NEWBIE here doing case mods..Need help with a question about fans

Hey everyone...New to the forum....I hope to learn and also help others if possible in the future...Anyways my question is....Ok iam adding a few extra case fans....(3-4) and i will be using 4pin molex fans..NOW my question is this....You know how the 4pin cord has a adapter on it so you can say plug it into the same line as a cdrom or HD....well How many fans can i add to a single line? For intense...can i add all 4 fans to my line that goes into my Internal Zip drive? or will that be to much of a drain? or NO it wont drain nothing? I have a 300watt ATX PS..running a AthlonXP 1800(no OC).....and have 3 cdrom drives, HD, ZIP, and all PCi and AGP slots filled....1gb ddr ram....Sorry to make this so long...But the reason why iam adding a few fans is cause i cant get my CPU temp down for the life of me....I added a new HSF to the CPU..forget the name but its a good one..(has the copper HS) and iam at 53c full load now...Think this is high? i think i know why my cpu temp is so high...cause my PS is almost right up against the CPU fan cause i have a midtower case..so iam guessing the CPU fan cant grab any air since the PS is almost blocking it....any ideas?....I really dont wanna get a new case cause this case i got now is brand new....and as far as the fans go....is it ok to run 4 fans of my zip drive power line? Thanks guys..and sorry again for the long thread....

Try doing a test. Take the side cover off of your case and see if it helps your temps, you can also place a house fan blowing into your case so that no hot air will be trapped inside. If your temps improve then add case fans. If they do not improve then you have a problem with your HSF, check for proper instalation, seating, and grease.

And welcome to the forum!

Thank you for the welcome.....BUT i have done both.....well i have a ALEX ATX case...dount you seen one but its a mid tower with a 9" vent on each side of case(just like having no side panels at all).....anyways i bought 2 med size house fans....had one blowing in the one side of the case and one sucking out.....temps went down to about 50c as low as i could go...that was with 2 house fans blowing into the 9" vents on each side.....i had the HSF replaced like i said....But like i was saying before....the fan on the HS for the CPU is like right up against the PS case....could this be my problem? and if so what can i do?

If you had 2 house fans cooling your case the problem is more likely with the HSF. What sink and fan are you using? Also you did use grease right. Prob stupid for me asking that but once in a while there are some people that put a HFS on without grease. If the HSF is sitting right next to the outside of the case why not cut a hole in the side and duct fresh cool air to your sink.

No its not...its kind of hard to explain how it is....let me try....ok mid tower case..the Power supply case is covering the HSF for the CPU and the fan for the HS is about 1/4-1/2 from the Power supply case....i think this is my problem....cause my system temps go down to like 20...but cpu temps stay the same...i just got a feeling its cause the PS case is so close....Let me ask 2 stupid questions.....1. Anyway or ever heard of someone running there PS OUTSIDE of the PC case? if so how is this done...and 2...is it a pain to replace the case? was thinking i would go with a full tower...thanks

No its not...its kind of hard to explain how it is....let me try....ok mid tower case..the Power supply case is covering the HSF for the CPU and the fan for the HS is about 1/4-1/2 from the Power supply case....i think this is my problem....cause my system temps go down to like 20...but cpu temps stay the same...i just got a feeling its cause the PS case is so close....Let me ask 2 stupid questions.....1. Anyway or ever heard of someone running there PS OUTSIDE of the PC case? if so how is this done...and 2...is it a pain to replace the case? was thinking i would go with a full tower...thanks

I think I got it now. Yes it is possable to mount the psu outside of the case. You would have to take the psu apart and make the 4 mounting holes at the opposite end. I will have to try and find a pic for you because it it hard to explain. But again do a test. Unmount the psu and prob it up away from the HSF and see it it haelps your temp.

Guitarguy708 said:

No its not...its kind of hard to explain how it is....let me try....ok mid tower case..the Power supply case is covering the HSF for the CPU and the fan for the HS is about 1/4-1/2 from the Power supply case....i think this is my problem....cause my system temps go down to like 20...but cpu temps stay the same...i just got a feeling its cause the PS case is so close....Let me ask 2 stupid questions.....1. Anyway or ever heard of someone running there PS OUTSIDE of the PC case? if so how is this done...and 2...is it a pain to replace the case? was thinking i would go with a full tower...thanks

Click to expand...

I know what you mean. I have the same setup with my dell. PSU and heatsink are side by side, less than an inch apart. Guess what, I have no fan on top of my heatsink too. That's the way I received it. Comp came with a fan shroud though which partially covers the heatsink and acts as a duct. It leads to a 92mm case fan blowing air out. Temps? 29° idle and 35° full load. Running an Intel P3 1Ghz not OC with an SK6 heatsink. I tried to take the temps without the shroud and results are 42° idle and more than 90° full load and was still skyrocketing (I stopped loading the CPU once the temps reached 90° to avoid damaging my processor). I guess the shroud does it's job.