I really hope the PS3 takes off, I don't want to see HD-DVD win, but I don't know how viable it is going to be. 😒

On the other hand, the XBox 360 most likely isn't going to ship with a HD-DVD drive installed, and I have a feeling that the PS3 is going to be disappointing in a lot of ways compared to the XBox 360:
- Ugly, possibly uncomfortable controller
- Cell processor won't live up to the hype, at least at first
- Likely to have too high a ratio of Japanese-to-western game styles (especially RPGs) - I admit that this one is a personal preference
- May have a late release, and certainly will be available in more limited numbers at launch in the U.S. than the XBox 360 (as is Sony's mode of operation)

I'm not really into consoles, but I'm seeing that most game developers are moving away from PCs (with the exception of MMORPGs [WoW, Guild Wars], a few regular RPGs [Oblivion, Fallout 3], next-generation FPSes [Doom 3, Half-Life 2], and a few bargain-bin/general interest titles [anything by Eviltronic Arts]).

I'm excited about the rumors that there may be a Shadowrun game in development for the XBox 360, although that won't convince me to buy it if it turns out to only be a First-Person Shooter like the rumors are saying. I imagine Bioware will develop titles for it as well, after the success of Jade Empire (which I have yet to play since I don't have an XBox).

For now I'm happy with my PC, GBA, NES, Atari 2600, and modded PSX 😀

I'd be happy with a PC that had a peak heat output of a Pentium 2.

It sounds like the next generation (or possibly even the next iteration of the current generation) of PC CPUs will have a lot lower power consumption, which probably means lower heat output as well.

As long as I can perform a mainboard upgrade without disrupting my OS install, things will be golden. C'mon, nForce5 (or nForce4 that runs much much cooler! Fucking thing has like 75% the heat output of the CPU!) Though, that said, OS reloads are not that big of a hassle anymore, especially with external storage. I need to hack out holes in the top and side of my case and switch out my CPU heatsink with something much larger. I also need to create a venting system, right now there's way too much dead air inside the computer (to the point where I have the side cracked to allow natural convection -- I don't know why it gets so hot, but with the case closed the internal temps skyrocket. Really weird. I have bad luck. I'm about ready to put a fileserver in the closet and have a system with a single drive, a passive video card and underclock the CPU. I was going to underclock the CPU, but read there were some stability issues. I'm not lucky like people that can afford instability in their main system. I still feel like a n00b for not even trying. [Ranting due to exhaustion, apologies.])

Is it case temps or CPU temps or both that go way up with the case closed?

My recommendation:
- Fans fans fans! Put fans on the front, back, and (if possible) top, with all fans blowing in (except the top fan which should vent the hot heat upwards).
- Use aftermarket thermal grease on your CPU and put as good a cooler on it as you can find.
- Don't ever overclock if you're having heat problems.
- Use cable management (rounded cables, cable ties, possibly even cut-n-splice to make cables shorter) to minimize airflow obstacles.
- Use compressed air to clean dust out of fans and other components at least once every couple of weeks (I'm guilty of not doing this often enough myself).
- Get a good PSU. They're the primary vent for hot case air, so you need one with a good fan(s) to keep your case cool. My PSU is cheap and uses a big, slow, quiet fan, but it doesn't bother me because my CPU temps tend to be hotter by a greater margin than my case temps.
Don't feel bad for not playing around with over/underclocking. Personally I don't see much of a use for it, as it seems to cause way more problems than the benefits it affords. I think for most people the primary reason for overclocking is to be able to brag about it.

What I need is a better CPU cooler, but I can't find one that doesn't require mounting holes in the motherboard (which mine doesn't have because it's an nForce2). I'm thinking of playing with watercooling when I build my next system. I'll have to research it first though.

AMD's Quite@Cool (downclocks processor speed) seems to work fairly well. I'd assumed that it was causing problems with Vmware on my sisters machine but loading up Rmclock proved otherwise. Her processor is 32C at the desktop...haven't had a chance to do anything intensive with it. This is an AMD 64 3500+.

When I discovered my system temperatures went down as much as -10/-20ºC (floppy, hard-disk and CD/DVD drives were running HOT AS HELL when the case was closed, due to heat transmission) I left my case open since then. Too bad some fans are quite noisy, but newer ones are quieter.

I have always thought is fucking stupid to make almost everything for cases METALLIC. Some sort of plastic would be way better, as far as heat is concerned. Besides, cases would weight less. 🤐

PS - Just to keep ourselves "on-topic". How much heat do consoles generate? Which one is running cooler? 😁 😁 😁

I think a lot of the reason that cases are metallic is for RF shielding (for both emitted and received interference). It also serves as a grounding point, although I don't think most devices depend on that as I've seen plastic cases before.

