Just wondering if anyone can recommend a really cool way of keeping my FX 57 system cool. I already have four fans, 1 on the AMD FX 57 CPU, 1 x on the Nvidia 7800 GTX, 1 x at the front end of the machine to blow air across the system sucking air in from outside the pc, 1 x at the rear of the machine in reverse so the air gets sucked out. In addition I occassionally take the side casing off (not sure twhether this is ok or not?). According to the Nviida properties my GPU temp started at 35 degrees (bearing in mind -2 outside house temp this morning, probably the same in my room!), after running FS9 for 1 hour with the pmdg B744 the temp rose to 59 degrees C. Not sure the size of the fans or make.Many thanks and Best Wishes,Chris,EGBB UK

Hi Chris,Yes, I know this problem has been dogging you for a while and hope you get this fixed soon. May I know what case you are using? It might be worth investing in a new one with better airflow design. The other consideration is that even if you wanted to add fans, where would you add them? Are there fan slots for you to add them?In general, what you have described is about right i.e. one fan in front for inflow and one fan at the back for outflow. In fact, you may need more. How big are those fans? And how fast do they run? (If you do not know, you should be able to check in the BIOS.) To have one in the CPU and one on the 7800GTX is very standard so I wouldn't even count those.Also, check that your fan filters (if you have them) are clean and that no cables are blocking the air flow.FYI, I have four case fans (all 80x80mm) - two blowing in from the front, one exhaust at the top and one exhaust at the back - plus one 120x120mm on the CPU, the standard cooling on the 7800GTX and a fan in the Antec TruePower 2.0 PSU. Temperatures are reasonably cool to be a very stable machine. And Hong Kong is a lot warmer than the UK!It's kind of hard to diagnose cooling without actually seeing the set up. Perhaps you could take a picture and post it here (if you don't mind)? It's a bit puzzling to me because on the one hand, I'm quite convinced your problems are due to overheating but on the other hand, neither your CPU nor your GPU are that prone to overheating (unlike Intel CPUs!) and your cooling set up sounds fine so I can't quite imagine why your system would overheat!Edwin

Thanks Edwin, unfortunately I dont have a digital camera so I cant take any pictures, but thanks anyway. But I think I will take your advice and get some bigger fans and maybe get a bigger case. I am just amazed at how quickly the heat builds up in the GPU when running FS9, I never had this problem with the 6800 Ultra. Although the image quality is far far superior!Best Wishes,Chris

Hi Chris,Do you have a card (perhaps a PCI card?) that's right underneath (i.e. next to) your 7800GTX? If so, could you maybe try moving it to another (perhaps lower) slot? That card may be blocking the airflow to your 7800GTX. Also, perhaps you could try removing the metal bracket in the slot below the 7800GTX (so that there's another opening at the back of your case)? That may better allow heat from your GPU to exhaust out of the case.If you're considering a newer case, you might want to consider Antec's P180 or Lian-Li's V1000 (http://www.lian-li.com/Product/Chassis/M_V_C_PC-V1000.htm). Both sport relatively unconventional designs. I've read that they take some getting used to but eventually, you'll learn to love why they were designed that way. These cases are built for enthusiast machines like yours so they should be well-designed to cope with the heat produced.Hope this helps.Edwin