best used as heatsink fans. Good airflow at a tolerable noise level.
- Slow-Medium speed 120mms are found here, as well as the top-end QuadLED and UVRs.
75-90cfm - Extremely Fast 92mms.
- Medium-speed 120mms. Best for cases or silent aftermarket heatsinks.

90-110cfm - Ultra-speed 92mms. Extremely Fast. Extremely Noisy.
- Fast 120mms. Medium noise levels. Best for high-performance heatsinks. Could be used as an alternative desk fan too. lol.

120-150cfm - Very Fast 120mm fans are the only ones generally found in this bracket, as no readily available 92mm or lower-size fan can push such tremendous amounts of air. High Noise Levels at extremely fast speeds. Recommended only for those serious air-cooling addicts.


4. Air Pressure, Fan Blades And Fan Depth

I grouped these three properties together since they're often the factors that affect one another.

Air pressure - In layman's terms, air pressure is the measurement of how strong the airflow coming from the fan is, or how strong a fan can suck/push air. High air pressure is important when cooling restrictive environments, such as heatsinks with a lot of fins, or when trying to suck up air through fan filters. Having a higher air pressure will increase a fan's noise level a bit, with the tradeoff of having generally better performance.

Fan blades - If you notice, fans often come with a multitude of blades to push air. The number of blades connected to the rotor mechanism ranges from 3 blades up to 9 blades (for standard 80-120mm models), and even up to 20 or more blades (for smaller size models). The number of blades directly affect how much air a fan can push and how much air pressure its airflow exerts. Having a lower number of blades would increase a fan's air pressure, while decreasing the fan's total airflow. While conversely, having more blades would increase a fan's airflow, while decreasing the air pressure it exerts.

Fan depth - Fans aren't just stuck with the normal depth (or thickness) of 25mm which is the norm for case fans. The possible values range from 10mm (for those thin 40mm fans) up to 38 or even 76mm (for 120mm high-speed ones). Aside from the convenience of mounting thinner fans, the depth measurement also has a direct effect on the air pressure the fan exerts. The deeper a fan is, the more air pressure it exerts. The trade-off would be a little additional noise, as well as some mounting incompatibilities due to the bigger fan.

So the rule of thumb would be, assuming equivalent rpm:

A. The more blades a fan has, the less air pressure it exerts, while providing more airflow.
B. The deeper a fan is, the more air pressure it exerts, while having a slightly higher noise level.

As one could see, there's trend in all these.. with airflow, speed, air pressure and noise all balancing themselves out...