Every summer I go through the same heat problems. I live in Southern Florida and during the summertime I can barely stand to sit in my office for more than an hour if I'm gaming. I keep my AC for the house set at 77 (which is comfortable if you're used to FL weather). After any amount of time of gaming the ambient temp in my office easily rises to the high 80's. Last summer I just put up with it and just turned down my AC, however that makes the rest of the house pretty cold and raises my power bill.
A major part of the problem is I'm running a 680i chipset, which is absolutely horrible for temps. Add on top of that 2 8800 GTS and I basically have a space heater. I have to run the system with the side of the case off or it overheats in a matter of minutes. Here's what it looks like:
The computer itself is fine temp wise. The cpu rarely crosses the 50ish barrier even under extreme load. Most of the heat is generated by the crappy nfarce chipset. If you look at the pic you'll see I glued a small 5000 rpm fan to the NB to help dissipate the heat. Under load I cannot hold my finger on either the SB or NB for more than 2 seconds, even at stock speeds. The 8800's are also very hot. They work fine but they blow a lot of rather hot air out the back of the case. Surprisingly the top card runs hotter than the bottom one, probably because the SB is right underneath it.
I'm getting rid of the motherboard and replacing it with either a P35 or an X48. (Possibly a P45 if they are actually available before the end of June) I haven't decided yet. I'm also going to scrap the 8800's and buy a single ATI 4850 when they are released in a couple of weeks. Doing those 2 things will probably dramatically decrease the heat.
I also want to get a full tower case. I'm willing to drop up to $250 for a really decent case. I really don't care what it looks like as long as it's well made and is able to keep my system cool.
I considered the antec 1200, but after really looking at what you get, this case simply does not warrant the price of it.
I really like the Coolermaster 1000. It seems to have alot of extras and be very sturdy. I'm well aware that there is a possible issue with the HDD cooling. I'm only running a 7200 rpm 640 MB SATA and at most I'd maybe add one more down the road.
I would really like to hear from some people that have experience with either of these cases, especially you have this case and run it in a room with a higher than normal ambient temp.
The Coolermaster 1000 S has that 200mm fan on the side but you give up a lot to get it over the just the 1000.
A major part of the problem is I'm running a 680i chipset, which is absolutely horrible for temps. Add on top of that 2 8800 GTS and I basically have a space heater. I have to run the system with the side of the case off or it overheats in a matter of minutes. Here's what it looks like:
The computer itself is fine temp wise. The cpu rarely crosses the 50ish barrier even under extreme load. Most of the heat is generated by the crappy nfarce chipset. If you look at the pic you'll see I glued a small 5000 rpm fan to the NB to help dissipate the heat. Under load I cannot hold my finger on either the SB or NB for more than 2 seconds, even at stock speeds. The 8800's are also very hot. They work fine but they blow a lot of rather hot air out the back of the case. Surprisingly the top card runs hotter than the bottom one, probably because the SB is right underneath it.
I'm getting rid of the motherboard and replacing it with either a P35 or an X48. (Possibly a P45 if they are actually available before the end of June) I haven't decided yet. I'm also going to scrap the 8800's and buy a single ATI 4850 when they are released in a couple of weeks. Doing those 2 things will probably dramatically decrease the heat.
I also want to get a full tower case. I'm willing to drop up to $250 for a really decent case. I really don't care what it looks like as long as it's well made and is able to keep my system cool.
I considered the antec 1200, but after really looking at what you get, this case simply does not warrant the price of it.
I really like the Coolermaster 1000. It seems to have alot of extras and be very sturdy. I'm well aware that there is a possible issue with the HDD cooling. I'm only running a 7200 rpm 640 MB SATA and at most I'd maybe add one more down the road.
I would really like to hear from some people that have experience with either of these cases, especially you have this case and run it in a room with a higher than normal ambient temp.
The Coolermaster 1000 S has that 200mm fan on the side but you give up a lot to get it over the just the 1000.