Hi, I was wondering what all cooling upgrades I could do to a Dell Dimension E310. But not liquid or water cooling. I was wondering where can I put fans and how they just have 4 holes in them and where do you plug them into.

ALos I have the graphics card upgraded to a GeForce FX 5500 Overclocked and it still hs the stock heatsink and fan, is there any cooling upgrades I can do to the card as well\


Thanks for reading this

Cooling fans

I've got a Zalman 92mm fan on my MB and I've never had a problem with heat. I put some thermal paste on it before installing so thats important to remember.

As far as your video card goes, you should be ok with what is on it provided you have enough air running through your case.

Just curious though - why don't you want to go water/liquid cooled? Granted, water and electronics don't usually mix. You can't beat it, though, for cooling ability and silent operation. It is a little more of the costly side, though.

Second that. Zalmans are terific cpu coolers.. and most models are silent too...

like Cadderpidder said, the stock HSF on your graphics card should suffice, but you can monitor the temps on it to determine if you do need a VGA cooler or not (no point wasting money if it only shaves a few `c off)

Basic rule of thumb for an air cooled system is air goes in at the fronts and side and exits at the back and the top. Theres two main types of fan-based cooling solutions: the Windtunnel and the somewhat-silent-but-still-cool methods.

Mind you the windtunnel method will make your pc niosy as **** but damn cold inside..

First off, tie up any loose cables and rout them to the corners of the case and out of the way as much as possible. Clean out all the dust present in your pc (especialy the heatsinks) then take a look where you can put some fans in and what size it can take (usualy 80mm or 120mm), and how much fans you wish to put in. Common places are:
-in front of the HDD bay
-top of the case
-side of the case
-back of the case
-bottom of the case

After you found all those spots and bought the fans start installing them with the rule of airflow mentioned above. then plug them into the power molex going to your PSU into the "fan" power line if it has one or the normal 12v if it doesnt and get a 7V converter or a fan-speed controler if you wish to control your fans and make them a bit more silent with the 12v, and one of them into your motherboard's fan connector if you wish.. <<Note the windtunnel method maxes the fan's speed so you dont use the 7V/fan controller device, but you've been warned


If you are a bit adventurous then you can pull out the trusty cordless drill and (with the pc stripped first off course) mod your own fan holes or change the size of it..

You can use Speedfan and/or Everest Home to monitor your temperatures realtime.. and have a good dusting/maintanance routine (every few months or so clean out all the dust etc) and your pc should keep nice and cool

Liquid cooling is a hassle to set up for some people, having to screw, fix and seal things waterproof especialy if the case is quite small to work with.. unless you know what you're doing. Adding fans on the other hand is just screwing in 4 screws and pluging it in (wonders will never cease lol)... even if you dont get as efficient cooling, but still 'cold' enough

EDIT: Oh yeh, if you do wish to retain your sanity dont forget to buy fans thats rated 20dB or less (18dB is good) in its most silent setting, otherwise get a room for it..

Ok Thank you very much everyone for reaplying and do I attach fans to get power from the motherboard becuase I dont see anytihng on the power supply also I dont want liquid cooling becuase yeah leaks and hard setup.

Thank you very much

The E310 is a BTX system so It should have good cooling already but if you would like to upgrade you will need a vertical cpu cooler like these.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185017
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835193001
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835183111
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835129040
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118223 this is my personal recomendation it is basically a vertical version with heatpipes of the cnps7000 cu

you do not need to remove the motherboard to install a retention bracket on the back when installing these coolers sence your system has a retention module built into the motherboard tray but you must use a CPU cooler that attaches with screws and not the expanding fastiners standard on older socket 775 coolers

use an avalible fan connector on the motherboard if there is one if not use a 3-4 pin adaptor to connect to a molex connector on the powersupply.

thank you very much, Thanks for all the new egg websites of good heatsinks

Also pick up some Artic silver. It is the best thermal compound around.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835100007

make sure to clean all the old compuound off the processer with alcohol or acetone. Only use a thin layer of compound (just enough to cover the cpu and no more).

ps: you will likely have to remove the black plastic duct over the stock heatsink in the front of the case for the new one to fit. dell mounts the system fan to the case not the heatsink so they need the duct to direct the airflow but the new heatsink will have an attached fan so the duct is unnessary amyway.