Ideas on how to achieve better in-case airflow?

[Arschloch]

Hello all.

First, the important system specs:
Enlight 7237 case
Athlon XP 1600+ (o/c'd to ~1800+)
Arkua 7528 heatsink/fan combo
Two case fans: One sucking in at the bottom front, and the power supply fan blowing out the top back


According to motherboard monitor, my CPU idle temp is in the upper 50s C, and my case temp is in the upper 30s. When playing BF1942, it gets up to the lower 60s and lower 40s, respectively. I'd like to bring the CPU temp down.

Considering that my room temperature is ~22 C, my feeling is that the heatsink/fan are doing their job, but the case is just trapping in all that hot air. The case really isn't set up very well for good airflow. The CPU is located near the power supply (top backside of the case), which means that the incoming air (at the bottom front of the case) doesn't even reach the CPU. In fact, in my own unscientific testing it feels like the incoming air gets trapped at the bottom of the case by the drive bays and my PCI cards.

I think the optimal solution would be to install something resembling a pipe that would extend from the front fan straight to the CPU. I tried using a single piece of cardboard to "channel" the incoming air that way, and while that actually did lower CPU temps a few degees C, it still wasn't very efficient.

Has anyone tried something similar or have any suggestions on how I could do this?

Thanks in advance.
-Arschloch

 

[jarsoffart]

Cut off the stamped grills that are impeding air flow and causing turbulence. Organize your cables so they don't block airflow. Ask RalfHutter for a superb example of tidying cables.

 

[RalfHutter]

Isn't there provision for an 80mm case fan on the back wall right beneath the PSU? The 7237's I've seen all have them. Just buy another 80mm fan an install it there. That should make a big difference in your airflow/temps.

jarsoffart has several good suggestions too, and his are happen to be free, unless you don't have any cutting tools.

 

[Arschloch]

Originally posted by: RalfHutter
Isn't there provision for an 80mm case fan on the back wall right beneath the PSU? The 7237's I've seen all have them. Just buy another 80mm fan an install it there. That should make a big difference in your airflow/temps.

jarsoffart has several good suggestions too, and his are happen to be free, unless you don't have any cutting tools.

I guess I should have mentioned -- I have the older style of the 7237 case. The newer version has one or two more fan mounts in the rear, but this one does not. In fact, the only fan mount on this one is the one at the front of the case, which I'm already using! Well, like I said before, I bought this way back in 1997, and I imagine people weren't as focused on overclocking & cooling at the time, so it doesn't surprise me that an older case doesn't feature more fan mounts.

That said, I did some surgery last night. I built a sort of makeshift "pipe" out of two thick pieces of cardboard. One piece of cardboard is attached to the top of the fan mount, and the other piece of cardboard is attached to the bottom of the fan mount. They're channeling all of the incoming air across the motherboard, straight to the CPU.

And it's working! According to motherboard monitor, the idle system temperature is now 33 C (compared with ~39 before), and the idle CPU temp is 43 C (compared with ~59). It's amazing to me that two pieces of cardboard could make such a big difference. Call me the low-tech case mod guy.