Increasing CPU Temps causing system to freeze

[sdaccord01]

Hi, I have a 3.0 ghz P4 overclocking it to around 3.4 ghz and the temps are fine at idle, but my case cooling is really bad. I have a coolermaster atc 220b tower with side window, but it only has one exhaust in the back (80mm) and 1 top blowhole with 80mm fan as well. For CPU heatsink, I have a Thermalright SLK-900U with a panaflo M1A 92mm fan. The idle temps are about 36-37C on Asus Probe, but I recently did some DVD ripping and encoding with DVD shrink where it seems to stress out my system a lot since I see on the Asus Probe that the temps skyrocket to around 50+C. I know my problem, and that is that I only have a Panaflo L1A as my exhaust, and no intake. Bad design on the tower, but I love the looks. It has a side window and I'm wondering if I should drill a hole in the side window to put some kind of intake to blow in cool air or blow out air and how I go about doing it? If there is a good, quiet 80mm fan that I can replace the L1A with that would be great too. I know the CFM is in the mid 20s for the panaflo which is next to nothing. I bought a vornado but that thing is way too loud for my tastes, even with my Sunbeam Rheobus fan controller. Please help me with my cooling problems, thanks.

 

[Tiamat]

There is no front intake!? I would mod the front first. Best flow is front to back. IMHO, side window fans distrupt the air tunnel needed to remove heat. Panaflos as 12V move enough air. If you have 2 exhaust, you need at least 2 intakes.

Edit: Ok, i read up on your case. Its got the glass front door. Front intakes are going to be tough. In that case, perhaps you can drill 2 80mm fan intakes into the right side panel to blow on your Harddrives. The main problem with your case is that I do not believe there are any vent holes for your exhaust fans to take air from. If your case is on casters, you could put an 80 or larger hole on the bottom front of your case beneath the HDD area blowing upwards.

I dont see anyway you can improve your cooling nicely without putting a hole into your case.

For temporary fix, you can try to turn your back exhaust into a back intake. This will give you airflow from the back to the top direction. However, this isnt very good for long term - your HDDs need active cooling near them.

Good luck!

 

[Finnkc]

my buddy had this problem ... case had no way of putting a front intake fan(s).

So what he did was put 2 intake fans at the bottom of the case. But them face down on the interior and put 2 nicely cut 75mm holes and vola case temps dropped huge.

not sure about your case but most cases have a slight clearnace on the bottom to get air to flow under the case and into the intake fans.

 

[sdaccord01]

looks like i have enough room on the bottom to fit an intake fan. I hear a lot of people saying to use dremel to do some cutting. I was wondering where can I get the templates to drill the holes correctly as I really want to drastically reduce the temps that I'm getting. Maybe use 92mm fans too?

 

[geekender]

Read this first:

http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=230

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: geekender
Read this first:

http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=230

That only applies if you have holes in the case with fans not spinning in those holes. - IE, vents for the exhaust to grab cool air from. His case is totally without vents except in between drive covers etc.

Sdaccord01: I just used a pencil and traced around the inside circle of the fan i was going to install. You may want to consder dust traps under these fans as you will be taking in quite a bit of dust from the desk or floor your computer sits on. If you can set your computer on top of one of those chrome shelving things that have thin metal bars spaced one inch apart from each other as the flat surface, you could get some nice air flow. Make sure you can even fit a 92mm fan, it seems like it will be close.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: geekender
Read this first:

http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=230

That only applies if you have holes in the case with fans not spinning in those holes. - IE, vents for the exhaust to grab cool air from. His case is totally without vents except in between drive covers etc.

Sdaccord01: I just used a pencil and traced around the inside circle of the fan i was going to install. You may want to consder dust traps under these fans as you will be taking in quite a bit of dust from the desk or floor your computer sits on. If you can set your computer on top of one of those chrome shelving things that have thin metal bars spaced one inch apart from each other as the flat surface, you could get some nice air flow. Make sure you can even fit a 92mm fan, it seems like it will be close.

There is "no" vents at all? Why would coolermaster make such a bad design?

Anyway if thats the case, I agree and would highly recomend some type of filter. SVC has a bunch of nice ones, but only one for 92mm size fans.

 

[mechBgon]

The case has some restrictive metal grillework over the rear exhaust fan, doesn't it? Disassemble your system and just nip out that grillework. Use a free-breathing chromed-wire grille over the fan instead. Not only will the fan be able to exhaust more air, you should find it makes less noise due to the reduced turbulence. Might be a step forward, anyway