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Hot Case needs cooling

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Over recent months my case has become very hot. The top is hot to the touch but not so hot that it is uncomfortable. Nevertheless, I would like to reduce the heat build-up in the case.

My case has a dual-cpu setup each of 800 MHz (with cooling fans), a 5,400rpm drive, a 7,200 rpm drive, a DVD-ROM drive, a SCSI CD-RW drive, a 32Mb GeFroce2 display card (with cooling fan) and an ethernet lan card.

As far as I can tell the heat seems to be coming from the hard drives.

I am running Windows 2000 Pro though when I was running XP Pro the heat build-up was the same.

I have not overclocked any item.

What should I do to reduce the heat?
 
Assuming you do not have any fans in your case and you also have room for at least 2 fans (1 in the front and 1 in the back), the most basic setup would to put one fan sucking air into the case in the front, and another blowing OUT of the case on the back. If you do not have any room for fans, you might want o look into getting a new case. They are making some pretty fancy cases with lots of fans these days. I'm not really an expert with case cooling by any means (I just leave my case open), so I am sure there is someone else here that could give you some better advice.
 
Just about every ATX case they sell (excepting the most archaic or poorly-designed) has an exhaust fan slot in the rear of the case, below the power supply, next to the I/O ports. This fan slot is usually 80mm, but in some cases it is 60mm or 92mm. (10mm=1cm)

In addition, almost every AT and/or ATX case has a position in the front, near the bottom, with mounting holes and perforations for an intake fan. If fans are really too expensive for you Nexfan.com has a special on $1 sleeve-bearing case fans although they won't last as long as good ball-bearing fans (even shorter life can be expected if your case is super-dusty.)

Make sure you put one fan in the front bottom and one fan in the upper rear fan holes (not counting the power supply), at least. Make sure the front fan intakes and the rear fan exhausts.

One thing that really warms up my case is my Enermax dual-fan power supply. When the 80mm rear fan is not moving as much air as the 90mm fan in the bottom, the excess heat is forced out into the computer, making the top of my computer a nice, toasty footrest in these winter months. This should be no concern as the heat is all up in the top of the case, not near the processor, where there is an exhaust fan waiting to suck it out.
 
I wish I had read your reply yesterday before going to the computer centre as I then got convinced that a front fan mounted in one of the 5.25 inch bays was a good choice. Actually, it was either that or a rear fan that mounts in an expansion card opening. The front one looked better and was recommended by the shop over the other. However, I have found that it pushes air out but at an asthmatic rate.
What you describe sounds right and I should take another tour around the shops for more fans after I have measured the internal diameters. Looking on the net I see fans advertised as brushless. Does this refer to the motor brushes that make up the dynamo? If so, how does this impact on the performance/sound/reliability?
 
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