Ok..I've had a problem with overheating for awhile...about the last 4 months. I have a pretty basic case...the side of the case has a fan right in the middle, and that is all. I have a few PCI slots open for a fan, and that's about it. I was told I can put another fan in a spare HD bay in the front of my tower..but I'm not sure how that would work considering there isn't any opening to get air from right there (Due to the front of my case). I do have 1 spot for a fan on the top of my case, but if I put one there, I would have to keep the top sliding case cover off, but that's not too big of a deal. I was thinking I could put an intake fan there, an exhaust fan in one of my PCI slots, and have my current side fan be intake as well. Any thoughts? I'd like to put my computer back together and put the floor fan that I have on it away in the closet or something =D

*edited for spelling*

nobody has any thoughts on this? heh

shameless /bump

I suggest posting a pic of your case or providing more specific info.

I also suggest checking a mod case site (like modthebox.com) where people overclock and have to be careful with heat.

Hmm..maybe I'll see if my mom can bring over her Digital Cam so I can take pics...but she lives 15 minutes away, god forbid that would cost me 50 bucks in gas just to get her out here *snicker*

I was thinkin about modding my case, as the side of it is mostly plexiglass, and would make for a pretty easy cut...

I'll try and get a pic up to see if that would help, or I can upload a pic of it and link it here.

I was only suggesting a mod site because they will have lots of different type of fans that they might be able to suggest.

Also you might see cases that are or were (pre mod) similar to yours.

Check here for case modding info:

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=39

I once was doing some overclocking and learned a few things about cooling that you may or may not find useful. Things have change a bit since you need to have cooling on your video boards these days too. I haven't done this stuff in a few years,

1. Reduce number of spindles. Hard drives generate a fair amount of heat. If you can consolidate onto a single hard drive great and CD/RW you would be doing great. I run two drives on one pc and single on the other and I can tell the difference in heat output between them.

2. Use ducting/venting to direct intake airflow where it will be used the most. I used a Squirrel Fan (http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F011%5F002%5F007%5F002&product%5Fid=273%2D199&MSCSProfile=745D84CBF04D14A48AA6FF9C89D722C0BA68C1B04FE38467 8A5285FCD6E056B17AF21627FDABE316B90B3C038D68EBD6B7F9F3BD1712 EAA9951ACB2590A05C6517EFE46941FEFDD1985D4EFD6321F5E70B4DE9B6 C1D45512A2E2690A6961FCE445A03086EA8B7FF51EB01E8AC127D0E52521 BC140A92917A61B31B8895BF6431F46FAD7D1FF18EE9) from Radio Shack, which I mounted in an empty drive bay in the front of my PC and connected some PVC flexible tubing to and directed that airflow right across the heatsink fins (so that the air went into the valleys between the fins).

3. Make a "blowhole" in the top of your case and vent the hot out that way (heat rises). I'll try to find an article on how to do this, but it basically involves a dremel tool and some patience. This is the single best way to cool your pc without going to water cooling or peltzier plates.

4. Ensure proper airflow is going on. Don't have all fans blowing inwards, have the air flow from the front of the case to the back, or vice versa. While you are at it, make sure that all your fans are working properly, replace any busted ones (they do wear out).

5. Run with the cover ON. Sounds silly, but it works. Removing the cover disrupts the airflow patterns and give you less efficient cooling.

6. Clean up cables. Use cable ties (or velcro is wonderful for this), and bundle stuff up. You can blow money on those fancy IDE cables that are round or you can make your own with cable ties. Just fanfole the IDE ribbon cable up and use a few cable ties to keep them round. The idea is that you can create better airflow in your case if you don't have these wide cables disrupting the flow. Personally, I think it's a crock, the air is gunna move no matter what, but it does look cool when you do it nice.

7. Check into liquid cooling kits. These are becoming available, perhaps they have it for your processor type already, or you can roll your own (see some of the others suggestions on cooling sites).

8. Make sure you are using some sort of thermal grease between your processor and heatsink to get the heat transferred properly. When you apply it, it does not need to be globbed on... it's purpose is to fill the microscopic pits and valleys in your processor and heatsink plates, not to be 1mm think and act as a cusion between them.

I could muster some pictures up of what I have inside my cases if I can find my darn camera.

Well...I've figured out where to put my fans, but I'm having a problem. The guy said I could check my temperature in my BIOS, and watch it as I install fans and move them around to see where best use of them is needed, etc. Meaning move one to intake and see if it makes a difference over it being exhaust. But...My computer's BIOS does not report it at all... How do I check my temperatures?

The American Megatrends based BIOS will show your temperature in the section marked PC Health.

Since they're the common one a lot of the others have followed suit but if your motherboard doesn't support that feature ( Compaqs and HP dont add it as standard ) then you can try downloads.com for a CPU temperature program.

Basically it will tell you to switch off your machine and leave it off for a few hours then will give you a fairly* accurate temperature. It takes a wile since it has to calculate the temperature based on the resistance offered.

* within about 5 degrees. Which is enough.

Awesome..thx all for the advice...I'm gonna go download that right now ;)

Again..thx for the input...I'll come back and report my findings.

Well, I found a HDD temperature monitor there, and downloaded it..and my HD is sitting quite cool at 39-43 C

Problem is..I only found 1 title that was a CPU temperature monitor, and I wasn't able to get the page to work...the automatic downloading page. I tried to alternate site, and it doesn't have the file anymore it seems...so I'm not sure what to do. I can't find any more programs to check my CPU temps.