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Oi's MDD

O

oi!

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Original poster
Jan 10, 2016
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Today, I spent a few hours modding the PSU in my (currently) spare MDD.
It's a single 1.25Ghz tha I plan to upgrade to dual 1.33Ghz in the not too distant future.

So, the upgrade...
I removed the front and rear screws from PSU, slid it out, and began unscrewing the top. One side was easy, the other was a pain in the butt, so I unplugged the main plug from the bother board for some more slack and finished taking off the top.
I unplugged the fans, unplugged the main power socket, and jiggled the cover free.
Unscrewed the earth.
Removed the cover.
Removed the old fans (Nidec TA225DC).
Cut out the flat stamped crosshairs finger guards with a dermal. They didn't look good for smooth airflow. Then smoothed off the rough edge, also with the Dermal.
I used superglue to protect the cut edges from corrosion, I could have used paint, but superglue was what was to hand, and I was feeling impatient.
The fans I used were the tried and tested (but not very imaginative) Everflow F126025DH, form the Thermaltake Volcano 5 heat sink.
I fitted them using silicone rubber anti-vibration pins, I fitted the wire finger guards that came with the fans, also with the same pins.
Some creativity was required, as the fans were only held in with 3 screws, not 4.
Oddly, the late PSU didn't have any of the noise isolation rubber corner pads on the fans, so I raided an early, pre Apple noise kit PSU I had on the shelf.
Very pleased with myself, I tested it to make sure it was blowing air the right way. It was.
I began reassembling the PSU, got frustrated and annoyed that I now didn't seam to have anywhere as much slack on the PSU as I'd had earlier, so stripped out the optical drive cage, both hard drive cages, and the 120mm fan.
Slack! PSU reassembled, with a little jiggling (earth wires put up a fight).
Reassembled the mac, fired it up, definitely quieter, and very definitely way, way, way quieter than the un-quietened noise maker MDD that I'm using now!



Next on the to do list...
120mm fan swap for a SilenX IXP-76-14 120x120x38mm (14db 90cfm)
Addition of Fractal Design Silent Series R3 fans. 1x 60mm, plus 1x 80mm.
CPU swap.
SATA card.
256Gb SATA SSD install.
1Tb SATA HD install (I have 4 I could install).
Graphics card upgrade.
Swap over to be my main mac.
 
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oi! said:
SilenX IXP-76-14 120x120x38mm (14db 90cfm)
Click to expand...

I highly recommend against this fan. I too put one of these in my MDD. The static pressure on it is horrendous. The specs on it look great but It will not reach 90cfm It did not exhaust hot air out the back through the heatsink. It's simply not powerful enough.

I instead used a Scythe Ultra Kaze 120x38 fan. It works wonderfully well and I have my undervolted
 
Thanks for sharing. Definitely interested in a quieter mod for my newly-acquired MDDs.
 
eyoungren said:
I'd like to own just one!

I have a FireGL X3 card just waiting for an MDD!
Click to expand...

Now I'm starting to feel guilty...:(

just kidding.:)

IMG_0220.jpg IMG_0209.jpg
 
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@ eyoungren "Sounds like it's going to be a nice system!"
I sure hope so!



@ JRDN "I highly recommend against this fan. I too put one of these in my MDD. The static pressure on it is horrendous. The specs on it look great but It will not reach 90cfm It did not exhaust hot air out the back through the heatsink. It's simply not powerful enough.

I instead used a Scythe Ultra Kaze 120x38 fan. It works wonderfully well and I have my undervolted"
I hear it's a great fan, but noisy. What are your thoughts on the noise?



@ eyoungren "I'd like to own just one!

I have a FireGL X3 card just waiting for an MDD![/I]"
At some point (fairly soon I hope) the noise monster will become surplus to requirements...
 
oi! said:
@ JRDN "I highly recommend against this fan. I too put one of these in my MDD. The static pressure on it is horrendous. The specs on it look great but It will not reach 90cfm It did not exhaust hot air out the back through the heatsink. It's simply not powerful enough.

I instead used a Scythe Ultra Kaze 120x38 fan. It works wonderfully well and I have my undervolted"
I hear it's a great fan, but noisy. What are your thoughts on the noise?
Click to expand...

That's why I undervolted it to 9v instead of 12v. It was a bit loud, yes. But it actually pushes air out of the case vs the Silenx that just spins and doesn't do anything
 
I'm planning on using a Fractal design 60mm and 80mm to pull the hot air out the back of the heat sink.
I'll try it out and watch the CPU temps lie a hawk. Iif they don't do the business, it'll get the Scythe (and maybe a hammer ;-) ).
 
