Hello
Not sure I am adding anything of value, but I am just sharing my current experience in trying to silence/cool my Xeon 1541.
I created a 3D model intending to replace the stock fan-mount on my X10SDV-TLN4F REV 2.00. The stock fan was too loud, so I figured I had to go up in fan size in order to get it quieter. The stock fan was noisy, but provided good cooling. The CPU temperature sensor peaked at 68 degrees Celsius at 100% load using the stock fan, and idling at 30 degrees Celsius.
The original fan-mount had fan-mounting holes 40mm apart. My new model has the mounting holes 50mm apart. I can easily mount my
Noctua fan. Also, my model has increased the radius of the hole that the air passes through in from the stock 23 mm to 27mm. Hopefully this increase allows for the increase in air to flow nicely without being "blocked". The stock fan-mount had wall thickness of 1mm, but a 3D printed model with wall thickness of 1mm tends to become fragile, so I increased it to 2mm. Also, the fan-mount mounting holes has an larger radius than the stock model in order to prevent congestion of the ASA material used.
STL-file
I did not do the printing myself, I made use of 3dhubs.com. The 3D print I received was not very smooth around the small details like the mounting holes. Some issues with the small holes that are used for mounting the fan-mount, no issues at all with the holes for mounting the fan. Overall I am happy with the print, possibly my model needs adjustment for the fan-mount mounting holes.
The Noctua fan is quieter than the stock fan. I have not made any lab measurements, so I only have my subjective opinion on this. However, the stock fan did a better job at keeping the CPU cool. The Noctua fan is idling between 40-45 degrees Celsius and peaking at 78 degrees Celsius.
I have started reasoning over why the Noctua fan did not provide as good cooling as the stock fan. My Noctua fan has a higher airflow than the stock fan, so if we simply compare the airflow, the Noctua fan should in theory provide better cooling. I think there must be some other variables than the fans themselves that affects the cooling, and the only thing that changed was the fan-mount.
This is as far as I have gotten. I find myself trying to solve a problem in a field where I have no experience and little/no knowledge, so any input is very much appreciated. I do not feel comfortable trying to remove the stock heat sink (or the back plate), so I rather continue down my current path trying to solve this problem. I have tried to reason around what causes the heat increase with the new fan-mount. From my reasoning I have come down with two things that I think can be improved:
1) The material of the fan-mount. The original fan-mount material is some type of metal (I think, this is really not my field of expertise). The material used for my print is "Standard ASA". I suspect my printed fan-mount does not conduct heat like the stock fan-mount, and that it might be the cause of the temperature heat increase. Materials and their ability to disperse of heat is NOT my field of knowledge. So in my clueless mind I have a theory that the ASA fan-mount may be preventing heat dispersion, rather than aiding in heat dispersion. And if there is any validity to my theory, having a copper version of my fan-mount should help. Anyone here with experience in materializing a 3D model in copper?
Online 3D Printing Service | i.materialise seems to provide this service, but am I heading down a wrong path here?
2) The air hole in the fan-mount is too small and not effectively letting the air from the fan flow through onto the heat sink. I can quite easily change my 3D model and increase the radius of the air hole to 28mm (from 27mm), however I am worried the wall thickness may become an issue.
I am hoping that someone in this forum may have a comment or two.
Cheers
Additional information:
* Ambient temperature was about 20-22 degrees Celsius during testing
* This needs to fit within a Silverstone DS380b