Hey guys, I haven't been here for a while, been pretty busy these days. I would like to tell you a little about my setup, and ask how I should place the new fans I ordered. My case is an Apevia X-Dreamer 3, and I completely removed the front circle with the temperature screen in it. Now the temperature reader, the power switch, and the HDD led are all in my floppy bay cover. Looks pretty nice, I'll upload some pictures to show you guys if you want. My CPU is a Phenom X4 9850, my GPU is an XFX Radeon HD 5770 O/C'ed to 950mhz, with an aftermarket cooler (Arctic Cooling Accelero Mono Plus). I have a 1tb hdd, and another 160gb hdd. My PSU is a Corsair TX-950. Since I removed the front circle, I have a ton of intake airflow now. However, to help even more with cooling, I just ordered two Cougar Vortex PWM 120mm fans. How should I place them? Should I keep all of the 3 stock case fans I already have, and bolt the new fans right onto the old ones? Or should I take out two of the old ones? I'm pretty dang confused about proper case fan placement. Currently I have two intake fans and two exhaust fans (counting the corsair psu's fan). Thanks!

Also: Avg Running Temps

CPU: 36C-50C
GPU: 40C-60C
HDDs:31C-?
Overall Case temp: 27C-30C

(EDIT: If you find this to be slightly confusing, it's probably because I took two benadryl (for pollen allergies) and I'm literally about to pass out.)

I would check the fan positions, try for air intake on the front and output on the back, as most people put their computers with the back on the wall so the front intake prevents pulling heat from the wall and dust that accumulates.

I would also check to make sure the processor heatsink is on securely, and if it is I would recommend an aftermarket cooler, as they are typically better than the stock ones.

One more thing is to make sure you have cable management, as cables running over fans will cause poor cooling.

Have fans at the front and back, equal air flow if possible. Front blowing in, back blowing out. Your temps are perfect, so I wouldn't worry too much about extra cooling.

Well I've just installed the Cougar Vortex's and now my GPU idle temps are down to 37C, and my CPU Idle temps are down to like 30C-31C. That's like a 5-6 degree difference for the CPU and a 3 degree difference for the GPU.

I'm still wondering though, should I make my side window fan an exhaust fan instead of intake to create negative pressure in the case? I've heard that negative case pressure helps cooling. Then again, my temps are dang good. I'm looking to o/c my cpu though. I dunno if I can... my cooler's an Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2, I don't know if that's exactly "enthusiast grade".

UPDATE: After running Furmark on burn-in for 10 minutes straight, my gpu temps are only 50C (and not moving at all)!!! Before I did these cooling upgrades, my gpu would reach 100C and then my computer would bluescreen, and that was only 3 minutes into the benchmark!

50 degrees for a GPU is quite low really, my PNY XLR8 GeForce 9800 GTX+ idles at 58 degrees, and it's not the standard nVidia PCB\cooling setup, but it does run cooler than an evga 9800 GTX+ I seen which is a standard nVidia board .

Negative airflow is better than positive airflow but remember, you need airflow to pull out of the case in the first place. Get a high amount of intake if possible and an even higher amount of exhaust flow if possible. The AC F7Pro is an excellent cooler too, so long as you applied the TIM correctly. Arctic Silver 5 is the stuff to use, no doubt about it if you need to splatter some paste on anything. If you want to reapply it, make sure you clean the old stuff off with isopropyl alcohol (injection swabs from your GP/Doctors do the trick if they're nice enough to give you some if you ask, it's worked for me) then apply a blob about half the size of a grain of rice. A good idea is to use clingfilm or stretch a bit of plastic bag over your finger and cover the entire CPU heat spreading surface. Then compression of a mounted cooler and a few hours should finish the job off nicely. I remember Custom PC (website is Bit-Tech) doing a feature on thermal paste once. They instructed a similar practice.

That all said, your new temperatures are perfectly fine and an ambient case temp of 30*C or less is ideal. If you want to heat your feet, 60*C is much more suited to this. Use a small case with poor ventilation, a Pentium 4 Prescott chip and last of all, FERMI CARD!!!

Are you saying that I might be able to get even better temps from my CPU if I do this? The cooler had pre-applied thermal paste on it, but it's kinda old now. Does thermal paste ever degrade much? And also I've noticed that since I've done this work, my room isn't 80 degrees anymore. Why is that? Doesn't my computer still put out the same heat, but it's dispersed better now? My room is much MUCH cooler than it used to be.

I see no reason why you need to adjusts the fans for either the cpu or gpu these temps seem quite fine. Its only bad when the temp for the cpu gets above 60C as well as 70-80C on the gpu. And thats pushing things to the limit you should be fine on this machine don't worry about it man. If your that concerned just keep the SMART safe checks on in the bios.

Are you saying that I might be able to get even better temps from my CPU if I do this? The cooler had pre-applied thermal paste on it, but it's kinda old now. Does thermal paste ever degrade much? And also I've noticed that since I've done this work, my room isn't 80 degrees anymore. Why is that? Doesn't my computer still put out the same heat, but it's dispersed better now? My room is much MUCH cooler than it used to be.[/quote]
Most likely you would but if I were you I wouldn't even bother. I've seen big and small differences with thermal paste switching and it all comes down to two things at the end of the day; if you applied it and if you applied it correctly.
Also, those temperature differences are probably because the computer is displacing the exhaust flow much quicker with those new fans. It will also be dragging cool air over the heatsinks and not just recycled pockets of hot air which is obviously pulling the hot air out much more efficiently. This means the PC isn't acting like a radiator anymore.