XPS 8940, Better 3rd party cooler

@SteveK318 , thanks for posting those pics! Looks like the CPU fan has lots more CFM. So it might be worth taking it off the heatsink and using it instead of the case fan down there. You just gave me stuff to do this week ☺️

@bertro514 - Just curious... is your name Bert ?

You're welcome ! I think I'm sticking with my Noctua 80mm down there anyhow.  

I actually had an incident with my Dell 7 blade fan and my fingertip, and it's now a 6 blade fan ! And yes it hurt ... took a little chunk off under my nail !!  All is well now !!

Dell 6 blade special !!

But I do have the CPU fan from my old HP, which appears to be the same one if I wanted to swap it out ... 

HP CPU fan

-- Steve

Ok, I'll stick with @bertro514 . It does sound much cooler than Robert !!! 

Oh yeah, and I probably had it on full blast, as I was initially looking at options for keeping my 2070 Super cool while it ran 24/7 !! Actually I was just trying to get the GPU fan to run slower. But in reality, I don't even need to worry about it, because the software does a great job of optimizing the GPU.

-- Steve

@SteveK318 my name is actually Robert. I just moved the first two letters to the end, because I wanted to sound cooler than I really am, haha.

Ouch to that fan! I had no idea they had this much power. 6 blades is probably still better than the 5-blade fan. 

@Jon-62 - it was my finger, and it was ouch !! I did make a few sounds after it happened !!

And I also forgot to mention that it did have quite an imbalance and weird sound to it !!!

-- Steve

CC: @bertro514 

@bertro514  Definitely ouch!  If you did run it, the fan would probably make quite a strange noise and, due to the imbalance, would quickly wear out.

@SteveK318 stick with Bertro, Bert, Robert, Rob, whatever you want. Just don't call me Bob, please!

I've been meaning to ask how the mining is going. Have you been running it 24/7 since those initial tests with the fan? On both CPU and GPU, or just GPU? 

Probably not the best time to start mining as the various cybercurrencies appear to be taking a big hit at present.

@Jon-62 in my case, it would still be profitable since I have free electricity, but I'm not getting into it just because I don't trust the build quality of Dell's graphics cards (especially capacitors, cooling) enough to be comfortable running my RTX3070 for many hours a day. The video that GamersNexus just released today doesn't help reassure me either, lol. I bought my machine for gaming and I want to make sure I can use it for that for several years.

@bertro514 @SteveK318 @Jon-62 

Any of you have tried the CPU fan? Does it really help with the GPU cooling??

@SteveK318  Wow, actually u had a good temp and fan control on your GPU during mining. Well done !

@Kelvin Lee I just did it during my lunch break. The CPU fan fits but I found it a bit trickier to secure it to the case, as the holes align even worse than the dell case fan. As you can see in the pic (when it finally displays), I use a screw in one corner and a tie-wrap in the other corner on the same side. I was not able to connect any of the two corners next to the motherboard, but there is a cable there that holds the fan in place by friction. Also, the fan aligns a bit at an angle towards the GPU, which is actually good, as it will push the airflow a bit more around the PSU. 

In terms of performance, it seems a bit louder than the other fan, so I guess that means it moves more air. I didn't have time to game yet, but the GPU idle temp is stable at 28 degrees (it was around 29-31 before, so I guess I gained 2-3 degrees). 

I'm also including a pic of how much dust and lint had accumulated on the front filter during the past 4 weeks. I need to find a way to clean it more often.

(note: the pics may take a couple of hours to appear, as they need a human moderator to approve them)

@Jon-62 how does the single 80mm frame attach to the xps 8940 case? do you have to drill holes? 

@Jon-62 - it's still profitable - at least for me !  You are earning the coin, nothing says you have to cash it out now ! I'm waiting in hopes that it will go back up... 

- Steve

@Jon-62  ok. I have it on the printer now to give it a go.