Im new.
Built many PCs before but never a SFF. Didn't see the appeal until now. I have done the big box builds with RGBs - everyone was doing it - so I wanted to. Whenever I would sit at my desk they would literally blind me and distract me from what I was doing so I had to turn them off. Not saying RGB is bad or big boxes were bad...they just werent for me and I didnt know it. It was a good friend of mine and member here (seven7thirty30) that got me interested in SFF. Long story short - I decided to build my SFF in the Sentry 2.0 from Dr. Zaber. Love everything about it. Would love to try out the Ghost S1 some day - but for now Im very happy. Im learning as I go - just dont know a lot yet like you fine people. Like..how I should have bought a blower style card instead of the open air style GTX 1070 mini that I have. It works - so Im happy. I decided to change out the thermal pads and TIM on the PCB - and while I was doing that I wanted to know how to change the fans out as well. I did some research and it looks like most people were using zip ties to hold down 2 Noctua fans onto the heatsink? As appealing as that was I wasnt feeling it. Looks like I had to come up with another plan to get these fans on there. So I asked seven7thirty30 and he said very strong double sided tape/pad. Took that advice and went that route. So I started descontructing -
This was the before.
Time to sand, prime and paint.
I dont have a pic of it - and this isnt a DIY instructional course - but i put the 3M VHB sticky pads center on the fan place holders and placed the fans there.
Hey they spin.
Time to solder the wires from both fans together so I can hook up the mini 4 pin to the PCB. I spliced the fan wires together and then cut the mini 4 pin wires so they would match. Getting the length right was tricky but it all worked out. I used a woven tube that came with the noctua fans and some shrink wrap to make the wires look pretty. Cant see a lot of it but - you get the idea - looks clean.
So everything works. Temps are ok - not super great. Reaching 80 degrees and thats even with an undervolt - but hey Im happy. I didnt do this because I like Noctua colors - i just wanted the fans to match the shroud. Fans are usually set to auto and hover around 1500 rpms...but if Im playing something that requires more air - they max out at 2200 rpms.
Funny thing is...you cant even see the video card lol - oh well whatever. Had fun doing it. Hope you all enjoyed.
Well you can kinda see it in there.
Built many PCs before but never a SFF. Didn't see the appeal until now. I have done the big box builds with RGBs - everyone was doing it - so I wanted to. Whenever I would sit at my desk they would literally blind me and distract me from what I was doing so I had to turn them off. Not saying RGB is bad or big boxes were bad...they just werent for me and I didnt know it. It was a good friend of mine and member here (seven7thirty30) that got me interested in SFF. Long story short - I decided to build my SFF in the Sentry 2.0 from Dr. Zaber. Love everything about it. Would love to try out the Ghost S1 some day - but for now Im very happy. Im learning as I go - just dont know a lot yet like you fine people. Like..how I should have bought a blower style card instead of the open air style GTX 1070 mini that I have. It works - so Im happy. I decided to change out the thermal pads and TIM on the PCB - and while I was doing that I wanted to know how to change the fans out as well. I did some research and it looks like most people were using zip ties to hold down 2 Noctua fans onto the heatsink? As appealing as that was I wasnt feeling it. Looks like I had to come up with another plan to get these fans on there. So I asked seven7thirty30 and he said very strong double sided tape/pad. Took that advice and went that route. So I started descontructing -
This was the before.
Time to sand, prime and paint.
I dont have a pic of it - and this isnt a DIY instructional course - but i put the 3M VHB sticky pads center on the fan place holders and placed the fans there.
Hey they spin.
Time to solder the wires from both fans together so I can hook up the mini 4 pin to the PCB. I spliced the fan wires together and then cut the mini 4 pin wires so they would match. Getting the length right was tricky but it all worked out. I used a woven tube that came with the noctua fans and some shrink wrap to make the wires look pretty. Cant see a lot of it but - you get the idea - looks clean.
So everything works. Temps are ok - not super great. Reaching 80 degrees and thats even with an undervolt - but hey Im happy. I didnt do this because I like Noctua colors - i just wanted the fans to match the shroud. Fans are usually set to auto and hover around 1500 rpms...but if Im playing something that requires more air - they max out at 2200 rpms.
Funny thing is...you cant even see the video card lol - oh well whatever. Had fun doing it. Hope you all enjoyed.
Well you can kinda see it in there.
