I popped out the system board and removed the heat-sink and as expected, big gobs of grey paste. I cleaned up both the CPU, GPU and heat-sink with IPA (alcohol not the beer) then applied the Arctic Silver.
There isn't a specific guide for the Mini Server Mid 2011, but [guide|3161|this] one was pretty close and I used it to guide me.
The only differences I found were the position of some of the screws.
Things I learned
* Removing the wired connectors, you must pull '''UP''' not in the direction of the wires or the gold contacts pull out!
* The power connector is pretty stiff but comes off with little or no issue
* The T8 sprung screws holding the heat-sink down have pretty shallow heads, so make sure your screwdriver is in good condition and the tip is not mullered
* I don't have a 'special' tool for removing the board. I tried with 2x screwdrivers, as I had read, that didn't work for me. I found that some gentle pressure on the front edge of the board pressing against the round opening was enough to get it to pop out, but I had to remove the top (bottom) drive to get access to the board edge.
As previously mentioned, this, in theory, will void your warranty. But if you do it right, no one will ever know, unless of course you balls it up!
My mini is on the desk and 'old' style mini hard drives are stacked on top of it. I was worried about pressing the air intake closed and so have propped the front of the mini server with 2x rubber feet, infact each of the devices are propped up with rubber feet to allow air flow around the devices.
Lastly I added Fan Control pref pane to jack up the fan speed a bit, still got it set slow to keep the noise down, but its slightly faster.
-
[http://www.titaniumjones.co.uk/Titaniumjones/Screen Shot 2011-09-03 at 08.20.12.jpg|Screen]
I popped out the system board and removed the heat-sink and as expected, big gobs of grey paste. I cleaned up both the CPU, GPU and heat-sink with IPA (alcohol not the beer) then applied the Arctic Silver.
There isn't a specific guide for the Mini Server Mid 2011, but [guide|3161|this] one was pretty close and I used it to guide me.
The only differences I found were the position of some of the screws.
Things I learned
* Removing the wired connectors, you must pull '''UP''' not in the direction of the wires or the gold contacts pull out!
* The power connector is pretty stiff but comes off with little or no issue
* The T8 sprung screws holding the heat-sink down have pretty shallow heads, so make sure your screwdriver is in good condition and the tip is not mullered
* I don't have a 'special' tool for removing the board. I tried with 2x screwdrivers, as I had read, that didn't work for me. I found that some gentle pressure on the front edge of the board pressing against the round opening was enough to get it to pop out, but I had to remove the top (bottom) drive to get access to the board edge.
As previously mentioned, this, in theory, will void your warranty. But if you do it right, no one will ever know, unless of course you balls it up!
My mini is on the desk and 'old' style mini hard drives are stacked on top of it. I was worried about pressing the air intake closed and so have propped the front of the mini server with 2x rubber feet, infact each of the devices are propped up with rubber feet to allow air flow around the devices.
Lastly I added Fan Control pref pane to jack up the fan speed a bit, still got it set slow to keep the noise down, but its slightly faster.
I popped out the system board and removed the heat-sink and as expected, big gobs of grey paste. I cleaned up both the CPU, GPU and heat-sink with IPA (alcohol not the beer) then applied the Arctic Silver.
There isn't a specific guide for the Mini Server Mid 2011, but [guide|3161|this] one was pretty close and I used it to guide me.
The only differences I found were the position of some of the screws.
Things I learned
* Removing the wired connectors, you must pull '''UP''' not in the direction of the wires or the gold contacts pull out!
* The power connector is pretty stiff but comes off with little or no issue
* The T8 sprung screws holding the heat-sink down have pretty shallow heads, so make sure your screwdriver is in good condition and the tip is not mullered
* I don't have a 'special' tool for removing the board. I tried with 2x screwdrivers, as I had read, that didn't work for me. I found that some gentle pressure on the front edge of the board pressing against the round opening was enough to get it to pop out, but I had to remove the top (bottom) drive to get access to the board edge.
As previously mentioned, this, in theory, will void your warranty. But if you do it right, no one will ever know, unless of course you balls it up!
My mini is on the desk and 'old' style mini hard drives are stacked on top of it. I was worried about pressing the air intake closed and so have propped the front of the mini server with 2x rubber feet, infact each of the devices are propped up with rubber feet to allow air flow around the devices.
Lastly I added Fan Control pref pane to jack up the fan speed a bit, still got it set slow to keep the noise down, but its slightly faster.
