Cooling help

I am running an Athlon XP 1700+ stock right now (1.467 gHz), and plan on OC'ing it when my new MB comes in. Anywho, I am getting temperatures of 40-50 degrees celsius when idle, and right around 47-52 under a full load. I have 4 case fans installed, and a Cooler-master XDream II (HAC-L82) heatsink/fan (aluminum with copper core, 80mm 2400 rpm fan) with Arctic Silver Ceramique thermal interface material. I know the Coolermaster isn't the best, but it is extemely quiet, and reasonably priced. My setup looks something like the crude illustration below:



My main question is, "should I change the case fan installed on the side panel (red in the illustration) so that it draws air from outside and feeds it to the CPU heatsink/fan?" The CPU fan blows down onto the heatsink, which I'm not sure if it is better to do that or to draw air from it, but it is not reversible so the point is moot. It seems to me that it would be better to "feed" the CPU fan with outside air rather than draw air from it in the opposite direction, but I could be wrong. I also plan on adding a PCI blower fan in the PCI slot closest to the AGP card, although this probably won't affect CPU temperature much if any. Any ideas or suggestions on how to improve the cooling effectiveness of this setup would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I always seemed to have better luck blowing air in from the side panels. It also evens things up there as just now you have 4 exhausts and only one intake. I would try it and find out.

You could make a duct over the cpu that draws the air from the outside (side of the case) maybe add a fan in there to pull the air in and feed it to the Cooler-Master. Are you sure of the location of the cpu? Because they usually are near the rear fans.

I would make a duct from the side pannel to the HS with a 92mm fan.
I would also add a intake fan blowing on the HS behind it.

These two combinations usually yeild a 6-9c temp change.

i had made an el cheapo mod by taking poster board around the side panel fan (like a sleeve, sort of) and angled it toward the cpu hsf...dropped temps 4C...

I have the same heatsink and fan.Wrks fine with my overclock. Side intake fan drawing in cold air from ouside is definately the way to go. I lapped my heatsink as the machine finish was pretty rough. Its like a mirror now.

Thanks guys...I'm about to try changing the side panel fan's direction (by the way, it and the CPU are WAY closer to the rear fans than I put in the picture) and see what difference that makes. Then I'm going to create a duct leading from that fan to the CPU fan, and see what further difference that makes. After I do all this I'm going to post the results so there will be something tangible for people to see when they read this thread.

OK, changing the fan gave me a temp. reduction of 3-4 degrees C (from 51 to 47/48) under a full load. Next up is lapping the heatsink and reapplying the ceramique, then creating the vent.