cheap cooling

[jong2k4]

These days, now that it's the not-quite-scorching heat of a Southern CA spring, my comp gets pretty warm (50-60C) when I do processor-intensive operations like folding@home or video encoding. I'd rather not invest in advanced cooling setup now like a new case or some water cooling thing, but I would like to know if there are any low-budget options that can increase cooling somewhat. I already have as many fans as my case comfortably supports, an exhaust on the back and an intake in front, and my proc comes with the intel-standard heatsink and hsf. What else could I do do cheaply enhance cooling?

[Fastfly]

Take off the side and put a floor stand fan pointing in it.

Not the greatest looking and contributes to noise polution, but it is cheap if you have a fan somewhere and easy.

[Hags]

upgrade ure cpu fan and htsk trust me, the stock fans that come with it are junk, go to newegg.com and look at the aeroflow fans there a good price and they run like a dream, there about 30 bucks i believe

[Cricket]

Originally posted by Fastfly
Take off the side and put a floor stand fan pointing in it.Exactly what I would have said.Originally posted by Hags
upgrade ure cpu fan and htsk trust me, the stock fans that come with it are junk,"Junk"? Can you explain. I find the stock Intel heatsinks to be very good quality and have fairly good performance, even for mild overclocking.

:) Cricket

[glc]

60 C is no problem whatsoever for that processor - it doesn't slow down till it's over 75, and at 90 it shuts itself off. Just run it the way it is and keep the dust blown out of the case and fans.

[jong2k4]

Thanks for all your help, guys. :)

[Alfie]

Here's a cheap way to add extra cooling.
http://www.inflowdirect.com/twister.html
I used one of these on a system and hooked it up to the driver cage,so the fan was blowing directly over the memory and cpu,the added directional airflow lowered cpu temp and system temp noticeably.