I popped out the system board and removed the heat-sink and as expected, big gobs of grey paste. I cleaned up both the CPU, GPU and heat-sink with IPA (alcohol not the beer) then applied the Arctic Silver.
There isn't a specific guide for the Mini Server Mid 2011, but [guide|3161|this] one was pretty close and I used it to guide me.
The only differences I found were the position of some of the screws.
Things I learned
* Removing the wired connectors, you must pull '''UP''' not in the direction of the wires or the gold contacts pull out!
* The power connector is pretty stiff but comes off with little or no issue
* The T8 sprung screws holding the heat-sink down have pretty shallow heads, so make sure your screwdriver is in good condition and the tip is not mullered
* I don't have a 'special' tool for removing the board. I tried with 2x screwdrivers, as I had read, that didn't work for me. I found that some gentle pressure on the front edge of the board pressing against the round opening was enough to get it to pop out, but I had to remove the top (bottom) drive to get access to the board edge.
As previously mentioned, this, in theory, will void your warranty. But if you do it right, no one will ever know, unless of course you balls it up!
My mini is on the desk and 'old' style mini hard drives are stacked on top of it. I was worried about pressing the air intake closed and so have propped the front of the mini server with 2x rubber feet, infact each of the devices are propped up with rubber feet to allow air flow around the devices.
Lastly I added Fan Control pref pane to jack up the fan speed a bit, still got it set slow to keep the noise down, but its slightly faster.
I popped out the system board and removed the heat-sink and as expected, big gobs of grey paste. I cleaned up both the CPU, GPU and heat-sink with IPA (alcohol not the beer) then applied the Arctic Silver.
There isn't a specific guide for the Mini Server Mid 2011, but [guide|3161|this] one was pretty close and I used it to guide me.
The only differences I found were the position of some of the screws.
Things I learned
* Removing the wired connectors, you must pull '''UP''' not in the direction of the wires or the gold contacts pull out!
* The power connector is pretty stiff but comes off with little or no issue
* The T8 sprung screws holding the heat-sink down have pretty shallow heads, so make sure your screwdriver is in good condition and the tip is not mullered
* I don't have a 'special' tool for removing the board. I tried with 2x screwdrivers, as I had read, that didn't work for me. I found that some gentle pressure on the front edge of the board pressing against the round opening was enough to get it to pop out, but I had to remove the top (bottom) drive to get access to the board edge.
-
As previously mentioned, this, in theory, will void your warranty. But if you do it right, no one will ever know.
+
As previously mentioned, this, in theory, will void your warranty. But if you do it right, no one will ever know, unless of course you balls it up!
My mini is on the desk and 'old' style mini hard drives are stacked on top of it. I was worried about pressing the air intake closed and so have propped the front of the mini server with 2x rubber feet, infact each of the devices are propped up with rubber feet to allow air flow around the devices.
Lastly I added Fan Control pref pane to jack up the fan speed a bit, still got it set slow to keep the noise down, but its slightly faster.
OK,
I did it!
I popped out the system board and removed the heat-sink and as expected, big gobs of grey paste. I cleaned up both the CPU, GPU and heat-sink with IPA (alcohol not the beer) then applied the Arctic Silver.
There isn't a specific guide for the Mini Server Mid 2011, but [guide|3161|this] one was pretty close and I used it to guide me.
The only differences I found were the position of some of the screws.
Things I learned
* Removing the wired connectors, you must pull '''UP''' not in the direction of the wires or the gold contacts pull out!
* The power connector is pretty stiff but comes off with little or no issue
* The T8 sprung screws holding the heat-sink down have pretty shallow heads, so make sure your screwdriver is in good condition and the tip is not mullered
* I don't have a 'special' tool for removing the board. I tried with 2x screwdrivers, as I had read, that didn't work for me. I found that some gentle pressure on the front edge of the board pressing against the round opening was enough to get it to pop out, but I had to remove the top (bottom) drive to get access to the board edge.
As previously mentioned, this, in theory, will void your warranty. But if you do it right, no one will ever know.
My mini is on the desk and 'old' style mini hard drives are stacked on top of it. I was worried about pressing the air intake closed and so have propped the front of the mini server with 2x rubber feet, infact each of the devices are propped up with rubber feet to allow air flow around the devices.
Lastly I added Fan Control pref pane to jack up the fan speed a bit, still got it set slow to keep the noise down, but its slightly faster.
[http://www.titaniumjones.co.uk/Titaniumjones/Screen|ScreenShot]