Basic case cooling question

[CuriousMike]

Guys,

I have an older ATX case that I've been recycling over the years as I upgrade.

Recently, I've upgraded power supply, mobo, and RAM and have had (what appears to be) heat/cool limited success overclocking my XP2400 (non-mobile.)

Details are here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1544104&enterthread=y

Essentially, with the side of my case off and very small (9") room fan pointing at the innards of the machine, I have no overheating or stability problems.

As soon as I put the side of the case on, the trouble begins... and it's pretty immediate.

The rear of my case ( where usb/keyboard/Nic all-in-one plugs are facing ) really doesn't have a spot for a dedicated fan to exhaust out the rear.

I've added a 80mm fan in the bottom from of the case and positioned it to blow over the mobo-system chip (what the heck do you call it?) and sorta hits the CPU. It definitely helped, but not enough.

My thoughts are this:

a) Add another 80mm fan to the rear of the case (velcro, zip strip, bubble-gum the thing in), and have it exhaust thru a very narrow spot... probably the width of a floppy drive and as tall.
b) Possibly drill holes in the side of the case, and velcro a 120mm fan to suck air in.

Other suggestions ?

( As aside, my new powersupply Enermax 320w Noisetaker has an exhaust fan and a fan that blows down onto CPU)

 

[CuriousMike]

Last bit of details:
The case is a mid-tower sized ATX case.

With the new mobo came those fancy cabling for drives "help to improve airflow", and I zipstrip down any loose power connectors / wires.

 

[fireontheway]

Add an exhaust at the top if possible.Hot air goes up.

 

[wisdomtooth]

CuriousMike:

Good suggestion from fireontheway. I would follow that as a first step.

Adding fans to the back of the case to blow out will also help, but you need to cut holes big enough for the fans to exhaust sufficiently. Just cutting a little slot is not going to let an 80mm fan do its job properly. Get yourself a 3" hole saw, plug it into a power drill, and drill some 3"-diameter holes to mount a 80mm fan.

You also might want to change your PSU-- That Enermax with its two 80mm eggbeater fans are not the best for venting. You want a PSU with a single 120mm fan.

HTH.