The PCI Cooling Booster, from CoolIT Systems, www.coolitsystems.com, provides a practical way to add active cooling to the VGA and other cards installed in the PC. Testing on an Asus Maximus Formula showed the northbridge, southbridge, and motherboard temperatures all dropped 6-8c after installing the Coolit Fan. The fan is especially useful when you are using a single slot graphics card like the 8800 GT, and not a doublewide card like the 8800 GTS. Unfortunately, the fan assembly, as provided by the manufacturer, is deficient, as described below. These instructions provide fixes for the following 2 problems.
Problem 1: Some cases like Lian Li use metric screws.
On the left is a Lian Li Thumb screw. On the right is a CoolIT Screw. You can see the difference in threads. 2 of these screws are required to secure the CoolIT fan to the top of your PCI brackets. Unfortunately, CoolIT does not provide you with alternate screws for different cases if their stock ones don’t fit. The solution is to completely remove the 4 screws supplied by CoolIT. For the bottom screws, use motherboard hex standoffs, you probably got a few extra with your case. On top of that use your Lian Li Thumbscrews. Simple, but effective.
Problem 2: The CoolIT fan is secured to the metal using cheap sticky tape.
The Cooling Booster is composed of two major assemblies: the fan and the PC mounting bracket. Unfortunately, the fan is mounted to the PC metal bracket with 4 pieces of doubled sided sticky tape. This method of holding the fan to the bracket often fails before you even open the package. The failure causes the fan to detach from the bracket.
Corrective Action:
Two holes will be drilled into opposite corners of the metal bracket. These holes will be placed such that they allow the use of appropriate screws, nuts and locking washers to secure the fan to the metal bracket.
Instructions:
1 – Identify the two corners that will be drilled for the screws. See picture.
2 – Place a strip of wood under the corner of the metal frame that is to be punched.
3 – Use a punch inserted through the plastic fan (using the existing holes as a guide) to prevent the drill from walking during drilling.
4 – Again using a strip of wood under the metal frame to take up slack, and using the existing fan holes as a guide, drill 2 holes through the metal frame with a #19 drill bit.
5 – Remove all sharp edges from holes using a countersink on other side.
6 – Blow clean.
7 – Secure fan using 2x 6-32 x ½” screws and 2x 6-32 kep nuts (Hex with Tooth Washer). [Do not over tighten.]
Modded Fan to Fit Lian Li Case
