Cooling Need advice on cooling an old PC

I have an old PC I built 8 years ago I'd like to get cooling better, as the side of the case often gets quite warm. The PC is quite old, the case is a V770, and I'd like some advice on airflow.

The power supply sits in the top back of the case with its fan drawing air from the case and expelling it out the back. The CPU and it's fan is just below this, and the graphics card also has its own small fan on it. The only intakes on the case are two fan-size grilles one above the other half-way up the back of the case.

The MB has one extra fan header on it, so I thought I may as well use it. My question is, which direction should the new extra fan pull the air in? Is it best to have it expelling hot air (which would leave just one of the grilles for intake) or pulling in cool air for the PSU fan to drag out over the CPU fan?

 

You want cold air coming in the front & want warm air exiting the back.
There are 2 fan spaces at the front of the case as well to pull air in.

 

Not on this one there aren't. When I googled the V770 I found several references to it having intakes on the front, but this one don't seem to have them.

 

Let me back-pedal on that previous post a bit. The V770 does have two fan slots at the front, but as far as I can see they're obscured by the front panel.

Pics here (only mine is silver).

 

Thats not a problem is it? Just pop the front panel off to get at the fan mounts.

 

Sure, but once I put it back on won't it stop air getting in? Or am I being dumb?

 

Only if it's hermetically sealed
Most older cases use front mounted fans behind the solid plastic front moulding (molding) and the air still gets through.
Couple of tips removing the plastic front, most simply unclip if you pull from the bottom, sometimes there are small self tapping screws holding it in place as well. Take care not to damage the switch and LED wiring as you remove it.

 

Okay, thanks! One last thing: Like I said before, there's only two fan headers on the MB, one for the CPU, and one for the case. Is it a good idea to try and splice two fans onto one header, or is that just asking for trouble?

 

Best bet is to get another fan, pull off the header (on the fan wires) get the black wire and the red wire and insert them into the top of a molex connector, ie Red = Red and Black = Black, or if you want it to spin faster put the Red in the Yellow slot and it will run at 12v instead of 5v, but check what the fan will do first, most will be fine tho.

If you've got a 3 pin fan then just tuck the other wire out of the way and make sure it doesn't touch anything.

Regards
GiGo

 

Maybe an obvious question...

If it's eight years old and still running, why the need to cool it better now? If it's working perfectly, I would say leave it well alone, or this could be be another of those "I don't know why it's so unstable, it's been fine for years - all I did was add another fan to the case" posts.

 

Nope, it's a fair question. Basically this is my old main PC which I built 8 years ago which am about to replace. Back then I barely gave a thought to cooling beyond strapping the stock cooler on the CPU. Now I know a bit more I thought I'd see what I could do to make my current PC run cooler as a bit of a trial run before replacing it (and it's going to my GF, so it's not like it won't carry on being used).

And I am surprised at the difference even one fan makes. The CPU is too old for CoreTemp to recognise (P4) but from what I can glean from the BIOS monitor, it's knocked a few degrees off it.

@GiGo: I'll give that a go, thanks. The two fans I'm splicing together are identical, so the connections and voltage should be fine.