Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!samsung!uunet!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: Power... Message-ID: <16300@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 4 Dec 90 18:04:13 GMT References: <16148@cbmvax.commodore.com> <5917@crash.cts.com> Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 38 In article ggk@tirith.UUCP (Gregory Kritsch) writes: >daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes: >>No problem. The A500 is designed to be cooled by convection. When air inside >I have to ask how the A500 box/motherboard was designed this way, >because I remember reading a story about Apple designing the motherboard >for one of their computers to be convection cooled. [...] >Another neat bit mentioned was they tried using a low-heat half height >drive, with no success. However, the added heat from a full-height was >sufficient to drive the convection currents to cool the thing. >So I'm curious to know if there is a similarly humourous story on A500 >design, or to know if Commodore "did it right" with some "scientific >process" (for lack of a better term). I don't the process offhand, but I imagine to our mechanical guys, it's "old hat" by now. They basically design the casework such that the air flows over the areas than need cooling. This isn't any different for a machine with a fan in it; they spent a considerable amount of time making sure that the fan in the A3000 would draw air over the expansion cards, rather than leaking around them. There are differences between the C= machines and all Apples. The Apple IIs had internal power supplies and expansion slots; such a machine should have a fan. The Macs have several problems. They're tall and skinny, for one thing, where what you really want is some flat and wide so that you can maximize the case area that can contain the holes, the top and bottom of the case. This kind of Mac also had a built in monitor and supply, so it's bound to get hot beyond the needs of its motherboard. C= has been building this kind of computer since the VIC-20, and they're good at it. > Gregory Kritsch | University of Waterloo -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy ONLY 50 MILES TO GO