[TwiztidPOPS]

How many fans shoul be used in my system? I have a volcano 9 on a XP 2500+ and my temps are still around 45 c. After PCMark04 it is around 53 c.
I have one other exhaust fan mounted in back. If i mount another on the side of the case blowing directly over the volcano 9, will that help?

 

[shermstix]

The Volcano 9 is a pretty decent cooling solution. Are you sure that you have the heatsink mounted properly?? Those are some very high temps for a stock XP 2500. I have a Volcano 7 and an Athlon XP 2000+ (Palamino) and my temps get no where near that. Adding case fans helps, but you need to have proper air flow. You can't just have air being blown into the case. The ideal solution is to have a 120mm fan pulling air in from the front and have one pushing air out the back. You could also add a side fan to move air away from the videocard and chipset. I find that the is usually a dead spot right above the chipset, that a side fan takes care of nicely.

 

[Bindusar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwiztidPOPS How many fans shoul be used in my system? I have a volcano 9 on a XP 2500+ and my temps are still around 45 c. After PCMark04 it is around 53 c. I have one other exhaust fan mounted in back. If i mount another on the side of the case blowing directly over the volcano 9, will that help?

Do you have any intake fans...it sounds like you only have the one exhaust (not including the PSU fan). Check and see if you have one up in front behind the drive bay. If not, yeah, I would add either a high CFM 120mm to the side panel. If you don't care about noise you can go down to a high RPM 80mm...they will move +50 CFM and are a little cheaper than the 120's.

 

[Bindusar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shermstix Adding case fans helps, but you need to have proper air flow. You can't just have air being blown into the case. The ideal solution is to have a 120mm fan pulling air in from the front and have one pushing air out the back. You could also add a side fan to move air away from the videocard and chipset...

Sherm...I have seen/read posts where guys are saying the side mount is the way to go, not the front. Any ideas on the validity? The one thing that makes sense to me about a front intake is that it will move the warm air that would otherwise collect around the drives. Now that I think about it, adding only a side intake would actually PUSH warm air in that area of the case. I haven't read anything about failed drives due to heat but I am guessing it does happen since they have HD coolers.

 

[TwiztidPOPS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bindusar Sherm...I have seen/read posts where guys are saying the side mount is the way to go, not the front. Any ideas on the validity? The one thing that makes sense to me about a front intake is that it will move the warm air that would otherwise collect around the drives. Now that I think about it, adding only a side intake would actually PUSH warm air in that area of the case. I haven't read anything about failed drives due to heat but I am guessing it does happen since they have HD coolers.

I noticed that when i installed the Volcano 9....i booted with the pc still on its side and the temps were lower (I think 31 c.)....now that it is upright the temps went up. I heard that the Volcanos weight might pull it away fron cpu abit. If so, how do i fix this problem?

 

[shermstix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bindusar Sherm...I have seen/read posts where guys are saying the side mount is the way to go, not the front. Any ideas on the validity? The one thing that makes sense to me about a front intake is that it will move the warm air that would otherwise collect around the drives. Now that I think about it, adding only a side intake would actually PUSH warm air in that area of the case. I haven't read anything about failed drives due to heat but I am guessing it does happen since they have HD coolers.

Yeah, have you ever put your hand on a 7200RPM HDD after it has been churning for a while?? They get pretty hot. The idea with pulling the air in from the front is that the air up front is fresh and cool. That gives a chance for the air to cool all of the components. If you only have a side fan, you will have the same issues of dead spots up front. I say that the best solution is to have 1x120mm fan pulling in on the front-bottom, 1x80mm pulling out on the side and 1x80mm pulling out the back. If you can put a blow hole in the top that would be good also. I just don't think that pulling air in on the side and out the back is enough to properly cool a case.

 

[aef_death_fire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwiztidPOPS How many fans shoul be used in my system? I have a volcano 9 on a XP 2500+ and my temps are still around 45 c. After PCMark04 it is around 53 c. I have one other exhaust fan mounted in back. If i mount another on the side of the case blowing directly over the volcano 9, will that help?

He only described his case as mid-size and he already have a case fan. If the installed case fan was only 80mm, how can he mount an 120 mm, hmm, just asking.

He can do simple case mod by adding a fan on the on top of the case. Just my opinion.

 

[Bindusar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aef_death_fire He only described his case as mid-size and he already have a case fan. If the installed case fan was only 80mm, how can he mount an 120 mm, hmm, just asking. He can do simple case mod by adding a fan on the on top of the case. Just my opinion.

Well, my case came with 5 fans, all 80mm and about 2400 RPM...2 exhaust in back, one side, one top and one front. I am using the front and side as intake so I have a total of 3 exhaust (not including the PSU fan). The case at the front location is machined to support up to 4 80mm fans though...most cases have accomodations to change the fan set up, either to add more of the same or they will have holes for the larger 120mm fan, which mine has as well. As to mounting the side fan, yeah, he'll have to mod the case with a dremel or hole saw to make the appropriate hole.

 

[Bindusar]

Just a side note, I have since replaced the side 80mm with one from Coolerguys, a pcToys ClearMAXX that is a variable speed fan (only $2.50 and it has 2 blue LED's in the center hub). I am running it wide open at 4000 RPM with 52 CFM and it dropped my case temp 3°C, from 29° to 26°. I mention this because there have been debates over whether it is better to be positively or negatively pressurized (more air going in = +pressure). In this thread...
http://www.overclock.net/showthread.php?t=9947 Lando says it is better to +pressure since cases aren't airtight. I will be adding more fans to mine to see if there is any more benefits, especially with the 120 I am putting on the HS. In theory you should be able to get down to room temp if you have sufficient flow...22-23°C (71-74°F). We'll see what I can get.