Wesley's Tool-Box

• Summer + Overclock = Bad

Seasonal changes can be an annoyance to overclockers. Winter can provide exceptional overclocking environment, then summer comes up and you can't overclock so much anymore. Korea has vastly distinct seasonal characteristics, and while it may be easily -10C in winter, 30C or higher is common in a summer day. The day I'm writing this article was no exception.

It is quite important to keep room temperature(a.k.a. ambient temperature) low in cooling and overclocking, because a normal cooler is directly dependent on it. It uses air to exchange heat, so it cannot cool down to something below the air's temperature. However, the room temperature is easily affected by the season, especially if you're living in a place where there is no direct means of temperature control. So a hotter season will have detrimental effects on an overclocked computer.

One may resort to opening the computer case and direct a huge fan towards it, but alas, that is out of option for me, as I have this Portable Athlon which cannot be opened while in use. I might be able to cool myself down, but it would have no affect on my unit. Furthermore, I currently reside in a dorm room, so I cannot place an air conditioner. So my system has to take the summer heat directly... unless I do something about it.

• TEC to the Rescue

Then it came to my mind that I had a TEC(Thermo-Electric Cooler) lying around in my toolbox. TEC is a small block of ceramic which has two types of semiconductors sandwiched in it so that it transfers heat from one side to the other side very quickly when electricity is supplied to it. This heat transfer effect is known as 'Peltier effect', and so you may have seen the TEC commonly referred to as a 'Peltier'. I had once tried to use it on an overclocking experiment, but it failed due to insufficient cooling on the hot side. The CPU involved in the experiment almost burned out in the process, and the TEC, along with the project, was abandoned. You can see the photo from that experiment below.

If that experiment taught me anything, modern day CPUs are too hot for a TEC-on-cooler to cool sufficiently. So now what?

• How is it Carried? (cont.)

Of course there is! The backpack features additional storage space on the front and I can put the keyboard into this area easily. The earphone case would rattle if I placed it in the main compartment, so it's put in with the keyboard to prevent noise.

The system is fully in the backpack now!

That's me with the backpack. Now I can go anywhere with my system in the back. Due to the concealing nature of the backpack, though, most people thinks I'm going camping or something.

• How Much Does it Weigh?

Yet another thing to consider. How much does it really weigh, anyway? I didn't know this exactly myself, as I didn't have a chance to do an accurate measurement. I just felt that carrying around this was a bit heavy, but bearable. Fortunately, I encountered a digital bathroom scale accurate up to 50g which was deemed suitable for answering the big question.

Component	kg	Lbs.
System Case	4.60	10.14
LCD Panel	2.90	6.39
Keyboard	0.45	0.99
Mouse	0.15	0.33
USB LAN + Earphones	0.05	0.11
Cables	0.90	1.98
Backpack	0.65	1.43
TOTAL	9.70	21.4

While modern notebook computers weigh in at around 2 to 4kg, my portable system isn't throwing around extremely lot of weight either. In fact, it's lighter than world's first portable computer, 'Osbourne 1' from 1981, which weighed 24 pounds(11kg) and came in a luggage. So, I hope your questions are answered now. I'm off to study for some exams next week.

• How is it Carried?

Here's a short followup on how my Portable Athlon System is supposed to be carried. I've shown you how it looks like when it's in fully assembled manner, but you might have wondered or questioned if it was really that 'portable', not just a novelty item meant to impress people and just sit pretty. I had the occasion to bring my system to a certain magazine company for showing, and I took some time to take some photos on how my system is packed and carried.

Here you see my system fully disassembled and be ready to move. Notice I have a backpack prepared for the sole purpose of carrying my system around. Instead of carrying the bulky speakers, though, I bring a pair of Philips earphones instead in order to take some load off the whole thing. You can see the earphones on the left of the mini-keyboard, in its carrying case. Other things to note are the AC/DC converter for the flat panel and some cables. With this, I can use my computer anywhere with an AC power outlet after unpacking and reassembling.

The flat panel sits on the back side of the bag, so that the cushion protects the delicate LCD. The system case is slid in front of the panel, and I usually place a foam sheet in between so that the hook and other stuff don't scratch each other off. The cables are stuff into the vacant space at the each side of the bag. To top off, the trackball and the converter gets the upper level. But there doesn't seem to be enough room for the keyboard...?

• The Complete Portable Athlon (cont.)

You would have noticed that the innards of the system has indeed changed since the initial photo shoot. To show you this more closely, I've taken a more close up picture.

You can see how the copper flower cooler for the video card is attached, as well as the new fan that's cooling the CPU. Also, to prevent overheating of the PSU, a hole has been made over the vent holes. Some of the careful observers may point out that the wirings are a bit more organized, too.

Here's how the RICOH burner gets attached to the system when I need to access optical discs or do some burning. The rolled IDE cable can easily extend out to accomodate the drive, and the drive has a power cable extension so that it can get powered.

Well, that's it for now. I may update this with pictures of me actually carrying the system in a bag or doing other stuff with it. But it's already close to 4AM as I'm finishing this up and I need some sleep. Yawn... Why is it that I always finish my articles when it's past my bed time? Argh...

• The Complete Portable Athlon

Of course! Attach it on the case itself! I had initially thought of attaching the panel in such way that it would completely overlap the case's bottom area. However, it would make matters complicated, as buttons or cables stick out of the broad side of the case, making it difficult to position it upright without separate support. The panel would not have good eye-level, either. So I chose a position that made the case stand taller.

If a panel was to be attached at such position though, total width of the system would inevitably get longer, so I need to detach the panel and turn it around when I was to carry the system around. Therefore, a hook was made and screwed on the panel, and an attacher from the stand was taken off and put on the case's bottom. Having done this, the panel could be easily attached and detached, yet be firmly seated while in use. Luckily, the weight of the panel and the system are pretty much on par and balance out perfectly, so I did not need a separate support.

These pictures should show how the system looks like in general. You can see how the whole system is nicely hidden behind the flat panel. To help understand how the panel was attached, and how much space was saved by doing this, look at the pictures below.

The whole desk used to be occupied by the 17 inch monitor and a mid-tower case, with barely enough room for the speakers. But now, the speakers find its place easily and there's plenty of room even after placing a scanner and a cellphone charger.