My roommate once had a clear acrylic case, but it sucked because he had to pretty much disassemble it if he wanted to change out any of the hardware in it (drives, cards, etc.). It also warped in places due to the weight and size of the components. I don't think there were any RFI-related problems with it.

HunterZ wrote:

Is it case temps or CPU temps or both that go way up with the case closed?

Both. Case goes up like 8-10C and CPU a similar amount. CnQ is disabled until the next BIOS update for this board, then after that BIOS has been tested for a few weeks by others I will be turning it on.

My recommendation:
- Fans fans fans! Put fans on the front, back, and (if possible) top, with all fans blowing in (except the top fan which should vent the hot heat upwards).

Noise noise noise! This system is already too noisy! 120mm intake on the back + 120mm intake on the front + blower outtake. Power supply is at the bottom of the case. This is not ideal since the hot air blowing out of it is mixed with the outside air and sucked in the rear intake. I would like to cut out a hole for a 120mm fan on the top of the case, that would solve pretty much everything, but I don't have experience with a dremel, don't want to have to take everything out of the case to do it, and don't want to fuck up and make the thing ugly 🙁

- Use aftermarket thermal grease on your CPU and put as good a cooler on it as you can find.

Arctic Silver 3 plus MCX6400-V with SilenX 80mm thermistor fan.

Don't ever overclock if you're having heat problems.

Good advice. 😜

Use cable management (rounded cables, cable ties, possibly even cut-n-splice to make cables shorter) to minimize airflow obstacles.

Done, except for the splicing. Don't care to try that.

Use compressed air to clean dust out of fans and other components at least once every couple of weeks (I'm guilty of not doing this often enough myself).

That's rather extreme. Once every 3-6 months, perhaps, but put a filter on your case (just use material from an air conditioning filter) and you should be golden.

Get a good PSU. They're the primary vent for hot case air, so you need one with a good fan(s) to keep your case cool. My PSU is cheap and uses a big, slow, quiet fan, but it doesn't bother me because my CPU temps tend to be hotter by a greater margin than my case temps

PSU on bottom of case.

Don't feel bad for not playing around with over/underclocking. Personally I don't see much of a use for it, as it seems to cause way more problems than the benefits it affords. I think for most people the primary reason for overclocking is to be able to brag about it.

I agree about overclocking, but the heat output is not linear, it's exponential, so for a 5% decrease in processing power you get a 20% decrease in heat output.

What I need is a better CPU cooler, but I can't find one that doesn't require mounting holes in the motherboard (which mine doesn't have because it's an nForce2). I'm thinking of playing with watercooling when I build my next system. I'll have to research it first though.

I'm sure you'll be able to find something that will work. I used a Thermalright SLK-900A on my last system.

PSU: PSU on the bottom, eh? I've heard of weird case designs like that... Is there a case fan at the top of the case to vent the hot air then?

Dust: It's not a big deal to blow the dust out of a computer once or twice a month. Only takes a couple minutes to hit the fans and heatsinks and a quick blast across the circuit boards.

Filter: I'm not keen on the idea of a filter; it seems like it would impede the airflow, possibly causing a combination of reduced ventilation and/or stress on the fans. I'm kind of a hypocrite though, since my case came with a foam filter on the front fan mount.

Dremel: I haven't used Dremel tools much either, but they're not hard to control. You could take a marker and draw the pattern you want right onto the case and then cut it out with no problems. If you screw up you can always just make it a big hole and put a case fan grating over it.

Splicing: I'm not much into it either, but my roommate swears by it. Actually, I'm pretty lazy as I haven't even acquired rounded IDE cables for my current computer.

Tangent: I just felt one of my hard drive cages and it's pretty hot. I've got only one front case fan even though there is a slot for a second. I should probably put a fan in the empty slot, or at least move the existing fan over to the empty slot so that it will blow more directly on the hot drives. Maybe I'll to that tomorrow if I get around to playing with rearranging my RAM sticks.

PSU: There is a blower fan near the top of the case that is supposed to pull air over and out from over the PCI slots. linky with Flash diagram.

Dust: Canned air is expensive and wasteful.

Filter: I understand your reservations, but filters are designed to not obstruct the flow of air very much. This case came with a carbon filter.

Dremel: Black case. Aluminium. Bwuuuuuuuuuuh.

Splicing: I asked the company I bought the power supply from if they would splice for an extra fee. They refused. 🙁 The main 24-pin ATX is mesh-wrapped, it'd be a shame to lose that. The other cables are tucked away pretty well, in an area of the case that has nothing that needs to be cooled.

Tangent: Good idea. Nobody remembers to cool the hard drives. Dangerous since they're sorta the most important part!