Hi, i was always of the opinion that good cooling is a well sealed Box ie BOTH box side-covers ON. The Mainboard then gets a draught from bottom vents across the mainboard and out at the top/rear. That's the theory. since building this new ASUS rig (comes with a "dubious" PROBE Sensor), i've tested the above theory out. with the side-cover OFF my CPU/Mainboard temps are 30C/29C degrees respectively. put the box side-cover ON and both temps rise by about 3 degrees......CPU up to 34C. then take the side-cover OFF, and both temps drop down to 30C/29C after a few minutes. hmmmmmmm !!....... rob Central Coast NSW Australia

Rob. Install another nice big exhaust fan at the rear of the box as high as possible, you will get the same result. My box runs at a steady 29-30 Cel all the time. The price of fans nowadays is realy quite cheap. Regards Thinking hurts my head

the CPU/Mobo temps are not an issue with me. its just something that i noticed while using ASUS's fantastic (???!!!!) hi-tech (???!!!) Probe Sensor. lol. my nephew is a Systems Software Support "Techie" and for the last 8 years, he has sworn that a Tower PC runs cooler by leaving the box side-cover off. I never believed him.......untill now. lol. i think if one was anxious about their temps, then definitely......get some extra fan cooling going. rob Central Coast NSW Australia

If you have any available slots on the rear of your tower ,they sell slot fans ,they fit into any slot and plug into power supply ! I have one I purchased for $20 ,very well made ,easy to install ,and remove for cleaning ! Good Luck Nick

All I can say is you are all real COOL dudes. My machine typically runs CPU 65deg (72 when FlightSim is running) Motherboard 25deg and Aux 29deg. Never seems to have a problem. Does anyone know what the critical temperatures are these days? Like when does a modern chip enter the realms of "Thermal Runaway"? Stuart

ever think of dust?

DUST?? nup don't think of it much....there are other things in life to think about (lol) yeah DUST !! side cover off, and geesh, does she ever get dusty. Central Coast NSW Australia