A chilling tale

[be18driver]

After reading a number of threads regarding the temperature problems associated with the DTIVO units I decided that along with the larger hard drive & 252xtreme update that I would add extra cooling to my SAT T-60 unit. I had aready done this to my RCA Ultimate TV box so I felt that this would be no problem. It was a little harder but only slightly. The big question is where do you want to mount the fan. I wanted the fan to be inside the case not external as I had seen in another thread. The easist place would be in the area where the second hard drive mounts but only if you were going to stick with just one hard drive. I currently have only one WD 120BB HD but I did not want to rule out the possiblity of adding another down the road. There is just enough space beween the # 1 satellite input connector/tuner and the # 2 A/V connector for a 80mm fan but you must layout the holes VERY carefully and accurately. I used a variable speed fan controlled by a built in temperature sensor just as I had used on my RCA Ultimate box. The fan Is approximately 3.125 x 3.125 x 1 inch and is so quiet I don't hear it running at all. The fan I used was a 80 mm case fan p/n 148 0100 from cyberguys.com with a fan guard and filter p/n 148 0265 total cost $8.44 + shipping. A smaller fan would certainly be easier to install but because of my past experience with this fan I decided the extra work of precision layout would be worth it. My Sat T-60 unit runs at a consistant 41 degrees C with NO fan noise.

[be18driver]

Sorry but I have not figured out how to do multiable attachments.
1/4

[be18driver]

Sorry but I have not figured out how to do multiable attachments.
2/4

[be18driver]

Sorry but I have not figured out how to do multiable attachments.
3/4

[be18driver]

Sorry but I have not figured out how to do multiable attachments.
4/4

[Godlike]

Looks Great! A hell of a lot better than what I did to my Tivo!

A word of advice though , I dropped the temps in my tivo by taking a dremel to an old pentium pro fan and cut the heatsink into 4ths.

I used Arctic Silver Thermal Apoxy to "glue" the heatsinks to the PPC and MPEG chips. Works like a charm.

[slinkydink]

I also put heatsinks on the processors. It helps keep the heat off the bottom of the tivo's case (which before became very, very hot)

A cheap trick to drop a few degrees on the hd, is to put a very small bead of thermal goop onto the bottom edges of the hd (where the hd has contact with the bracket). Then install the hd(s) onto the bracket mount. Wipe off any extra thermal paste that squeezed out after everything is screwed down tight. The point of this is that the hd bracket acts like a heatsink, allowing a small amount of heat to transfer away from the hd.

It does help a little. on my unit with two drives the bracket is now really warm all the time (from some heat that was in the hd's)

Not a huge mod, but it is noticable and cost nothing to do.

[BubbleLamp]

If your fan is pulling air out the top, it's probably decreasing the airflow over the power supply heat sink, since it's going against the stock fan's flow. I'd be more worried about the PS temps than the drives.

[labtech92]

I did much the same a while back except my fan was on the outside. I had the same concerns with the power supply so my fan circulated from outside to inside...it blew air in instead of out. When I added my second hard drive I ran into another problem that I finally attributed to too much power being drawn between two hard drives and the fan. My DSR6000 would reboot unexpectedly several times a day. It stopped doing it when I disconnected the fan and has not done it since. I ran the fan off of an AC adapter for a while...now I just run it with the cover off, no fan except for the stock internal, and I usually run about 44-45C. No problem because you really have to get withing a few feet of it to notice the cover is off.