GuruPlug HeatPlate

[webhostbudd]

I was looking to do a hardware mod on my guruplug and change out the new super loud fan for a passive solution. The only is that I believe globalscale stopped putting in what appears to be a metal heat plate that the old guruplugs have. Does anyone know of a good way to produce something similar so I could make my own custom sink?

[redox]

I have the older version with the plate. After I remove it, the gp+ is actually more stable. And I can finally connect both Ethernet if I keep the case open. However, not at gigabit speed. As soon as I connect one of them to my gigabit switch, it goes into never ending reboot cycle. Before I removed the plate, 2x100Mbs would still end up with occasional reboot. Next up, I'll add copper heatsink on Marvell CPU, and see if it helps. It's the hottest part judging by my finger test.
As for Globascale's claim that gp+ could actually run 1x100Mbs + 1x1000Mbs, that's total BS. The only way I could get that running was putting small ice cubes on top of the plate. Always wondering if their testing lab is located inside the arctic circle.

[Dammuozz]

just put some heatsink on every different chip... here are some examples

http://plugcomputer.org/plugforum/index.php?topic=2295.msg13300#msg13300

dammuozz

[Ira]

I now have mine split with the heat spreader and the fan on top of that about where Globalscale put it. There is no apparent heat anywhere. I finally unplugged the fan to see if there was any warmth and there was. I think the heatsink is more than enough if there was any air circulation at all.

I was intending to add a heatsink on top of the spreader but I'm not sure it's necessary if the case stays open.

Ira

[canard]

I very like solution that was given under following link:

http://bzed.de/posts/2010/09/refactoring_the_guruplug_server_plus/

In fact I'm following this solution myself with minor changes.
Also I intend to add radiators on chips located on daughter board. They are getting pretty hot too.

[webhostbudd]

Does anyone know how big a fan this thing can handle before it becomes a burden on the power supply? I was thinking of popping the circular labeled piece of plastic off the of top and mounting a 60mm fan there....

[Dammuozz]

Does anyone know how big a fan this thing can handle before it becomes a burden on the power supply? I was thinking of popping the circular labeled piece of plastic off the of top and mounting a 60mm fan there....

If I were you I'd buy an external psu for the fan. The plug's psu is known for his unreliability, adding a fan will increase heat on the psu and however if you burn it you're in trouble.

dammuozz

[bzed]

Does anyone know how big a fan this thing can handle before it becomes a burden on the power supply? I was thinking of popping the circular labeled piece of plastic off the of top and mounting a 60mm fan there....

Have a look at http://bzed.de/posts/2010/09/refactoring_the_guruplug_server_plus_-_part_two/
If you add a 60mm to 80mm fan adapter you might even use a silent 80mm fan.

Make sure you remove the heat spreading piece of alloy and maybe add some holes to let the air in/out. Then a slow fan should be enough to keep everything cool.