Turned up in yesterday's mail was a pair of SilenX IXP-76-14 120x120x38mm fans
(I'm sure I only ordered 1) on the front of the pack it say's they are 72cfm and on the back that they are 90cfm, very professional and very reassuring. Not!

Currently cutting out the stamped metal finger guard with a dermal. I'll smooth off the rough edges and 'paint' with superglue, just as I did with the PSU.
Also need to work out how to mount the fan, there's none of the usual mount holes, so I may drill them, we'll see.

I'll try to post pics, when I'm finished.
[doublepost=1455374101][/doublepost]In the meantime, I popped the side panel off to look at/deal with the accumulated dust.
I was surprised at what I found.
View attachment 616224

So I cleaned it.
View attachment 616225
 
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Some maw pix...

PSU, un-modded...
(OK this isn't the actual PSU I modded, I failed to take a pic of that, so this is my spare spare PSU. It's actually the one that donated the rubber noise isolation corner pads)
View attachment 616380

The flat stamped crosshairs finger guards, cut out...
View attachment 616381

The completed PSU fan and wire finger guard instal...
(I'm not sure how much the finger guard swap helps, at best probably only marginally I guess)
View attachment 616382





CPU heat sink fan finger guard...
View attachment 616383

The flat stamped finger guard, cut out...
View attachment 616384

Rough cut hole...
View attachment 616385


Coming soon...
Smoothed edges and superglue bare metal protection.
Drilled holes for the silicone rubber mounts.
120mm SilenX IXP-76-14 fan.
Fractal Design 60mm and 80mm fans.
 
Really need to do this to my mdd its sitting under my desk unused due to the noise. Can I ask where you got your two PSU fans as I can only find one of them on eBay at the moment.
 
Ebay, and they were $28.62 shipped. Not as cheap as I would've liked!
Might be worth looking around for a better fan, these things are getting rare, old and expensive now. I might try something else in the future, we'll see.
Also might be worth using a bit of something like dynamat, which is also not as cheap as I would like!


Meanwhile, here's the hole I'm currently working on, with the edges now smoothed off...
View attachment 616399


Next job, flattening those fan clips. I'm going to try using a C-clamp with everything in situ, otherwise I'll have to remove the whole optical drive shelf and get a mate to weld them up (my welder is bust) before drilling fresh holes.
 
OK, only 2 holes drilled, but the other 2 aren't needed. ?!?!
I've applied the superglue 'paint', and am posting this while it dries.

The C-clamp didn't work so well, so I broke out the vice grips.
I used the thin case fan from a Sawtooth as a guide for where the holes needed to be. Interestingly, it fits the fan clips perfectly, where the Papst (and I think the Delta) fan had to be machined down to fit.
I shaved down a pencil with a craft knife and marked where the holes needed to be. The back two lined up with the gap between the folded back fan clip metal and the rest of the metal.
I couldn't find a center punch to mark the hole, so I made do with a nail! I used the dremel to make a pilot hole, but it wasn't up to a bigger drill bit, so out came the real drill, which made it look easy.
took pics and applied the glue.

Fan retaining clips flattened and 2 holes drilled...
View attachment 616426

Oddly, the 2 wire finger guards I plan to use (which both came off Papst fans from MDD's) have subtly different annular rings...
View attachment 616427




On a side note, I found myself vaguely wondering if I should mount the PSU with the anti vibration mounts? Meh.
View attachment 616429
 
I've made a discovery, the wire finger guard does not thread in on the opposite side of the metal to the fan.
Leaving the shelf in situ, was the wrong approach.

Anti noise pins in...
View attachment 616437

Finger guard trial fit...
View attachment 616438

Finger guard need too much packing to stand off from the case to allow the pins to hold, they just slip out.
Here's the kink I need to flatten out, also CPU side finger guard installed on fan...
View attachment 616439

Kink flattened, but this moves the mount holes too far out...
View attachment 616440

Mount holes twisted round a few degrees to bring them back inboard a little...
View attachment 616441

Finally I super glued a tail from one of those mounts, to the bottom of the fan shroud, to keep it off the floor of the case...
View attachment 616442
 
Wow! Nice progress! My MDD's logic board just died, hopefully you don't suffer from the same failing :p
 
Something died in my old MDD, back end of last year.
It's replacement (noise monster) is what inspired all of this!

Might call the quiet one 'Hush Puppy', any thoughts guys and girls?
 
I'm certainly interested in your results. Ultimately I'd probably make some adjustments to my MDD for noise, but I'm not too interested in heavy modding if it ain't broke (just loud.) :p
 
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