I bought a new case, mobo, and proc, and im running speed fan to monitor the temp. I really dont know alot about cpu cooling.

Speedfan is telling me im at 56C, and i am thinking is this too hot for a xp 2400+ ? im not overclocking it and i dont do alot of gaming, this is at an idle.

My case is open too, if i put the side on the temp goes up to 60C.

The case itslef has 4 80mm fan spots, 2 in front and 2 in back. right now there is only 1 echaust in the rear. I was thinking of putting in 4 new fans, 2 intake up front and 2 exhaust in back, do i need any special power hookups for that?

I've never messed with heatsinks at all but would concider having mine changed...if the results were worth the 40$ or so.

so what is my best option? getting fans? new heatsink? the fan spots in the front are under the drive bays, i dont even know if they will intake alot of air or not. pleaser advise. how hard is it to install the fans(4) ?

Well you have enough case fans in my opinion. you may want a higher power fan on your heatsink or a better heatsink/fan combo. Depends on what you got. Also a thin layer of good heatsink compound on the core of your CPU. I recommend Arctic Silver Ceramique or Arctic Silver 5. Arctic Silver provides a good how to spread HS compound on their website.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/

Also, depending on the motherboard, the temps may be off. Different sensors and different BIOSs will give you different readings. My A7N8X with one BIOS gave me readings of 48C at load and the next version of the BIOS showed 60C at load.

What kind of CPU fan/heatsink do you have?

Where is the computer located? In your room?

the new abit boards are notorious for having higher temperatures than other boards.

generally, more fans will give you better case circulation. make sure you have install your intake fans to blow air into the case and the exhaust fans to blow air out (something boneheaded i did not do right before).

in my dorm room by the window

If it makes you feel any better, depending on how accurate that reading is, 56 C is well within the acceptable limit for the tbred-b core, which is 85 C (or 80 C, can't recall off the top of my head)

do you think a thermaltake volcano 12 extreme is any good what will be the best any ideas..... i have a standard heatsink idle at 56 with paste.............. HELP

LONG LIVE AMD AND ATI

Watch your language on this forum.
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