Any of you guys deal with shipping fully built computers and how to prevent the...

[Grail]

heatsink & fan combo from coming loose? The company I work for is looking for a solution that would allow us to ship computer units so that when the client powers up the computer and the HSF doesn't come loose/break the plastic CPU clips and go flying around destroying just about everything in the computer? I have heard about that clear "glue" that companies like Gateway and Dell(maybe?) use to keep their power cables inserted, but I need a solution for HSF's. Anyone have any names of manufacturers or product names? Thanks in advance.

[Wombat]

I've given up. I had my Alpha come loose once in shipping, and after that I just started taking it off before I shipped.

Sounds like that isn't a good solution though. Maybe you could have a foam block attached to the opposite wall of the CPU case, to give a little pressure. It could even be cut out to surround the HS. I'd feel a lot better about having an end user remove the foam block than attaching the heatsink.

Also, if you've seen those "air pillow" type packing things, you could fill the inside of the CPU with them. They're cheap, and recyclable. The HS wouldn't go anywhere if it did come off.

[Brian R.]

Have you had any problem? or are you just anticipating trouble. Might be all you have to do is experiment with some hs/f combinations and find the one with the best retaining mechanism. Dell and Gateway don't do anything special in this regard.

Selecting your shipping method or carrier might make all the difference also. Don't go with Airborne Express. They are bad. Talk to UPS and find out their experience. Also, FedEx would be worth talking to for this purpose.

Anything you put in the case for securing the processor or hs/f has to be foolproof. In other words, it can't fool anyone into thinking there is nothing in there. Be careful placing anything in the case. You're trusting someone, who knows too little about computers to build their own, to know how to remove this security device.

[This message has been edited by Brian R. (edited 31 October 2000).]

[Wombat]

In my own experience, nobody is better at harming a well-packaged computer than UPS. I've liked FedEx, but they managed to break two Sony G500's at work (Miraculously the 3rd one seems to have arrived intact).

[Gurm]

Gateway and Dell, as often as not, don't attach a heatsink/fan combo per se. The last 20 Dells I've seen (P3's from 500Mhz and up) came with a heatsink only, glued to the CPU, and then a big green plastic air-guide, and a rear-mounted fan bolted to the case.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Technoid]

Cooling in brandname 'puters Sucks!

Today i opened up a fujitsu system with an Intel P1 233 that had an 5 mm high and 50*50mm heatsink and a 10*40*40 fan!

I have seen bigger fans on 486's cpu's

[qball]

Cooling in brandname 'puters Sucks!

I beg to differ. Brand name companies like Gateway and Dell have real engineers dedicated soley to heat flow and dissipation. What do you have? A big HSF on your CPU and probably extra case fans. A pure brute force solution that is noisy as hell. When you do thermal modling and can actually analise what will make a difference, you can then produce an elegant solution that works just as well as stuffing the case up with fans.

-Q

[Brian R.]

My Dell PII 350 only had a heatsink - Riveted onto the processor.

[This message has been edited by Brian R. (edited 31 October 2000).]

[spoogenet]

Can't speak for Gateway, but Dell does extensive testing on their systems. After using massive heatsinks and fans on my own systems, I was rather dismayed that Dell only had systems with a heatsink. I figured that they'd need a fan for it.

Well, they know what they're up against. They do not ship a system unless they are reasonably confident that it will not fail due to heat. Failures mean tech support calls and replacements, which cost them very much money. The companies know this and make sure that the systems will work.

Dell uses rather large heatsinks in their systems. Also they use different heatsinks depending on processor speed. While they may all look the same, if you compare a couple from, say, a 700 and a 1.13, they will definitely be different. They also use a thermal tab (like tape) to attatch the heatsink to the processor.

In socketed systems, they use a single metal bar that braces the heatsink and connects to the sides of the socket. Then the green plastic shroud is snapped into place and ducts air over the heatsink. The air is from the fan mounted to the case. This also provides cooling for other parts of the system.

For their slotted systems, they attatch the heatsink to the chip casing and then use two long bolts to hold the chip into place. This is then covered by the big green shroud which has a case-mounted fan to duct airflow across them.

While this system may not seem to great, trust me, it works. Not to mention that all their systems have built-in thermal monitoring. While you may not have access to reading the temperature, the temperature is constantly monitored to make sure the system does not overheat.

Hope this shines some light on the systems.

b

[spoogenet]

Oh yeah, and one more thing I forgot to mention: STAY AWAY FROM UPS!

We shipped abuot 12 systems through FedEx to various locations around the US, all arrived intact, in working order, and on time.

I have had some problems with UPS. One of my packages was shipped from 20 minutes north of Atlanta, to Atlanta, and went to NC, then Richmond, VA before being sent back to Atlanta. A friend of mine had a similar encounter with his package ending up in Ohio or something.

Not to mention that I watched a UPS guy, who showed absolutely NO concern over this, drop a monitor box off his dolly 3 times, managing to have it roll a couple times and land upside down, with fragile written all over the box. He left it on the ground and casually walked over to the drop box and picked up the stuff in the box. I wish I had a video camera handy.

Happy shipping!

b

[Scout255]

what kind ofcomputers?
socket or slot?
if its socket A, you may want to get somesort of assembly to use the holes by the socket......