T w e n t y S i d e d

So…yeah, I saw Superman this week. Conversations and observations about that movie and its implications inspired today’s thoughts. But first, an update on my PC. I swapped out the power supply to see if that was the problem. My old PC’s power supply was new enough to have all the right connections, and as far as I knew was 100% OK. Sure, it’s been sitting in a dusty garage for a year, but I blew it out and wiped it off, so I wasn’t all that worried. Swapping out the power supplies on the new case turned out to be a bigger deal than I expected. I ended up having to disassemble the 3 1/2″ drive cage to get access to the modular power jacks on the power supply. And to even get it in, honestly. After re-connecting everything, the power up failed. I was getting power; the fans would turn for a second or two, then it would shut down. I checked everything again, hit the power button, and something popped. No smoke or smell; could have just been a breaker. But the computer wouldn’t boot at all, whereas previously it would start; it just wouldn’t stay on. So right now the plan is to replace the motherboard and the power supply. I keep wanting to just build everything into my old case, a 90-degree Silverstone Raven RV03. BUT that case takes a half dozen fans just to maintain proper airflow (it’s huge) and all of them need replacing. As a reminder, most of that computer was built around 2010. The new Phanteks case isn’t as easy to work with but can be cooled with only a few fans. Although I do have some concerns about the CPU cooler. I’ve always been a big believer in setting up a case for one-intake-multiple exhaust, with the intake on the bottom. The Silverstone is built for this, but of course you could just reverse-mount the fans if you really wanted. The Phanteks case that came with this computer seems to have all the fans but one *pulling in* air. This is problematic in a dusty area. Beyond that the CPU cooler is one of those that has a heat transfer/capture plate or box on the CPU that runs to a case fan/radiator combo mounted on the back of the case. But the radiator is mounted to the outside with the fan on the inside. Now, my experience says that the fan should pull air through the radiator, which means that setup is pulling air into the case as well. In fact, there doesn’t seem to *be* an exhaust fan…*everything* is pulling air into the case. The front fans, the bottom fan, the case fan, the top fan…all pull air into the case. The top and bottom fans have external filters. The front fans don’t, and of course the radiator doesn’t (so it gets clogged with dirt, too). Any heat generated seems to be meant to be exhausted passively through various vents and holes. Not a fan. This is complicating my decision.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Superman and New Beginnings”

Paige Francis He/him