Screenshot:


Comp turned off (Before changing fans and adding lighted feet):


My case has a fan speed control, but I don't think it works right. The gauge moves when I turn them down, but the fans don't seem to actually slow down. I just reconnected all of them while reading the manual online and it didn't help. I'll try it again later. I'm definitely going to wait a bit and try out ALL other options before 7v modding them. I'm not very good with wiring, so hopefully I can solve this without wire cutters. >_<

I'll try to get some better pics soon.

The speed control works, you probably just don't have the fans connected in series to the lead coming from the front panel that says '.5A max'.

I hooked the fans all together on their own power cord and connected to the front panel. I didn't check for .5A, though. I'll do that now.

EDIT: I didn't see anything about a .5A, but I redid it again and got it working! I must have messed up my input/output or something. Anyway, with the controller working, it's finally bearable. It dims the fan lights with them turned down, but I think I can handle it.

Wait, is it a SINGLE fan control? Usually with fan buses (and fan controllers), EACH FAN has its OWN controller and power connector - you don't hook them all up to the same one.

No, mine's just a single controller. I might get a good controller later when I'm bored and want to spend some more $, but for now the case one is fine.

And my sister came home for easter. She might have her camera with her. If she does, I'll take some updated pics.

EDIT:

good lord foamy, get some wire management going in there ASAP Its a mess inside there! Of course, aside from just looks, good wire management will increase your airflow and lower case temps, as well

Seriously, I was going to suggest that too. Get some zip ties in there.

Yeah, I guess poor airflow is bad. But it looks so cool with the wires there...

Ah, well. I'll get it cleaned up.

EDIT: And speaking of temps, a short (~10-15minute) UT2004 session brings my CPU up to 55C. That's still at stock speed. Is that bad? Do I need a new CPU fan?

I think it would look cooler with those wires organized out of the way.

I got the cable ties off of the extra cables from my power supply and cleaned it up a bit. I also put my fan cables under my harddrive instead of over it. It does look a lot better now. I have all of the top cables dropping straight down together just to the right of the RAM. And the extra loose cable from my PSU is under my dvd drive in the bay. You can't see it, and it isn't blocking airflow over there. My sister went back already, so I can't get you any new pics of it. I'll try to soon.

o.0 wires == ugly. Clean cases look excellent, let that hardware shine through and not be blocked by some crappy $5 cable sleeving



55C is perfectly fine, although what is your temp after, say, 2 hours of UT2004? (loop a bot demo or something if you don't feel like playing for 2 hours). Don't start worrying about it till it hits 65C, thats the upper 'comfortable' limit. Your CPU isn't in any danger until past ~75C, although it will throttle itself down long before then Oh, and those temps are what the CPU is reporting, right? (not like some temperature probe you mounted on the CPU/HSF, but the built in internal one)

Right, it's the built in one. It's what GKrelM says. I'm probably going to get a new CPU cooler, but I'm going to wait a bit. I'm starting to get a little strapped for cash.

Why bother? Overclocking voids your warranty, and I doubt you want to muck about with that, as it can be quite tedious (increase it a few mhz, torture test it, increase it a few mhz, torture test it, etc....) Besides, I'm sure your Core 2 Duo is more than up to anything you are throwing at it, and the stock HSF is keeping the CPU plenty cool. Remeber, the stock HSF was designed to cool the CPU in sub-optimal conditions (as in cases with poor airflow), it is more than up to the job of cooling it in your case. A higher performing cooler is either going to be louder or heavier, and may exceed the recommended weight maximum of the socket (sometimes by a large amount too), which increases the chance of it snapping the socket all together if moved or jostled about - never a good thing.

yeah, I shipped a computer back to someone, and sometime along the trip, the HSF fell off of the socket, and destroyed the chip (took all the entire die off the chip, not good). Btw, it was packed in peanuts and everything. You never know what can happen.

Meh, you're right. I guess I'm good for now.

Oh, and now that you guys have seen my case, can you think of anything I should add to make it look cooler? I was thinking I might get some nicer fan grills. That's about all I've come up with, though. I don't see anywhere good to mount cathode tubes.

That computer looks pretty awesome Giving my second thoughts about my case choice...

You don't necessarily "add" cool. I'm not gonna lie foamy, no matter what you do, your case really can't be all that cool, as its considered a premodded case. Meaning you bought it with the hard stuff already done (window, etc...). So at this point all that matters is whether or not you like it. If you want to add a cathode (it looks pretty bright already, though), you could easily mount them on the side with the window. Just don't fall into the trap in thinking that more is better, as I assure you it isn't

Oh, and I was digging back through the topic to get some better pics of the case you got, and I came across my comment about how having 80mm fans wasn't good - now that you've ignored my advice and have to put up with the noise, how do you feel about picking a case with only 80mm fans?

EDIT: Oh, something to do. Cut out the 'punched' grills (such as the exhaust). Its really easy to do if you have a dremel or similar, and you don't even need to pull your stuff out of the case. Just get a plastic bowl or something, and tape it (making sure its "sealed") to the inside so that all the metal shavings fall into that. Cutting out the grills will greatly increase the airflow and cool your case down. In addition to the rear, it also appears that the front has that, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to get to that one.

Haha, yeah, I though about what you said about the 80's before I even posted that. But still. I had 4 fan ports so I wanted 4 fans. Even if it came with 2 120s, I still would have bought 2 more. But now that my fan controller is hooked up right, I don't really mind anymore.

And the front panel coms off fine, so I could cut out the punched part. The front panel has that circular grill on it, too, so even if I didn't cut it right you still wouldn't see how ugly it was. I'd be afraid of messing up the back, but I could always add a cool looking grill onto it.

Hey, Foamy about how much has this cost you because I'm thinking about building my own computer and was looking for a price range?

Its just like buying a computer from anywhere - the price is determined by how fast (or how feature-packed) of parts you buy. You can get one anywhere from $500 up.

@Foamy: Yes, I know what you mean about the fans. But 4 120mm fans would push more air with much less noise than the 80mms As for messing it up and having it look bad in the back, who cares? When was the last time you saw a computer and went, "My that back panel looks sexy!"