Ghetto Laptop cooler

[silverphoenix]

Inspired by R carter ( http://www.xoxideforums.com/worklog-...ce-laptop.html ) I went out to walmart today and found a mesh folder thingee for $4. I had two spare delta 120mm fans, and found an old 9V power adapter that can supply a whopping 5 amps max. And if there is one thing I can say I love Zip Ties. This whole thing is held together by zip ties. The cpu temps haven't really dropped since the laptops fan spools up and down, but the hdd temps have gone from 52 to 36C. This is awesome since the last hdd in there died from overheating...

[Knight]

Nice creation.

Wow that is a very impressive decrease in HDD temps.

[Okda]

very nice indeed

good for crunchers and folders

[STEvil]

Cool.

Might have to build something similar for mine as a new base...

[tiro_uspsss]

awesome! i love it!

[hecktic]

thats cool

[Chewbenator]

Wow that is slick, pretty much better than any laptop coolers on the market and its home made.

[ineedaname]

WOOOOOOOOOOOO doesn't look ghetto to me. Infact it looks pretty nice

[Start]

Nice, but the only concern is won't the power adapter get a little warm or its not drawing enough power to get warm?

[Levish]

At 9.5v they are probably drawing 1-3w a piece.

I really doubt it gets warm enough to be a concern considering there will be some airflow, as indirect as it may be, by the fans.

At 9.5v those two 12cm fans probably move 2-3x as much air as the 70 or 80mm fans running at 5v most laptop coolers use while being just as quiet or more quiet if you use something like YL SL's.

[silverphoenix]

I can't hear the fans at all, esp when the laptop is on it there is almost no sound. My friend has the vantec cooler and on that one I can't feel any air moving whatsever... This one I can definately feel a good bit of air from all sides of the laptop. The power adapter barely get's warm, it was used to power a Giant 80's Camcorder, rated for 5 amps, the fans draw somewhere around .4 amps each.

[synergy]

Sweet! I like it. I'm tempted to make one.

What are the dimensions of that mesh tub you're using?
Maybe I'll get the exact same one if it's a good fit for my
laptop.

Does yours rest nicely on the rubber feet? Are the feet
stock on the mesh thing, or did you add them?

Only thing that'd be nicer for me is some way so that
the bottom of the cooler would work well either on a
desk/table or if I moved it onto my lap which it wouldn't
be so good for since it's not a flat / pliant surface
underneath. I'll think of something to do for that use
and maybe have a tabletop model and a lap model.

I'll have to recycle an old AC adapter for power and
use some of the spare 60mm fans I have and it should
work nicely. I've been running Prime95 lately
to test a RAM upgrade for the laptop and it certainly
does get kind of HOT when run for hours even when
the CPU speed is kicked down to 1/2 or low, so this
would help a lot!

[zaim]

lmao you are a smart one

[silverphoenix]

Sweet! I like it. I'm tempted to make one.

What are the dimensions of that mesh tub you're using?
Maybe I'll get the exact same one if it's a good fit for my
laptop.

Does yours rest nicely on the rubber feet? Are the feet
stock on the mesh thing, or did you add them?

Only thing that'd be nicer for me is some way so that
the bottom of the cooler would work well either on a
desk/table or if I moved it onto my lap which it wouldn't
be so good for since it's not a flat / pliant surface
underneath. I'll think of something to do for that use
and maybe have a tabletop model and a lap model.

I'll have to recycle an old AC adapter for power and
use some of the spare 60mm fans I have and it should
work nicely. I've been running Prime95 lately
to test a RAM upgrade for the laptop and it certainly
does get kind of HOT when run for hours even when
the CPU speed is kicked down to 1/2 or low, so this
would help a lot!

Not sure of the size of the mesh box thing, I got it at walmart, its a tad larger than my inspiron 6400, so i'd say 16". The rubber feet came with the folder box. There is plenty of space underneath for clearance so I can probably put some crossmembers so it can be used on uneven surfaces. I used 120mm fans since they move more air and cover more area, the deltas produce nice pressure and there is about a good 1-2cm gap so plenty of air movement.

[Soulburner]

That's interesting...we tried the Zalman (one of the best laptop coolers) on the same type of Dell notebook (E1505) and the CPU temp actually rose.

Might be worth it to some with hot hard drives though, I for some reason didn't think to check that. I didn't know of a tool at the time that could, either.

[little_scrapper]

For it to be truely "ghetto" it would of had to be made out of one of those free FedEX boxes or something similarily cardboard.

[Marco André]

Very nice!

[silverphoenix]

That's interesting...we tried the Zalman (one of the best laptop coolers) on the same type of Dell notebook (E1505) and the CPU temp actually rose.

Might be worth it to some with hot hard drives though, I for some reason didn't think to check that. I didn't know of a tool at the time that could, either.

My cpu temps recently rose but not due to the cooler, its due to the new BIOS update for the dell laptops, it spins the internal fans far less. I use HDtune to measure hdd temps, most hdds should have a thermoprobe built in. Even without it there is a definate temp drop by the keyboard, goes from almost burning hand to cool to touch.

[Soulburner]

On the top? That's strange, our E1505 barely even gets warm.

[mylove2007]

thanks good job

[inCore]

One could fry eggs on the touchpad of my friend's Inspiron. My brother's doesn't get quite as warm but nowhere as cool as my XPS, which gets hot on the bottom instead.

Good mod though.

[Zigosity]

That thing's sweet. I might build something similar for my mother's Toshiba, but somehow I don't think my Eee pc needs one : P. I get ambient temps on the cores anyway and none of it warms up, ever.

-Zigosity

[TedShred]

wow, that's a great idea. Nice job!

I bet that does as good a job as most anything on the market.

[pur]

Reminds me of MacGyver

[fatguy1992]

Awesome - I like