Case and cooling

[Spithead051]

I have just installed an AMD Athlon 64 3500+, an MSI Neo4/SLI motherboard, an Antec power supply, and an XFX Geforce LE 6600. I have 2 hard drives, a floppy, CD burner, and a DVD burner. The case is feeling very cramped with all the cables, and I am noticing that it is running a lot hotter than my last set-up the CPU was an AMD Athlon XP 2000+. I installed a PCI cooler to keep the graphics card cool, but the processor is my biggest concern. I'm wondering should I go from a mid-tower to a full-tower case? Or, should I buy a new mid-tower case because this case does not have one fan slot other than the PSU. I am thinking of going liquid-cooled and if I do should I use a mid-tower or full-tower case?

[rspassey]

What are the temps for the CPU?

[Spithead051]

44C CPU/ 41 system on my old one it ran at about 32-35 when it was idling for 8 hours, or in other words overnight.

[rspassey]

Those temps aren't high and not dangerous. If you have the money I guess you could get a full tower case, I would not be worried about those temps and first try to organize the wire more and free up the passage of air. Do you have at least one exhaust fan on the rear of your case?

[Spithead051]

The only fans are the PSU, the CPU, and the PCI for my GPU

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by Spithead051 44C CPU/ 41 system on my old one it ran at about 32-35 when it was idling for 8 hours, or in other words overnight.

That's actually not a bad temp for an A64 3500+. Different cores/CPUs run at different temps. You have nothing to be concerned with until it gets up around 60'C or so. Adding air circulation to the case with fans will probably help lower temps a bit, but it isn't really needed.

As long as the system is running stable and strong, temps are not an issue.

Stryker

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Spithead051 I'm wondering should I go from a mid-tower to a full-tower case?

A full tower case would provide you with more room and would run cooler, but there are things to consider when thinking of using a full tower. If you use the top most 5.25" drive bay your IDE cable may not reach. Make sure you have the space for a full tower...most stand 2 feet tall or taller. They're pretty heavy and if you go to lots of LAN parties it's not going to be fun to transport.

Originally Posted by Spithead051 Or, should I buy a new mid-tower case because this case does not have one fan slot other than the PSU.

That case doesn't have a fan port on the back? Sounds like a cheap case. I would definitely replace it with something else.

Originally Posted by Spithead051 I am thinking of going liquid-cooled and if I do should I use a mid-tower or full-tower case?

For liquid cooling a full tower would be a better choice...but there is an alternative. Look for workstation or server cases that stand around 20 inches tall. Antec has a few to choose from but they call them SOHO tower cases. Look at their Performance TX line of cases.

Cricket

[jayb1234]

Also besides rerouting wires to improve airflow, you could replace any ribbon cables with round ones which don't block as much air.

[Spithead051]

I have round IDE cables, and I've found what I believe is the major problem. The IDE ports on the motherboard are right next to the processor, and the CD and DVD Burners are sitting right there adding to the heat. So, I need either a case that put the motherboard lower, can lower or raise the CD Drives, or a full tower case.

[blue60007]

What case do you have?

Since you have a SLI motherboard, I would recommending getting some type of mid-tower or full tower case before going SLI. Two video cards will certainly put out a lot of heat. So there's no exhaust port on the back?