What do you mean by 'fan slots'?

Do you mean adding holes and extra mounting points for additional case fans?

Yes, that is what I meant. Sorry for not being too clear

You should start by ensuring that ALL case fan mounting points have clean holes for best airflow. If your case has mounting points which are a 'grille' or have numerous small holes for the air to blow through, cut the whole centre of it out to allow full airflow.

Adding extra fanholes is rather easily done too. The best additions to make, in order of preference, are a side panel mounting point to fit an intake fan which blows air directly onto the processor/display card area, and a top panel exhaust 'blowhole'.

Here's a guide:

http://www.moddershq.net/guides.asp?guideid=1

Thanks for the link, it was very informative. Could you suggest a good place to find out more information about a side intake fan? Also I had 2 questions, I found a good water cooing system for $90. Could it be used in conjunction with the case fans? As in, both working at the same time? Also, could you recommend a good link for finding out about adding a side fanhole, or is that process very similar to the top "blowhole". Thanks for the help.

The process of adding a side panel fan is basically identical to that of addind a top panel exhaust. Just attach the fan the other way around, to ensure it is blowing air IN rather than drawing it out. (Still on the inside of the panel, of course, and simply reversed!)


I would not recommend watercooling units to newcomers. The benefits of watercooling kits are minimal, in my view, and some of them even provide less extra cooling potential than high-end, 3rd party heatsink/fan replacement units!

Might I ask what your system specifications are, and what temperature levels it currently runs at for processor and internal case temp?

2.2 ghz 1mb cache 3400+ AMD athalon
Super Lanboy (probably)
6800GT 256mb
500 wattt PSU
K8N, K8N-E Deluxe, or DFI LANPARTY
1 gig 3200 DDR ram, 1 stick
160 gig 7200 RPM Hard drive, IDE interface
DVD/CD burner

That is the setup I WILL buy, havn't purchased it yet, still proofing. The water cooling system would be the http://www.case-mod.com/store/produc...roducts_id=857 It got great reviews, and seems like an easy one to install. I am planning to OC the CPU to 2.4 ghz after I make sure the system is stable, and so I will need some good cooling, as both the graphics card and the CPU will generate buckets of heat. Do you know if case fans are still used in a water cooling system?
Thanks for the help.

That sounds like an OK system to me.

I wouldn't be planning on a watercooling setup straight off though. I'd be seeing how it goes before making that move.

In my opinion, if a processor won't do a couple of hundred magahurtz above specifications without either increasing core voltage or experiencing any appreciable rise in core temperature, then that processor isn't suitable for running overclocked on a long term basis.

It's a myth to consider that all instances of a particular processor have similar poential for overclocking. Every chip has its own unique potential. And the 'worthy' ones, in my view, should take a bit of a bump straight out of the box, without noticing the difference much at all!

Good points, I am going to increase the core voltage for an oc of 200mhz. I will ease my way up, depending on the quality of the CPU as well. Before any of that I will also add another 120mm blowhole to the top, and 2 120mm intake fans to the side. Depending on my temperatures I will either go for a better heatsink fan, or if I really need it a water cooling system. Sound like a good plan? The reason I don't want to upgrade my stock heatsink right away is that I might still need water cooling, so I would essentially be throwing away 20-50 bucks. Thanks for the help, any comments?

See how it runs before deciding on changes to be made is my suggestion.

What you have planned sounds a lot like overkill to me, unless you're gonna operate that PC in a very hot environment