I forgot that my temp monitor ulility wasn't running and I was ripping/encoding a bunch of CDs last night. All of a sudden the comp shuts down...I think...wth? Turn it back on and realize that it's hot enough to boil water. I turned on the temp monitor and the CPU was almost 90*C!

Oops. I let it cool down, then started using my external DVD drive to rip stuff. Anyway, I HATE this tiny case that I have. Not only does the cooling ability of it suck, but its really loud too. What moron designed this thing where the PSU is directly above the CPU?

The heat of the optical drive combined with the mp3 encoding is really what sent the CPU over the top though.

I need some recommendations on a slightly larger case that will be VERY QUIET and cool. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!


I have this MOBO:

Asus P4P800-VM

This CPU:

Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz

This Case:

Antec ARIA. Small form-factor PC case

huh.

52 views and no opinions on what I should buy.


<goes and sits in the corner like a good boy>

Sorry! I viewed it and didn't reply because I figured someone would come along with a better suggestion than I could offer. But you're right, that's a lot of views without replies for this board

One thing that I think would help is if we knew what you wanted to do. I mean, you say that you melted your CPU, but then you just say you want a bigger case. I would have thought that temperatures like that would have done some damage.

If you were looking to go with a new case/mobo, I would have just suggested a Shuttle. I think they basically have two lines, one for maximum performance and one for noise levels.

Other than that, I haven't looked at SFF cases that weren't sold as barebones systems.

I'm assuming you want to keep your CPU and board since they sound OK.

I've always thought Antec were a good brand, but have now made a mental note to avoid their really small cases.

The Sonata has had good reviews and I built a machine using this case for a friend. It was well made and had great little features like rubber hard drive mountings and a quality power supply to keep the noise down. Airflow was not bad. I'd recommend it, even though it is Antec again.

At work we have a fileserver in a Antec AMG???? case. It is excellent quality and airflow is great. Not the quietest case around but I'm sure a little bit of fiddling would fix that. It is also huge, which I'm guessing by the case you have at the moment is not something you would go for.

When you get a bigger case, you may want to think about a bigger heatsink to help wick away some heat with low speed fans.

Though it's not helpful, I have to recommend any case by Superpower. They're huge, heavy, and impossible to find these days, but they are built solid, won't cut your fingers when inside them, and will make sure the floor under them isn't going anywhere for a while.

Of course, this requires quiet fans, which I can't find to save my life. There MUST be some kind of coolophile high end cpu/case/psu fan seller online, but I can't find them. I must get some high quality quiet fans!

I'm a fan of Zalman's products. I just saw their water cooling system for novices, and I might try that out for my first foray into that cooling method. It's always intimidated me before, but this might be just what I need.

I could also go with something like this. What the heck, I've got $1200 to spend on a case

thanks for the replies all. No damage seems to have occured with my CPU.

I want to keep all the same stuff, but just get a new case that's quiet and cool. I can't seem to get this one cooler than 80*C when its doing anything. Just sitting idle, it's about 67*C.

heh.

The hardware woes continue. My WD 250GB HDD just died....the one with all of my music and design(mostly graphic stuff) files on it. Lucky for me, I have a 320GB backup of (almost) everything. So I just bought 2 more WD 320s from newegg for $95 each and a dual HDD external enclosure from usbgear.com

I would love to be able to get some of the data off of the busted HDD. The way it died was a bit strange too. I guess I never realized that for pretty much it's whole life (about 2 years) that it was louder than most other drives. Mostly a high pitched whine that I would attribute to the fans in the enclosure that I have. Well, the drive is what was noisy. Still no real obvious 'clucks' or anything. The comp recognizes when the drive is turned on, but Windows explorer pretty much locks up trying to search the drive, until I shut it off again.

I've had two of the WD 320G SATA drives go bad on me within a couple months of purchasing them. Make sure you back your stuff up religiously if you are using them.

Try SpinRite.
Well worth its purchase price, if for no other reason than to watch all the crazy output it displays. Apparently, it goes over the drive with an ultra fine tooth comb at a very low level. It worked well for a drive of mine which only partially survived a power surge.

Be sure to run it in the computer the drive was originally hooked up to. And be sure to let it run a long long long time. So, you main machine will be busy probably for days, but you may have good results. (or you can pause and restart it, but I'd rather let it run and run).