Do you think case volume affects cooling?

Some of you may remember my earlier discussions on case cooling and CPU
temps. My concern was my Athlon 2700+ system in which the mobo sensor
(which I will refer to as case temp) indicated about 35C and the CPU temp
about 47C at idle (with a good heatsink) in a 22C room. This case is tall
and narrow, has no side vents, one intake and one exhaust fan and a volume
of amout 1848 cubic inches.

I recently moved the CPU to another system: very similar (same vendor,
layout and chipset) mobo, same video, same drives. This system has a
shorter, wider (and deeper) case with a total volume of 2061 cu. in. It has
only a single exhaust fan but has vents on the side panel above the CPU and
the PCI slots. At the same ambient temp, the Athlon 2700+ with stock AMD
heatsink/fan runs 35C with 26C case temp which is line with what I'd expect
and like to see.

So my question is: is it the larger volume, the side panel vents or the
combination that results in the dramatic reduction in both CPU and case
temps?

One other confusing fact, even removing the side panel of the smaller
(hotter) case drops the CPU temp only about 5C and case temp (as reported by
the mobo sensor) only 1C or so. So maybe there's something else that makes
this system run hotter.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: FX 60 HSF and Case Recommendation
    ... cpu temps. ... Antec minitower (front and back 120 fans and one side 90 fan) ... One trick to bringing the case temp down, ... number might represent a typical cheap heatsink. ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)
  • Re: Whats an acceptable temp increase when overclocking?
    ... that it is the likely source of the BIOS and Probe CPU temp readings. ... other temperature sensors. ... DTS measures relative temperature - a reading of -20C from the sensor ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)
  • Re: Whats an acceptable temp increase when overclocking?
    ... that it is the likely source of the BIOS and Probe CPU temp readings. ... other temperature sensors. ... DTS measures relative temperature - a reading of -20C from the sensor ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)
  • Re: System lock ups possibly due to heat
    ... Do a Google for Rightmark CPU Clock Utility ... My core 2 duo with an aftermarket Thermalright Cooler and 120mm fan never goes above 55 running stress test for hours. ... The room temp also comes into play as the Northbridge could be getting too hot and causing your shutdown...try taking the ... Your CPU temperature under load seems high to me, so consider removing, then ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.hardware_devices)
  • Re: Do you think case volume affects cooling?
    ... My concern was my Athlon 2700+ system in which the mobo ... sensor> (which I will refer to as case temp) indicated about 35C and the ... CPU temp ... I don't use the laptop much but when I do I make sure the air intake area isn't blocked. ...
    (alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt)