What's the smallest case I could use for this setup?

Tachion

Member
Jun 10, 2003
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I currently have a full tower case and it works great, but I want something a bit smaller. The only problem is, when I first built this setup (2 years ago) I had it in a Lian-Li mid-tower and it was getting quite warm inside, so the auto-throttling on the CPU fan caused it to spin so fast that it literally sounded like a prop plane taking off.

My setup is:

500W Power Supply
Pentium 4 3.0gHz (w/HT)
1024mb DDR RAM
Asus P4P800 Deluxe Motherboard
Soundblaster Audigy 2 Platnium eX
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (128mb)

4 case fans
1 power supply fan
1 video card fan
1 CPU fan w/PC Toys "fan" shaped heatsink

With this setup, the system idles anywhere between 36C and 40C (depending on how much dust is in the case).

Do you think it would be possible for me to go down to a mid tower with this setup? I'm tempted to try it since I only had the stock fan and heat sink on when it was originally built and this new HS/fan is supposedly a lot more efficient at dissipating the heat. The only thing I don't want is a liquid cooling system or so many fans that it is ridiculously loud.
 

obeseotron

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
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That system shouldn't be that bad in terms of heat. The CPU is probably a Northwood and not a Prescott and thus not the end of the world in terms of heat. The 9800 pro is also not too bad compared to the kind of heat produced by 6800s, x800s, and 7800s. I'm not sure what kind of cooler you're currently using, I've never heard of PC Toys and have no idea if it's any good. Thermalright's XP90 is around $30 these days, you'll have to buy a 90/92mm fan and you'll want some good thermal compound, but that would be my suggestion.

Systems that run far warmer than yours are available in SFF cases. Shuttle has barebones systems designed for dual core p4's that run twice as hot as your chip.
 

Tachion

Member
Jun 10, 2003
71
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Yeah, it's a Northwood (it's a 2 year old system) . I was under the impression that idling over 40C was bad, but I guess I was wrong.

Guess it makes sense, though... I always wondered how those Shuttles managed to cram all of that stuff into such a tight space.

Maybe I'll give a mid-tower another shot and turn of the fan auto-throttling.