Fan mod question

Hi guys, I'm drilling holes in the bottom of my macbook so it won't get too hot in LAN parties

What i'm planning is above the motherboard various solder points, RAM, subwoofer and above the fan

I'm also isolating the fan from the rest of the part (with some folded paper) so that hot air touching the MB solder point and RAM won't come in and only fresh air from the outside intake



What's i'm also thinking is to cut (using blade) a portion of the fan housing off so some airflow can go to the other side of the motherboard.


I'm asking if i do that, will i reduce the main air output from the fan to the heatsink fin? If yes, how much will it affect the temperature?

Here's some picture of my mac's fan (sorry the ipod quality)

 

Cutting a hole in the other side of the fan isn't a good idea. The way they're designed relies on the natural curve shape round the edge to provide good airflow. If you disrupt that, it will probably still work but the gain you would get from additional cooling wouldn't be worth the significant loss of cooling to the heatsink, which is where it's needed most.

Drilling holes underneath the fan and RAM wouldn't be such a bad idea though. Just make sure you do it carefully in a nice neat pattern and then countersink them off, otherwise it'll look like a complete mess. You should also look into replacing the thermal paste if you want better cooling.

 

thanks, i didn't know that

 

The way they are rounded isn't so much of an issue as how much laptop heatsinks work on the concept of forced air.

Unless there is really a ton of stuff right in front of it on the other side of the motherboard, even if you cut an opening 1/2 the size of the original opening, you will probably lose 1/2 of the airflow to your heatsink which would affect temps a lot. The forced air concept is pretty important. Think about wind resistance and how thermal dissipation works in direct relation to the amount of 'new' air it comes in contact with.

Laptop heatsinks have very dense fins so thats why you'd lose a lot of airflow with no resistance where the 2nd hole is.

One thing you could do is make the intake hole a little bigger.