I can almost hear the laughter now.
I know it may be perceived as ridiculous.
The reduction in temps don't make me laugh, but they do make me smile.
For starters, other than removing the top, no mods were made to the UT3, it's case or top.
I am not using the UT3's fan circuit, as I wanted to be able to exceed the 5 volts@100ma(modded max) provided by the UT3's fan header. The fan I used is about 70ma@5vdc. Plus, I'm keeping the original fan in place in the event of the big fan's failure(only reason the UT3's fan would ever turn on). Later I might make a PWM thermal controller for fan speed control and power it independently from the UT3. The fan is a 12 volt type, 120mm x 25mm. I also plan to extend the UT3's rubber feet(might use 4 suction cups instead) to give a little more room for air to enter the bottom. But truthfully, it works fine just the way it is, I can hardly justify more effort.
This is of course, a rough prototype. It works great, but I want to improve the appearance a bit. I saw a fan on the net that was 120mm x 15mm, The lower profile might improve the looks(though it looks better than it does in the pic). The Grill was cut from a 6.5" perforated metal car speaker grill. Careful working with that perforated metal. It will cut you if you look at it wrong! Just ask my thumb. I didn't even know I was cut until I noticed blood on the grill and fan chassis.
Anyway, I also need to do a little finish work on the fan chassis and grill(file, sand, paint).
The fan is drawing air out/up. Though it works slightly better blowing down, the difference is very little and I wanted to discourage dust from entering the UT3.
A ridiculous mod and maybe even a little goofy looking. But a big fan turning low rpm, results in great cooling and virtually no noise at 5 volts. Barely any noise at 9 volts. What noise it does produce is not as distracting as a faster turning fan. At 9 volts, it's more of a softly whispered "whuuuuh" sound than a higher pitched "whirring". Even at very low-volume listening levels, the fan is not audible to the audience. Most of the noise comes from the grill. I was reluctant to use the multi-ring grill usually used with this type of fan. The risk of FOD was too great, though that grill was quieter.
Through several runs of Antutu and it's stability and video tests, temps briefly(2-4 seconds) peak at 52C, but most of the time during testing, temps were about 48C. It idles about 30-34C. Playing Big Buck Bunny 1080p several times never saw temps over 38C. Cool down to idle temps is very rapid, 30-40 seconds or less. Room temp was approx. 22.2C(72F). Temps shown were indicated by the UT3's temp display. Antutu score was 38097.
BTW I am glad I opened the UT3, as evidently, the fan had come loose during shipping. When I received the UT3, I thought I heard something rattle around when I took it out of it's box. After unpacking the rest of the box, I picked up the UT3 and gave it a little jiggle and heard nothing, I assumed I had heard the rattle in error. Turns out the fan had come loose but had re-stuck itself on one corner and far out of alignment. Heatsink seemed misaligned too, but still covered the CPU.
O.K. Let the ridicule begin.....
I know it may be perceived as ridiculous.The reduction in temps don't make me laugh, but they do make me smile.
For starters, other than removing the top, no mods were made to the UT3, it's case or top.
I am not using the UT3's fan circuit, as I wanted to be able to exceed the 5 volts@100ma(modded max) provided by the UT3's fan header. The fan I used is about 70ma@5vdc. Plus, I'm keeping the original fan in place in the event of the big fan's failure(only reason the UT3's fan would ever turn on). Later I might make a PWM thermal controller for fan speed control and power it independently from the UT3. The fan is a 12 volt type, 120mm x 25mm. I also plan to extend the UT3's rubber feet(might use 4 suction cups instead) to give a little more room for air to enter the bottom. But truthfully, it works fine just the way it is, I can hardly justify more effort.
This is of course, a rough prototype. It works great, but I want to improve the appearance a bit. I saw a fan on the net that was 120mm x 15mm, The lower profile might improve the looks(though it looks better than it does in the pic). The Grill was cut from a 6.5" perforated metal car speaker grill. Careful working with that perforated metal. It will cut you if you look at it wrong! Just ask my thumb. I didn't even know I was cut until I noticed blood on the grill and fan chassis.
Anyway, I also need to do a little finish work on the fan chassis and grill(file, sand, paint).
The fan is drawing air out/up. Though it works slightly better blowing down, the difference is very little and I wanted to discourage dust from entering the UT3.
A ridiculous mod and maybe even a little goofy looking. But a big fan turning low rpm, results in great cooling and virtually no noise at 5 volts. Barely any noise at 9 volts. What noise it does produce is not as distracting as a faster turning fan. At 9 volts, it's more of a softly whispered "whuuuuh" sound than a higher pitched "whirring". Even at very low-volume listening levels, the fan is not audible to the audience. Most of the noise comes from the grill. I was reluctant to use the multi-ring grill usually used with this type of fan. The risk of FOD was too great, though that grill was quieter.
Through several runs of Antutu and it's stability and video tests, temps briefly(2-4 seconds) peak at 52C, but most of the time during testing, temps were about 48C. It idles about 30-34C. Playing Big Buck Bunny 1080p several times never saw temps over 38C. Cool down to idle temps is very rapid, 30-40 seconds or less. Room temp was approx. 22.2C(72F). Temps shown were indicated by the UT3's temp display. Antutu score was 38097.
BTW I am glad I opened the UT3, as evidently, the fan had come loose during shipping. When I received the UT3, I thought I heard something rattle around when I took it out of it's box. After unpacking the rest of the box, I picked up the UT3 and gave it a little jiggle and heard nothing, I assumed I had heard the rattle in error. Turns out the fan had come loose but had re-stuck itself on one corner and far out of alignment. Heatsink seemed misaligned too, but still covered the CPU.
O.K. Let the ridicule begin.....
Comment