Zalman Coolers Easy Mod - Focused Airflow

Zalman Coolers Easy Mod - Focused Airflow

Here is a simple mod to help your Zalman cooler be even better.

This mod is intended to help focus airflow to the components that need the cooling.

Although leaving the cooler at stock is fine too if you like to have the entire notebook bottom to have airflow.
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Warning (for dial up folks): 2mb flash file.

:wink: Video Here (SWF) Mirror (SWF) :wink:
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Youtube Mirror
<object width='425' height='350'> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QVWk2ywIsWw"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QVWk2ywIsWw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width='425' height='350'> </embed> </object>

I was bored yesterday, so I just made this quick tutorial.

Tell me if you cannot see the vid (so I'll upload it to Youtube) or if you want me to edit something

Game On People,
-Gophn

P.S. I give you props if you can guess the song. (hint: old skool gamers will probably get this)

 

Gophn it aint working.

 

Fixed. Linked it instead.

Going to make a mirror in Youtube as well.

 

I might try it with my notepal infinte! i am about to open it up to clean it anyway haha.

 

thats a good point.

but for my gaming notebook, i need as much cooling on the videocard and CPU as possible.

 

Nice production.

I think that cooling off the entire bottom of the laptop makes more sense though. Two points.

1. even with the "focused airflow mod" you're not forcing anymore air into the fan inlets than the system fans can draw in without them.

2. You have created more restriction against airflow which may actually reduce the amount of cool air reaching the inlets of your laptop. If you felt really anal you could measure the open vs closed mesh surface areas of your outlets. I'm guessing that each focused hole is about 25-33% blocked against airflow. The mesh counts, thats why firefighters rip out mesh screens when they're venting rooms.

The overall problem I see is that you can't prove this mod works without a way to measure the amount of air going into your laptop and the amount of air coming out of the cooling pad. If you could then all you need to do is make sure you're supplying more cool air to each inlet than it can use. The excess will continually cool down the bottom and create a washing effect, pushing the excess heat away from your laptop. But that's pretty much how the cooling pads are designed to work in the first place.

It's a great idea, though.

 

I got my temps lowered up to 5C for my CPU and 7C degrees for my GPU at full load.

idle temps varies... only 1-2C difference.

 

That sounds promising. Are the fans in the cooler decent? If you're seeing an improvment than maybe the open surface area was too much for the fans pre-mod.

 

the fans in the cooler are fine.

the open surface is fine for any general notebook bottom's design.

but having static locations of air for fans/vents is nice since it makes the airflow custom for each particular notebook.

 

The mod makes lots of sense. If the fans are pushing a certain CFM over the entire surface, then you get the same CFM outputted over a smaller area. With this mod, I am sure you can feel the air coming out much more quickly over the holes than the cooler gave prior to the mod.

 

Good Job Gophn

 

I was bored.

I think the Zalman is an "all-in-one" notebook cooler, but now it can be a custom one for each notebook as well.

 

Great idea, I'm going to use it with a Zalman NC-2000.

 

And what are the max values now?

 

Thats a thought. A lot of air goes wasted cause the cooler is bigger then my notebook.

 

gophn - do you have temp readings before the cooler, with the cooler, then with the mod?

 

I will post pics later for temps without Zalman, with the cooler (off), with the cooler (on), with the cooler (on) and custom airflow.

P.S. No one has gotten the song yet.
+ Rep if you get it.

 

Thats nice @ Gophn Thanks a lot.

I'm gonna try it on the M1530... must be one hell of a work though since the main intake is quiet some way behind the vents of the cooler... and even normally, you have to move it around a bit to make the cooling as optimal as possible.. Lets see I will try it though. Thanks again.

As for the song, I have no idea

 

um... has anyone proof that this work, im buying one soon

 

To be honest, the Zalman without a mod itself is doing its job very well.. I have the NC2000 with the M1530 and its serving its purpose very well..

And I would only assume THIS mod would make it little better because of THE mod, obviously..

 

nice Gophn, but you should just do some simple mods to cool temperatures even more.

