Right, this kinda fits in 3 sections so I thought I might aswell post it in this one. Worries: 1. CPU (2.8 GHz 533Mhz Intel P4) stands stable at 46 Degrees Centigrade and goes up to 54 DC in games (H&D2, RTW, FC, DOOM III). 2. My case is pretty standard, looks a bit like the following: Mine is a bit more classy. Would it need to be changed to get cooling to acceptable levels? 3. RAM - PC2100 512 DDR, soon to be upgraded, worth investing extra on some new coolers (Or whatever they're called)? 4. Power Supply, what checks can I make to make sure it is running properly? The CPU is the biggest worry at the moment because I would really like to get it much much cooler than what it is now. I hope someone can help me. Thankyou. PANDA
Generally speaking you want at least two case fans. One at the front/bottom of the case, pulling cold air in, and one at the top/rear, blowing hot air out. The CPU should have a copper heatsink, as it will provide the best heat dissapation at very little extra cost. Heatspreaders on your ram will improve heat transfer off their surfaces, and RAM sinks on each module are also an excellent, though somewhat more complicated solution. Example: In this setup I have two chassis fans, a 120MM fan mounted directly behind my hard drive array, that pulls cool air from the front of the case, across the drives, and onto the video card. A second 120MM fan at the rear pulls heat away from the nearby CPU heatsink (Nexus Copper, recently replaced with a watercooler for better cooling). Heatspreders on my memory allow the airflow in the case to cool the modules quickly. A PCI cooler below the video card whisks away extra heat generated by the video card, and finally a dual fan PSU pulls heat out of the top area of the case, cooling the opticals and improving airflow.
I have a Sonata, so unfortunately do not benefit from having a window/side mounted fan - but a fan intake on the side of the case blowing onto the graphics card is also a good way of lowering ambient and GPU temps.
Proper cabling and thoughtful device placement is also a must. Hard drives should have as much space around themselves as possible, and should not be stacked without a free space, unless they have a direct cooler (such as above). Opticals should be staggered a bay apart, and as much space below your video card as possible should be alloted. Round IDE cables are a must-have, as they greatly allow for better airflow, and reduce clutter. Cables should not be stuffed in between drivers (optical or hard disk) since they will act as insulators. Extra power connectors should be tied off at the top of the system.
Watercooling is a bit hardcore for some people, but I highly recommend at least reading about Coolermasters Aquagate cooler. The entire unit fits in two 5.25 bays, with practically no installation work. My CPU (a 3.0 800 P4)with a Nexus cooler ran at 38 degrees C or so, and now is down to 25 C running OC'd to 3.4 http://www.coolermaster.com/index.p...&p_serial=ALC-U01&other_title=ALC-U01Aquagate
As a last thought, a tower should always - always! - be at least 6 inches off the floor if that is where it sits. A couple of books underneath it if needed. While a low lying system will take in cooler air, it will also take in tons of dust off the floor, which will act as a tremendous insulator - rendering even the most thoughtful system interior a heat trap.
Thanks for the pointers. I will start with a Copper Fan, this one for example: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?AKA-AK901 Do new round lead cables require a reformat of your HDD? How much extra noise does that PCI cooler below the graphics card make? Would I need one of them 120MM fans infront of my HDD if my graphics card had it's own UBER cooling system? I plan to get myself 2x512MB RAM (PC3200) and a Radeon 9800 Pro 256bit 128mb. I'm not going for the Uber stuff because it's a a waste of money IMHO but what I'm getting should be sufficient. Thankyou again. PANDA
are you planning on ocing your cpu,vc at all? you wont need to reformat to install new round ide cables.pci coolers are very quiet but they also do little to no cooling of your system.120mm fan is pretty much up to you.it is a good choice.they push lots of air and are relatively quiet if you can find the space for it.any way you can post some pics of the interior of your case,to give us an idea as to how to improve your overall flow?
Hi everyone, I was just looking through this post for some advice and I have seen a pic of Dixie Flatliner's before but I didn't get to ask any questions about it. First of all I have two fairly powerful case fans on the front of my case (exactly the same fans) pulling air in, and two blowing air out the rear (one is extra powerful) and I wanted to know how Dixie did you attach that 120mm fan next to ur HDD? because I my case the HDD has rounded cables but I wasn't sure how to get a fan where the cables go. Thanks in advance.
Monkey, I have the same case as Dixie. Its a Super Lan Boy, not all cases have the HD's where the fans are located. In our case, the HD bay just happens to be close to the bottom right in front of the fan.
That is way too hot, and you know it. My 800FSB 2.80E Prescott runs at 33C average, and up to 39C IF I've been playing Far Cry or Doom III....but then I use a $100 gamer's case. However, I am always modding a client's box in preparation for a major upgrade. On any ATX case originally intended for a PIII or Athlon K6, I cut two very, very large holes in them with a holesaw in a drill. One goes into the top of the case, just aft of the 5 1/2" bays, above the CPU, and one in the case's side panel, about centered top to bottom but within 4" of the rear. The holes are 5", and I slap a 120mm, 3200RPM fan into each, along with a really sweet chrome fan grille over them. The side fan blows in, and the top is a blowhole venting hot air out. This is after slapping 80MM fans into every spot allocated for this purpose by the OEM. The round IDE's and whatnot do help, but not as much as setting up a mini hurricane inside your tower will! Any doubts you have about your PSU are probably founded. Make sure it would easily power a bigger system, because an overworked power supply will put out radiant heat as well as dirty, noisy power (which causes random lockups and errors). And fans do eat quite a lot of power. Good luck, FastVFR
