Steven Campbell wrote:
| I built my daughter a PC last year and have never been able to solve
| the overheating problems.
| It is an Athlon 1400 on a ASUS a7v8x board, 256Mb, CDrw & DVD the case
| dimensions are (DxWxH)mm 476x185x443 (cheap case from)
|
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...vd19wcm9kdWN0X
| 292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=44509
| It has a Thermaltake Silent boost with Arctic Silver 3
| An exhaust fan. I cut out the mesh on the back of the case and
| installed a wire grill as I felt previously the hot air was bouncing
| off the mesh and back into the PC.
| I have an 80mm fan at the front / bottom but when I have it running it
| increases the CPU temp and decreases the Motherboard temp.
| Disconnected it decreases CPU and increases MB temps.
| MBM shows the temps with the bottom fan connected sometimes as high
| as CPU 70, MB 32 not under full load.
| With the fan disconnected it shows CPU 62, MB 40 again not under load.
| This is all with the side of the case partly off.
| The PC is in the corner of the room which is really the only place
| she can have it. I don't think that is helping as the hot air has no
| where to go. The set up was improved after I added the Silent Boost
| to it just before Christmas but gradually it is getting worse. It has
| now got to the point where it freezes occasionally.
| The fans are all blowing the way they should and the Silent Boost is
| positioned correctly.
|
| Can anyone give me some ideas? I thought maybe the cheap case wasn't
| helping but am reluctant to shelling out a lot of cash to find it
| doesn't help. If it was guaranteed then it would be no problem.

Whoa ! - that CPU temp is a bit high !
The Thunderbird core does give off a bit of heat - but I'd say that's a
bit much. Try to get it down to around 50 - 55 if you can.
First off - I'd dismount the HSF and clean everything off - carefully ! No
traces of sticky goo left, and then just use a little Artic Silver and
re-mount.
The fact that you used an inexpensive case shouldn't cause the problem,
but if reversing the front fan to make it blow out instead of in actually
improves the situation, then it shows that something strange is happening
inside the case with the airflow. A 'rats nest' of ribbon cables can
sometimes disrupt the cooling enough - repositioning them, or replacing with
'round' cables might do the trick.
Does your front case fan have a good path to suck cool air in ?
Some cases rely on air flowing from the surface of the front panel
(plastic) which faces the floor. One of mine is like this. I had to file
the 'slots' out into a big hole (it doesn't show as it faces downwards) and
mount the case on taller feet to get air into the case properly.
If that intake fan on the front of the case can't drag planty of cool air
in then you've got no chance !
Occasonally, re-mounting the fan on the heatsink - so that it sucks
instead of blows - has the desired effect. You still get the same total
amount of air flowing through it, just in the other direction. It only takes
a few minutes to try it.
In extreme cases, it can be necessary to cut a hole in the side panel and
mount another intake fan. Using a filter on the outside will both stop dust
being blown in and keep it looking tidy. Seeing as how it is only a 1.4 GHz,
and you're not overclocking, this shouldn't be necessary.
It might be that a different design of HSF suits your particular
circumstances. I've had some very good results with the CoolerMaster 'Aero'
HSFs. Radial fans are quieter and more efficient (better air pressure) and
also drag the air in from a different position. It is possible to re-mount
the Aero fan on the heatsink in different positions to use air from a
different direction.
All the above are ideas, not definite solutions, I'm afraid. Do let us
know how it goes.
Kevin.