[Dano2k0]

Although i'm a tad late coming in here to have a say, i thought i'd make a little input anyway for future reference.

As above, removing the side will upset the cooling method in a big way, ANY computer that uses the standard air cooling method will be upset by having no side on, the idea behind the case and fan setups on your average PC pull cool air through the front, and will cool all components as the air flows through the case then out of the back via the exhaust fan(s) As the case is somewhat sealed all way round, this allows the process to continue, if you remove the side panel or simillar, this allows just 'open air' to get in the case, this air will flow straight through where the side used to be, and will be pulled straight in then pushed straight out of the back without flowing over many of the components first. This will cause many areas where air is just still in the case, with little to no air flow. Alot of the heatsink and fan setups will continue to re-circulate the already used air, and of course the temps will go up and up.

You should never really do this on top end PC's, as it does stress components much more.

Ive seen plenty of people who work off the thoughts of 'the more fans the better!!!' That simply isn't true, you can seriously upset the air flow around the case, in which case the temps will increase rather than decrease.

In particular in the really small cases for games consoles, especially the xbox, ive seen far too many people add a fan here and there, and then found there temps have increased alot and then wondered why.

I could recommend you use the CORRECT ammount of AS5 on the heatsinks for the GPU, and depending on how your cards are currently setup, a good fan, and custom made fan shroud would probably be the way to go. Custom made ones would have to be made by either yourself, or someone who has the skills required to build one.

Forced air induction into the heatsinks would make a good improvement, i assume the heatsinks use an exhaust fan method only at the present.

As before in this post though, watercooling is a great option, and would be well worth the investment, besides the 'wow' factor, you'd be supprised at just how much your temps can be decreased. Of course if you enjoy abit of overclocking, then this will increase your overclocks in a huge way.

Hopefully this will make some sense, i'm not quite with it today, so sorry if it doesn't make alot of sense at present.

[Albert Lionheart]

Thanks Dano - I only took the side off the case to see what would happen - if the temperature dropped then it could have been cavitation but the predicted increase shows lack of airflow. I have wound up the fan speed and the GPU temps are now 57c and acceptable (but noisy).
Thanks for the input!

I know that you are all just dying to know how my GPU temps are - today with a lower ambient air temp they are at 56c - now there's a thing!

[Joshuashawharvey]

Much, much better mate

[Albert Lionheart]

This gets more interesting.....
I noticed a hot electics smell in here today and this appears to be coming out of the PSU - and the air coming out there is hot too. I have therefore turned down the extraction fan (which is allowing the GPU temps up again) as I think the PSU is being starved of air because the fan is cavitating. I also noted the PSU output is a bit off - anyone any comment on these as below?:
CPU Core is 2.3v
Aux is 3.66v
+3.3 is 3.25v
+5 is 5.46v
+12 is 10.28 (!)
-12 is -10.74 (!!)
-5 is -3.97
Maybe this PSU's days are numbered!

[Daveskater]

You could be right mate, the PSU could have heated up with having little, or not enough air, and it seems to have ruined it a bit. See if it's stays like that. If it does then I'd get a new PSU.

[Albert Lionheart]

Thanks Dave
just had another look at the volts and they are much the same - the 12v values are more than 10% off so I guess this PSU is on the way out. The smells have stopped now I have the large extraction fan turned off, but the GPU temps are back where they started...ah well - have a good day today, mate!

[Daveskater]

It does sound like it's busted then, mate :frown:

[Albert Lionheart]

G'Day all!
Update from the eejit department: because I ignored the smells coming out of the PSU it would not come on this morning. I have fitted a new Antec 550W and had to rebuild the RAID, reset the BIOS and generally have a bad afternoon what with all the other stuff going on around here.
Lesson - if you have a smelly PSU - replace it at once!
Also interesting is the fact that Everest is showing the same low values for the PSU outputs as it did for the dead one - 10.5v on the 12v rail. So now I don't believe Everest!
cheers

[Daveskater]

Try a program called Motherboard Monitor (MBM) 5, mate. Or check your BIOS. It would even be that the mobo is some how reading it wrong, but I doubt it.

[Albert Lionheart]

Thanks Dave - will see what that says and report.
System otherwise OK - all the problems I found once I hade installed the new PSU related to the BIOS being reset somewhere - not by me, tho'