I have learned the importance of good intake!

[Whitefang]

So I was making sure my usb 2.0 headers were plugged in (not working properly), and I decided to move some fans around. I put my side intake fan on my front intake port (which I was not aware was there - didn't look for it xD), and one of the fans on my CPU cooler on my back exhaust. My CPU now runs at 53C or so in Prime95, and 55C in IBT. It used to run at 60C in both of them - same settings as before too.

Yay!

 

[Billys Gates]

So I was making sure my usb 2.0 headers were plugged in (not working properly), and I decided to move some fans around. I put my side intake fan on my front intake port (which I was not aware was there - didn't look for it xD), and one of the fans on my CPU cooler on my back exhaust. My CPU now runs at 53C or so in Prime95, and 55C in IBT. It used to run at 60C in both of them - same settings as before too.

Yay!

This is pretty interesting to hear, you must now be getting more fresh / cool air running through the whole computer than before you did this swap. My first thought was that you should not remove any fans from your CPU for obvious reasons. Just goes to show that somethings are not always what they seem.

 

[Whitefang]

That was my reasoning too - my stepdad actually gave me the idea to move them around. I crossed the threads on one of the thumbscrews on the back of the case, and had to have him take it out (weakling! also I didn't know how), and asked for his advice (he's smart).

I think what I wasn't taking into account was that when my temperatures spiked, I had shifted my box sideways, so the side intake fan was pulling air off the wall. It now pulls the air from beside my bed, where it did before. Beyond that, I now have air being solidly pushed out of the back of my case (CPU cooler fan -> back of case), rather than dissipating through my case (CPU cooler fan blowing only a bit of the air out, the rest was circulating). My ambient temps are, according to HWMonitor, about 3C lower.

 

[Billys Gates]

That was my reasoning too - my stepdad actually gave me the idea to move them around. I crossed the threads on one of the thumbscrews on the back of the case, and had to have him take it out (weakling! also I didn't know how), and asked for his advice (he's smart).

I think what I wasn't taking into account was that when my temperatures spiked, I had shifted my box sideways, so the side intake fan was pulling air off the wall. It now pulls the air from beside my bed, where it did before. Beyond that, I now have air being solidly pushed out of the back of my case (CPU cooler fan -> back of case), rather than dissipating through my case (CPU cooler fan blowing only a bit of the air out, the rest was circulating). My ambient temps are, according to HWMonitor, about 3C lower.

It's definitely the fan at the back of the case that's doing the job of moving more air out now than it was doing before at the side.

I have been playing around a bit with my old computer also, right now I have removed the side panel and added 2 fans, I have them blowing directly on the CPU heatsink. The fans they are put side by side, held together and hanging by some zip ties. Now this didn't do much because the air was not as directed, so I took some paper and folded a nice funnel for the air to travel down to the MB above the CPU.

It's very simple made, but the temps are stable and holding around 50c. I have not played around much more with it because it's an old computer. I wouldn't really advice people to have the computer open like I have right now but it's fun when you see an improvment with small changes.

 

[Whitefang]

The intake from side to front probably helped too - cooler air being pushed into the entire case, rather than directly on to my video card.

 

[Billys Gates]

The intake from side to front probably helped too - cooler air being pushed into the entire case, rather than directly on to my video card.

Oh that's right, I got a bit mixed up with all the fans. Yeah that would move more air in a straight line and aiding the cooling effect.