RE: Kitchen PC & Processing power

["Andy Laurence" <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: Simon McCaughey [mailto:simonmcc@xxxxxxx]
> Im using the "new" skins, which are heavier, but I like
them, and want to
> continue using them, so I'd prefer to up performance rather than
optimise
> software :)

Ahhh, that makes more sense.  Can't think of a solution to that one ;-)

> yip, that's another reason for Intel, at least it shouldn't break. I
love
> your air duct idea - that sounds like fun :)

Yeah, sounds like fun, but it becomes an obsession.  You start placing your
ears by the case to see if you can hear anything.  You can try are rubber
mounting the fans too (if you don't remove them).  It's all about
aerodynamics though - the less the air has to make sharp turns the better. 
Ideally, you'd have a tube going from the bottom of the case, past a
knife-edged heat sink with lots of surface area, and out the top and this
would cool it enough.  Go over 800MHz (C3 excepted), and you'll find this
next to impossible though.

The amount of heat your PSU has to dissipate is proportional to the amount
of power it has to supply.  For this reason, try to choose lower power
chipsets, and remove any peripherals you don't need, such as PCI cards, USB
devices, and disk drives (do you really need a floppy drive?).  Also, try
to tidy cables so they don't impede air flow, and move any unneeded parts
in the case (such as serial header cables).  You may find you can remove
the PSU fans entirely.  It's funny, we were just talking here in the office
about how everything I know is useless!

Cheers,
Andy
--
http://www.andylaurence.co.uk