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The D.I.Y cooling system of my hybrid Mac Pro 2010 (12 cores)

solaris8x86

solaris8x86

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 24, 2007
235
64
Saturn
Today, my Mac Pro 2010 has been upgraded as the follows:

It is now with a front dust filter and 4 wheels. So it can be moved around the apartment more easily and sucking less dust. It is as heavy as a tank, you know...:D

img4545j.jpg




It is now also with additional 3 x fans for the HDDs and PCIe compartment. Each of it has 10,000rpm which is 7.14 times extra-stronger than the original build-in fans (just 1,400rpm). The temperature of the hard drives has dropped sharply from 42'c to 34'c degree :D (hahhahaha, really cool. But a bit noisy. Not recommend if you place your Mac in your bed room).

img4543x.jpg



1 x fan deployed under the HDD Bay-1 (front) to suck-in fresh air from the outside, like a RAM-Jet engine of the combat aircraft; and 2 more fans deployed under the HDD Bay 3 & 4. Which are used to cool down the both hard drives and the Areca RAID Controller. The whole compartment is now a Jet-stream tunnel. Note that I installed an additional black color dust-sink on top of each fan to protect the cable/wire; or my fingers not accidentally to be sucked it when the cover is open:D. They are 10,000rpm after all.;)

img4540c.jpg



The stand of the fan is self-make. The cost of materials of this DIY solution used:
  • L angle metal stand (3 pairs) = USD$1.54
  • 3.0' inch 10,000rpm fan x 3 = USD$19.26
  • 3.0' black color dust filter x 3 = USD$3.47

The constant temperature of the hard drives during normal operation has dropped -8'c degree totally. Their life time should be prolonged now:D.
I recommend this solution to those whose live in South Pacific, South Arica or South America during extra-hot summer.

img4548i.jpg
 
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Why do you wheel your computer around?

Apple have these new portable computers coming soon, they're going to call them "laptops". I hear they'll be all the rage when they come out around 2002.
 
wa5655 said:
How are the fans been powered? Are those 80mm or 92mm fans? thanks.
Click to expand...

I made a "Y" power cord (that black-thin heat proof cable with the yellow head) and split off the SATA power port from the BD-ROM compartment. The power cord just gets behind the Backplane board and get out from the HDD Bay-1 beautifully. They are 3' inch fans (80mm at 10,000rpm).


HellDiverUK said:
Why do you wheel your computer around?

Apple have these new portable computers coming soon, they're going to call them "laptops". I hear they'll be all the rage when they come out around 2002.
Click to expand...

It is too heavy. I can't move it. I am so weak. So having these wheels are much more safely when I move it from Room-A to Room-B. Or from Room-B to the bath room.:D :D :D



Lagmonster said:
Sharp looking wheels!
Click to expand...

The wheel set for Mac Pro is here (outstanding, it comes with a hand-brake lever):D:

img2168lh.jpg
 
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My point was, why do you want to move a workstation around? Workstations are designed to be taken out of the box, sat on the ground and never moved.

Rolling it around is asking for a trashed hard-drive, loose CPU heatsinks, etc.
 
HellDiverUK said:
My point was, why do you want to move a workstation around? Workstations are designed to be taken out of the box, sat on the ground and never moved.

Rolling it around is asking for a trashed hard-drive, loose CPU heatsinks, etc.
Click to expand...

The whole reason for the handles on the top of the Mac Pro/PowerMac G5, G4, G3 enclosures was to make it easier for them to be moved around. Steve Jobs has spoken about that in more than one keynote.

I really don't see how a workstation being gently rolled around on those is going to lead to the problems you're talking about. It's not like it is being shaken.
 
HellDiverUK said:
My point was, why do you want to move a workstation around? Workstations are designed to be taken out of the box, sat on the ground and never moved.

Rolling it around is asking for a trashed hard-drive, loose CPU heatsinks, etc.
Click to expand...

Don't you understand. The era has changed. Mac Pro is not only for work but also for play, as a toy after the office hour. Like a horse. So I ride on it sometimes. :D:D:D:D:D
 
It is now also with additional 3 x fans for the HDDs and PCIe compartment. Each of it has 10,000rpm which is 7.14 times extra-stronger than the original build-in fans (just 1,400rpm). The temperature of the hard drives has dropped sharply from 42'c to 34'c degree (hahhahaha, really cool. But a bit noisy. Not recommend if you place your Mac in your bed room).
Click to expand...

I suppose this is fine if you can put up with the additional noise. But if you're working in an environment (like sound mixing) where extraneous system noise is a bad thing, well...

Personally, I would have found a way to put the dust filter behind the front panel instead in front of it. But that's simply from an aesthetics point of view.

But I do like how you did the casters on the bottom. Not something I would necessarily do, but it's very clean.

The whole reason for the handles on the top of the Mac Pro/PowerMac G5, G4, G3 enclosures was to make it easier for them to be moved around. Steve Jobs has spoken about that in more than one keynote.
Click to expand...

Point taken, but when you take a Mac Pro and fill it to the brim with hardware, you're looking at a machine that weighs 50-55 lbs and the edges of those handles, while not sharp enough to cut you, dig into your hands rather uncomfortably. For that reason, I lift my Mac Pro from the bottom when I have to move it.
 
why not this?

I have dust...everywhere....seems the universe is one giant dust bowl and a fair old % ends up in my computer room....:rolleyes:
But I'd rather go for a clean-air box, that way I get clean-air to breathe, less allergies, less sneezes and a clean computer insides.
I must dust my innards at least once every two months.
 
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