Just do what I did and replace that crappy SamLam/Arx Cera Dynafan in the memory bay, for a 60 x 15mm high end EBM PAPST (the 605F). It cuts overall temperatures by over 60F on the harddrives, and keeps the memory, and motherboard cool. I also upgraded the harddrive cover to perforated steel (aka it has holes for air to pass through)
Before the mod, my harddrive temps would push 178F after a virus scan.
Now after the mod, my harddrives do not ever push past 116F after a virus scan.
I just upgraded to the 7K320 drives from Hitachi and now my harddrive peak is around 112F.
That 17.1cfm papst blows away the ~3cfm stock fan.

There is nothing like a EBM PAPST fan
I have no need for a store bought laptop cooler

K-TRON

 

it will not help at all by making the covers out of metal. The reason being is that metal is conductive, and you dont want that touching any of the laptop components. I have long felt strips making a grid on the bottom of the perforated steel cover I made, so that no matter what the metal cannot short on the harddrive.

K-TRON

 

Could you take a pic of that panel and the laptop with the mod?
I`m curious to see as to how it affects the look and all...

 

here is the image of the memory bay cover, before and after:
As you can see, I increased the size of the hole, so that my Papst could breathe better. I also removed the silly metal screen which went over the stock fan.





My EBM PAPST 605F:


Comparison of Papst 605F to stock fan, as you can see its revolutionary in terms of performance:


My laptop base, with the custom harddrive and memory bay:
(notice the memory cover sticks up 7.5mm above the rest of the laptop covers. Well I custom made a continual spacer for the cover out of plexiglas, so that I could fit the thicker PAPST fan.)



K-TRON

 

OMG K-Tron.....

that thing looks beastly.

just looking at the custom feet is scary enough.

 

Thanks Gophn, the feet (originally designed for power washers and generatos to prevent engine and pump vibrations) work very well to keep air running under my system. The Papst and custom covers really work too, as my harddrives used to run at 180F, and now run less than 120F.

Plus the feet, make my system much taller, making it even bigger
The feet in the back are also taller than the ones in the front, which makes typing easier.

K-TRON

 

Isn't it one off one of the levels for Sonic 3 (Genesis)? I'm not sure of the exact one though (as it's remixed a bit), but I think it's for the Ice Zone (forgot its actual name) .

Anyway, I use a Zalman cooler so I might give this a go. What's the best way to hold it on, double sided tape?

 

+ rep.

you are correct. It is a remix of a Sonic 3 stage song (Ice Cap Zone). I thought it was kind of fitting since we are talking about cooling.


As for holding it down, I do not use any tape, my notebook's feet and weight holds down the cardboard perfectly.

 

So Gophn, have you posted temps yet or did I miss those?

 

I need time to do it.

I am not home or in one place too long.

 

Hi Gophn,

Thanks for loading up your .swf file on YouTube ... I downloaded it ... and Rated you.

BTW, what program did you use to create your .SWF video file?

Thanks,

G!

 

may i know is this zalman NC1000 (or 2000) suitable for hp pavillion tx2500z?was searching a good cooler for tx2500z. my lappy just too hot T_T

 

lets see the bottom of that notebook....



The Zalman NC1000 seems to be good for this notebook... from the vents lining up with the cooler's surface.

 

I like the mod and my Zalman's on the way. Lucky for me, I've got access to a sheet metal shop and will make my custom template from aluminum, paint with high-temp paint. Will post back with temps, using mod and without mod.
Nice job Gophn !

 

looking forward to temp comparisons.

 

hey nice idea, will it break the cooler tho?

 

Honestly, thinking in terms airflow, you will be creating a lot of turbulence inside of the device which will lower its efficiency, thus not resulting in anything better than before. If the device had specific fans the side of the holes below them then it would work fine...but im not buying this idea.

Neither is my engineering degree

 

Does this accually work? :S

 

i object!!

i would think the output will noticeably more powerful if not significantly.

input is same but the holes which air can go out have been reduced, so the pressure in the box will increase leading to air output with higher pressure..

that's what i think.. i think it should make a big difference

 

He posted it nearly half a year ago, by the way. In any case, I believe this varies in different situations. Not really sure about this cooler specifically, but more pressure inside doesn't necessarily mean good always. Like he said, it could create turbulence inside. Or like Gophn said, this could significantly help with cooling.

Of course, we won't know until an engineer tests with this cooler and states the result.