Anatomy of a W3V

hey guys,

I'm trying to get a feel for how the airflow for the W3V works (making sure i'm not blocking vents when I move it around). At first I thought it was just a simple 1 fan design drawing air from the bottom and blowing it out the right side. However, I noticed there weren't any vents for air to enter from the bottom.

I looked around the unit and noticed thin slot-like vents on the front right overhangs (just below the speakers) Now i'm thinking that the fan draws air form those vents, routes it around the hard drive before cooling the CPU. But, I couldn't feel any form of suction from those vents at all.

My question is where is the air coming from, and which components are actively cooled and which are passively cooled (mainly CPU, HD, Vid card). Also, where are the locations for each? I know the CPU is on the upper right and the Hard Drive is under the right palm rest, but where is the video card?

 

Enough air is coming through the keyboard to keep the system running.

The cpu is cooled through a heatpipe design that is attached to a fan. That fan has an aluminum housing that reaches over and covers the cpu. The heat from the gpu goes across the aluminum and is dissipated by the fan..... similar to a heatpipe design, but really ingenious for the smaller space.

 

Ok, so the system actually draws air from below the keyboard instead of under the system? So running it with the lid close could cause problems? do the slot vents by the hard drive do anything then?

If the GPU shares the same active cooling system as the CPU, that could explain why i saw a slight temperature drop according the CHC when i put powerplay to max battery =]

 

Yes, it also explains what the air is so hot coming out of the vent as the cpu and gpu's heat is expelled in one place. The fan isn't stressed at all that any could hear, so it is getting air. Other systems have used similiar methods. Some may say that you can't get any air through the keyboard, but I'd beg to differ. If you remove the keyboard there is a large open area right above the fan and it's the only place it can be pulling from.

 

hrmm... I noticed that the Z63 has actual vent slots underneath the fan. AFAIK, it should be the same fan / heat design as the W3V, do those help at all?

the hard drive is still passively cooled then?

 

A little air is drawn in through the slots in front of the HDD. Asus planned to have more ventilation of the HDD - see page 18 of the hardware manual - but reduced the number of slots on the production version. In addition cooling slots under the CPU that are shown in the manual do not exist in reality on my W3A (same as Z63A). However the CPU stays cool enough.

In my view it is unfortunate that Asus did not give sufficient attention to effective cooling of the HDD. Apart from the obvious effect of the warm palm rest, the HDD is also running hotter than is desirable.

John

 

hrmm strange. I wonder why asus decided to take it out.. dust problems?
Now i'm curious as to whether or not those vents underneath the fan would make a difference. forcing the fan to draw air from the keyboard just sounds like it's choking it.

I wonder if asus has a parts department where I can order an extra cover panel, then drill holes in it or something and see if it makes a difference.

--hey justin, do you sell parts?

 

knees would block any air from getting to them..... I don't have those hard drive covers right now, but yes, we usually always have parts.

 

actually I was talking about the CPU / memory cover, not the hard drive one (sidenote: what is with that HUGE rubber pad under the hard drive cover)

Let me know when you have those in stock, I'll order one and try this out as long as it's not rediciously overpriced like some other parts *cough*OEM BMW parts*cough*