3$ card Cooler

[Volund]

tools: scissors, drill
materials: 2: 80mm fans, zip ties, screws
difficulty: Easy

guide text:


Introduction
Please read our http://www.d3scene.com/forum/case-mod-guides/14477-warning.html before attempting the following mod. This guide will show you how you can make your very own card cooler for under 3 dollars. There is very little experience to do this mod and it is a very useful one too. If you are interested in making your own card cooler for a very small amount of money, this guide is for you.



The fans are 1.25 each at bestbyte.net. That is where I got these exact ones. That leaves 50 cents for zip ties, and for this project you only need 4. Zip ties can be found at Radioshack.

Directions-
Place the two fans together so that the wires are as close together as possible and start zip tying the two fans together like so:



The best way to get the tightest clamp form your zipties is to first heat them up. This can be done by placing them in fairly hot water for about 30 seconds. Another faster and equally effective way to warm up your zip ties is to use a blow dryer and blow some hot air onto the ziptie for about 30 seconds. If you start to smell melting plastic, then you went too far.

After the zipties are warmed up, they are noticeably more pliable, and soft. Before the ziptie cools off, zip it on as tightly as possible.

Mounting method 1 After the zipties are in place, mount the card cooler to the inside of your computer using zip ties. This can be accomplished by zip-tying the card cooler to the back of the computer. The case I was using has ventilation holes in the back that I used for mounting the cooler. If there are no such holes in the back of your case, pull out the drill and make 4 holes like in the diagram below.




Additional Pics-
The SixPack:







Mounting method 2
Add two zip ties to the left side of the card cooler. When you put the zip ties in, make sure that the ends of the zip tie is in between the two holes like in the picture below:



Slide a metal slot cover under the zip ties, and you are almost ready.



Because there is a slight thickness to the zip ties, the slot cover may not fit very well. The screw hole needs to be bigger for the card cooler to fit This can be accomplished with a drill.



Once the hole is large enough, screw the card cooler in under your video card. Before you turn your computer on, make sure there is enough space between the video card and the cooler, so you won't have anything chopped up by either one of the fans. plug the thing in and test your wonderful three dollar creation!

title: Three Dollar Card Cooler
url: Three Dollar Card Cooler PC Mod Guide - Creative Mods: PC Mods, Case Mods, Pictures, Guides, Forums, Reviews and more
category: other
date created: 2003-10-12 03:20:01
date modified: 2006-08-26 19:21:27

[hendricius]

Lol. Crazy. I have never seen that many coolers on one card. What do you need them for? Isn't aqua cooling better then? Thanks for sharing . *drops the rep-hammer*.

[Volund]

Water cooling is more effective, yes, but, It also is VERY costly to start doing (more than the price of the graphics card generally). This is a cheep and easy way to cool out your cards, with minimum upkeep.