Hi everyone, I need a suggestion(s) for fans. I currently have a 120mm in the back blowing across the mobo, and a 80mm on the side window that is roughly facing my CPU. With "Cool 'n Quiet" my comp usaully idles from (all temps are in fahrenheit) 79 to 82 (my temperature gauge is touching the bottom of my case, so it might be a little strange). The highest it has gone while playing a game such as FEAR is 89. I was wondering if I should get more fans. My only option is a 120mm in the front blowing across my HDD to the PCI slots, or I could always get a PCI fan slot thing (or several of those). Any suggestions? Thanks ahead of time for reading this and responding if you do. Oh, one last thing, if someone would like to suggest where I could position my temperature gauge for better readings, please tell me.

The normal setup is in at the front, out at the back. You need to balance the airflow going in and out. Sounds like your fans are all inward facing.

Firstly, the fan in the rear should be exhausting out of the case, not blowing across the motherboard, and secondly if those temps are accurate you have nothing to worry about. Is your system stable under heavy load? Unless you are getting crashes or other evidence of temperature related issues such as graphics artifacts then don't waste any more time or money on thermal issues that don't exist. As for the temparature gauge. What temperature are you measuring with it? Case ambient temp? Waste of time. Your motherboard no doubt has inbuilt sensors and there are any number of progs out there that can access the info. Two I use are Speedfan, and Everest Home Edition (Formerly aida32) Your most critical temperature is CPU. and if it's running at 89 F you have nothing to worry about. If your CPU runs over 140F then consider extra cooling. I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

Thanks for the help OtheHill and Richard59. After checking my 120mm, I discovered it was exhausting, a ignorant mistake on my part because I just guessed and didn't make sure. I just wanted to make sure my parts weren't running hot, and since I don't know how cold or hot they should be, I just had to ask.

We normally list temps is Celsius. 89F = 32C, that's extremely good for a CPU under load. However, Cool'n'Quiet is known to cause problems, especially when overclocking or gaming...if you encounter any stabilty issues, try disabling it.