Need to upgrade (again)

[Penance]

Well, I just got done upgrading my old K6 400 mhz to a new 1.2 thunderbird with 512 DDR on a 266 fsb board. I probably shouldn't have skimped as much as I did on name brands for the board and memory but everything is working and I'm fairly pleased with my 1st self-done upgrade.

Now I need to attent to the rediculous temperatures I'm experiencing. Just stuck a dragon orb 1 on the cpu and with the sides off and a floor fan blowing on it I can get down to about 113F.

My problem is that my case and power supply are sorely outdated. The PS doesn't even sit horizontally in the case like the models I've glimpsed recently and ventinaltion is null.

Can you knowledgable people recommend some good websites, cases, PS's, fan set ups, etc please? I've looked through all the guides on the site but I'm still confused about proper fan placement, case mods, heatsinks and am having trouble finding other good resources with decent pictures as well as good online stores.

Could someone give me a brief run down on what is standard fare on these things? Took me about a week to teach myself everything about motherboards, fsb, memory, DDR, IDE, blah blah blah but am sort of stumped by cases! Thanks for help in advance.

[Tebore]

Can u give some more details. Like what PSU, case, and other components. All i can say for now is get a better heatsink. A thermalright SK-6 is pretty good.

[Wicked Klown]

Go to www.hardcorecooling.com the have case with PSU and mods done to them already here is a pics of one. This one has 4 80mm fans and 2 92mm fans.

[Wicked Klown]

Here is a smaller one. Also if you have the four holes around the socket a nice HSF to get is the Swiftech MCX462.

[Penance]

That's the thing, I don't know what any of the case components are because this is the 1st time I've done my own hardware work. I want to buy a new case and PS, but am unsure of what is on the market.

What's a good wattage on the PS? There's always the ego boost of DIY jobs but I don't feel I have enough info to do it. If anyone knows of an "in depth" newbie guide that'd be great.

Thanks for posting that site and cases, I'm looking through it all right now ;)

[Wicked Klown]

Ok if your goin to use air cooling get a full tower the bigger the better more room for fans. As for the PSU depending on whats in your tower and how many fans you want to run I'd say go with a 400 - 450 watt and go with a brand name one. Look at the pics at the web site I gave you earlier and they will kinda give you the idea where to put the fans. Remember put the intakes near the bottom and the exhaust near the top.

Oh yea and WELCOME to the forums.

[Penance]

Thank you, you all seem very friendly and helpful...lovely change after alot of the stuff i see on the net

[Wicked Klown]

We're always willing to help in any way we can. And we're always here.

[Penance]

I have a few quetions about the SK6:

I'm looking for low noise but decent cooling. Under load I think 120F 49C for an Athlon 1.2ghz would be acceptible. From what I can tell the SK6 lets you easily change fans on it and from what some of you say, it's a good sink, eh?

1)To do justice to the SK6 but still maintain good temps, what are your opinions on optimum CFM? I saw the 120mmx38mm Sunon fan (84 CFM @ 2400 RPM, 35 dBA) which is infinitely better than the Dragon Orb 1 I have now (37CFM, 38db!! far too loud for too little cooling) but I am unsure if this will fit the SK6. Will it? If not what do you recommend within that noise range?

2)How should I go about putting the sink on the cpu? I've read the thermal pads I'm used to are bad and I should instead use compound...but having it be permanent seems a bad idea. What products out there do you recommend for good therm transfer but without it being permenant? Should I use a shim?

[StixxUK]

The thermal compound that everyone into OCing seems to use is Arctic Silver 2. It's pretty easy to get hold of too.