First step in this process is to strip your case down to
the metal. You don't have to take the parts out but remove the sides, top, and
front panel. Get out the duct tape and start taping over all those holes. I
did use a knife to cut the duct tape but I was very careful not to slice my
fingers. That wasn't that hard was it? Don't get all happy yet because we have
the hard part next.
This is the front fan opening on my case. How the hell
do they expect air to flow through that? I searched around for my 7-inch
diagonal cutters (aka dikes) and fixed this problem. Warning, this part is
hard, that case metal isn't real easy to cut with dikes. I also did this to my
power supply fan opening in the same way. If you have small kids or cats I
wouldn't suggest doing the power supply ... unless ... you don't like the small
kids or cats. Here you can see the finished product with the fan hole cut out
and the holes taped over.
So what did this hour of hard work get me? My case temp
dropped about 9 degrees Fahrenheit and my lovely little Celeron 300A is once
again happy at 450mhz. Since some of you will be wondering why this article is
the "The $5.13 lazy man's case mod", here is the receipt from Home Depot for the
zip ties and duct tape.
As always we are not responsible for your lost fingers
or the lost fingers of little kids. I bet there are a lot of you out there that
just need a few basic things done to your cases to improve the temperature.
Remember that the lower the case temperature means that the CPU is being cooled
with colder air. I'm now out of beer so you guys have fun. I've got to run to
the store and stock up on beer.