Hello and thanks in advance for reading.
I have a Dell Dimension 8400 -- this is in their pretty standard mid-tower ATX case. These cases change slightly over time with new models but don't change much ... so it has the one heat-shrouded exhaust for the large CPU fan.
Recently I've had the opportunity to test two separate, but identical, 7900 GTs in this machine. Before shipping off one of these to a friend, I first benchmarked the two cards for some days in my Dimension 8400.
For both of the 7900GTs, the temps were idle 48 C and hot 61 C, in my Dell.
I sent off one of the cards to my friend, who overclocked his from 450MHz to 562MHz ... and his temps never rise above 55 C even when running 3dMark06 for thirty minutes.
So, it pretty much confirms what I had suspected long ago, which is that Dell has particularly poor cooling solutions in their mid-tower cases.
I'd like tips on what I can do to help cool my machine. It might be that you would need to be familiar with Dell's cases in order to offer the best advice.
I have a Dell Dimension 8400 -- this is in their pretty standard mid-tower ATX case. These cases change slightly over time with new models but don't change much ... so it has the one heat-shrouded exhaust for the large CPU fan.
Recently I've had the opportunity to test two separate, but identical, 7900 GTs in this machine. Before shipping off one of these to a friend, I first benchmarked the two cards for some days in my Dimension 8400.
For both of the 7900GTs, the temps were idle 48 C and hot 61 C, in my Dell.
I sent off one of the cards to my friend, who overclocked his from 450MHz to 562MHz ... and his temps never rise above 55 C even when running 3dMark06 for thirty minutes.
So, it pretty much confirms what I had suspected long ago, which is that Dell has particularly poor cooling solutions in their mid-tower cases.
I'd like tips on what I can do to help cool my machine. It might be that you would need to be familiar with Dell's cases in order to offer the best advice.
Anything more than a better video card heatsink or a card cooler would probably lead me to seeing if I can mount a rear exhaust fan and a duct somewhere, or start hacking the side panel-- IIRC the side panel has a metal support rail running vertically near the back half, so that may not be that easy...
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