PCA Forums

In general, with no overclocking, in a mid tower case , how many fans would I need for a P4 2.5, geforce 4 ti4600, and 1GB RDRAM? ( along with the usual hard drive, CD Rom, etc ) I know one fan is on the CPU, one fan is on the Geforce 4, one large fan in the front of the case sucking cool air in, and one on the power supply sucking air out. I have seen various case mods, some have fans on the side , some right on the top of the case, etc. Which do you think is best? One fan blowing air into the case from the side ( a blowhole they call it ) and one blowing the hot air out of the top of the case ( a hole made in the top of the case, since hot air rises? ) Is that too many/ incorrect placement /etc ? I am really confused on this point, but I have read several places to make sure you have the equal number of fans sucking air in and sucking air out ( minus the CPU and Vid card fans ). Is this true?
I bought myself a dremel tool, and a circle creator, and am all ready to make cuts, but what size fans do you think are the best? 70mm? 80mm? 92mm ? Larger? I am thinking the larger the better, and the largest fans sucking air out of the case?
Oh oh, and I am going to run a 425 Watt power supply from
http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com , I was told they make great ones, so do you feel this would be enough for the setup I have shown? And I am serious - no site has said where exactly all the extra fans plug in! lol Where do the extra case fans plug in?

Thanks for your input everyone!!!

- Mike
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- Vanguarde

Well if you're not overclocking you don't NEED a blowhole.

All you need is the exhaust fan on the back and an intake fan on the from (in addition to the fans on the CPU & video card). Some higher quality power supplies have two fans - one on the inside of the case and one on the back. If you have proper airflow that's more than adequate. Keep in mind additional fans will make more noise.

Keep those fans clean - just a thin layer of dust on them will make them noisy. I recommend taking the case outside once every month or 2 and blowing out the fans with some canned compressed air.

Tie up all your ribbon cables neatly and out of the way so you have a clear airflow path between the front intake, across the top of the cards, and out the exhaust.

Ok thanks for the info! I also have a heavy duty AC unit in my room, when I put it on full blast it lowers the temps by 30-40 degrees - even on super hot days! I think this will be the best ally to tame the hot p4 2.5 lol ;0