Mac Pro (Early 08) Cooling options

[UncleSchnitty]

I have a Mac Pro early 08 and I was wondering what i could do to help with cooling. Any suggestions would help, aftermarket parts, thermal pastes... space is limited where my computer sits, its basically in a compartment built in the desk. ambient room temps go +85 in the summer. I currently use smcfancontrol and temps are 86f (30c) but thats with fans always running 2/3 full speed. I really want to put better thermal paste on but I honestly dont know how on these systems. As I said any help would be appreciated

 

[OS6-OSX]

I am using this in my 3.1
http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/101

 

[chiefroastbeef]

I did a CPU swap a couple months back, used arctic silver thermal paste and blew out dust from the MP. My ambient room temp right now is 75F, and my MP is at 82F while idling at medium fan speed (set via istat).

I think your temps are okay, if you are bored, just get a can of compressed air and start blowing out dust. Take the CPU tray out, and spray the CPU heatsink housing.

You can try to reapply the thermal paste with arctic silver, but I'd doubt you'll see any difference.

Since you mentioned that your MP is in a compartment, maybe you should think about how to get more air flow into and out of that compartment as well.

 

[Tesselator]

I currently use smcfancontrol and temps are 86f (30c) but thats with fans always running 2/3 full speed. I really want to put better thermal paste on but I honestly dont know how on these systems.

What temps are 30˚C, the CPUs? That's quite low. And at Apple's default speeds what are the temps? I guess you don't need any extra cooling - even in an 85˚F room.

You apply thermal paste like you would on any other system: The anal way of rubbing in a super thin layer first and the casual way of applying a line across and smooshing it. In both cases don't use bare fingers, don't use too much, and clean the two surfaces with alcohol or acetone. On how to remove the heat-sinks just do a search.