Cooling question.

[olefarte]

I just added a 120 mm fan and a PCI slot fan to my computer. It's a Gateway 700XL, with a P4, 3.06. All I had before as far as case cooling was the power supply fan. Now that I have added these new fans, it doesn't seem like I can feel air moving out of the power supply. Is it possible that I am pulling air backwards thru the power supply and maybe it will get to hot? I have two intake vents in the front of the case, air circulates front to back.

These fans have lowered my cpu temp. from 40-42 idle to 33 and load of 58-60 to 48. Hard drive from 45 to 34. So I'm very happy with the temps.

One last question, on the slot fan, I skipped a slot under the video card because it was almost touching the card. Is this best or should it be directly under and almost touching.

 

[JSR]

ole' one

you always want to suck,................not, .............blow :grinthumb

 

[olefarte]

I guess I didn't make myself clear. I don't have any fans for intake, just exhaust, pulling air out of the case. Now I'm wondering if I don't have enough area for intake and it's trying to bring air backwards through the power suppy. Probably just paranoid, but I can't feel any, or at least not much air coming thru the power supply, like I used to.

 

[Nic]

Those 120 mm fans can move a lot of air, and you're right about it causing less air moving through your PSU. That 120 mm fan will be located directly below the air intake of your PSU, so it will be creating a low pressure zone directly below the PSU air intake. This isn't good, so you may want to fit a fan speed controller to that fan, so that you can turn it down a little. The good thing is that your fan will be very quiet. As for the PCI slot fan, I personally feel they are not worth having, though it won't do any harm. Leave it exactly where you already have it, two slots down from your graphics card. If you don't already have a fan in the front of your case, then that would be a good place to fit one, along with turning down the speed on that rear mounted 120 mm unit. This should help the air flow through your PSU by increasing the air pressure in your case.

 

[JSR]

well, think of it

if at one time you had just the power supply pulling air back, correct?..........as, i've had to spin countless fans blowing in rather than sucking out...........anyway, now, there's competition ..........and, you have more hands on the rope ( fans, plural, sucking in unison)..........so, it stands to reason that this is normal
after reading nic's post, you didn't do that?..........did you?....................exhaust next to intake?

 

[olefarte]

Okay, I guess I'll have to get a fan for the front, although that leads to another question. As I'm sure you already know, Gateway splurged on the power supply, a whole 250 watts. I'm quite sure, with a P4 3.06 and a ATi 9700 Pro and CD-Rom and DVD burner, I'm pushing my limits already with the fans I have now. What are the signs that tell me I've over stepped my limits, shut down, reboots?

 

[Nic]

Depends on your PSU. Some PSUs will just try and supply the demand for power and kill themselves doing it, eventually. Others will spontaeously reboot your PC when there is a peak in power demand. But if you turn down that rear fan, and fit a small 80 mm unit to the front (1-2 watts), your system will operate much the same as it does now. It doesn't sound like you have a lot of components in your PC, though the components that you do have are of the power hungry variety. Don't bother with a new PSU until your current one either packs in, or causes other issues. You should be ok. Fingers crossed.

 

[olefarte]

Okay, thanks for the help guys. I just hope my power supply doesn't mess somthing else up. That will be the next thing I upgrade, but it will be a while.

 

[JSR]

just don't sit in your rocking chair worrying about it

oh!, hehe, too late!................you're already there, must be your age........hehe

 

[olefarte]

after reading nic's post, you didn't do that?..........did you?....................exhaust next to intake?

I've got the power supply on top, as Nic said, and right underneath that the 120 mm fan, and down near the bottom, the pci slot fan. All of them blowing out the back. All intake is on the front, with no fans.

 

[JSR]

then, no worries mate

there's no vacumn......and, as i said,.........they're speading the wealth in heat removal, hence, a percieved loss of flow, but you get the picture.........if anything, without adequate inflow, the fans will compete with each other to pull air out, creating the vacumn suggested by nic..........case design may have something to do with it.......but, if your software monitors tell you your temps have dropped, well, i can't speculate past that

 

[Nic]

The case temps will drop, without a doubt, but I think the concern was regarding adequate cooling for the PSU, which has now had its airflow cut to the point where very little air is flowing from it's exhaust. The temps inside the PSU could be quite high, which will definitely reduce its life expectancy, and may even cause it to fail.

 

[olefarte]

the concern was regarding adequate cooling for the PSU, which has now had its airflow cut to the point where very little air is flowing from it's exhaust

Exactly, that's what I'm afraid of.

if your software monitors tell you your temps have dropped, well, i can't speculate past that

Temps have dropped dramaticaly, I'm just worried now about the power supply temps. I'll get an intake fan.

 

[dani_17]

I may have some recomendations.

1st, get a new power supply. Try to look at one starting at 350 watts and with double fan. One fan will suck air into the PSU and the other will blow it out of the case. That will help to have some airflow through the psu.

2nd, the pci fan, aka "Blower", can go out of your case. Your radeon 9700 is fighting against your blower. Just look the way the blower takes air, just the opposite your radeon does.

3rd, Put something sucking air into the case. If you don't want a fan in the front, you can also buy a side panel kit. It's not very difficoult to use. Just cut and put. If you have some experience you could even do it yourself, buy some grills, fans and do the holes where you want. But beware, once you do a hole and put a fan, you won't be able to stop. They are even cool. Quad Led Fans can look very nice in a case.

Links to nice fans and stuff you may be interested in:

http://www.xoxide.com/spcocafangr.html
http://www.xoxide.com/triledblugre.html
http://www.xoxide.com/pu420wath.html

Fan controllers
http://www.xoxide.com/fancontrollers.html

I hope this helps you.

 

[olefarte]

This Antec True Power 430 is what I've got in mind, as far as power goes.

My case has a hole for an 80 mm fan in the front already, that's probably what I'll go with.

 

[consie89]

A typical rookie question for you here, how do you even find out how cool your system is, and what is the recommened temperature you want to run at?

 

[XtR-X]

Sry for off topic but...

It's soo funny how he flames then asks for help... lol...

 

[endgame]

I'm pretty sure i have four fans in my system at the moment. It seems to be getting a little hot after a while of strenuous activity, im thinking of getting another fan fitted, what do you all think about this?