Well, performance enthusiasts of the early noughties invented the blowhole... https://www.overclockers.com/how-to-add-a-blo … rd-cooling-too/ (That article would be later than when they originated and was intended to help less bleeding edge users catch up, so figure they were "known" on forums some time before that) then cases started coming with them.

Do you have a front fan option (bottom front) and a back fan (under PSU) option to use too?

Do you have an unobstructed wide shot of the whole case (open)? It's hard to tell what you're working with from the provided pictures.

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-04-25, 00:51:

Do you have an unobstructed wide shot of the whole case (open)? It's hard to tell what you're working with from the provided pictures.

Agree ! Your pics do not show anything of value as far as what the case has....
most all my old ATX cases had a place for front case fan and some type in rear. I see what appears as front fan but hard to tell.
Also many older ATX PSU have a air intake to front to pull hot air out of case and blow it out back. Newer ones have fan/intake on bottom and blow out back for same reason...
better pictures needed !

ATX psu with 120 mm fan(for exhaust) and free the blocked front fan (use it as a intake, maybe cut the metal so it can accommodate also a 120 mm fan), also you can cut in the bottom of the case for a extra intake but you will need to rise the case with some kind of case feet if there aren't any. For the holes you can use fan grills and filters. For more, post better/detailed pictures with the case.

Horun wrote on 2023-04-25, 02:36:

Agree ! Your pics do not show anything of value as far as what the case has.... most all my old ATX cases had a place for front […]
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Shponglefan wrote on 2023-04-25, 00:51:

Do you have an unobstructed wide shot of the whole case (open)? It's hard to tell what you're working with from the provided pictures.

Agree ! Your pics do not show anything of value as far as what the case has....
most all my old ATX cases had a place for front case fan and some type in rear. I see what appears as front fan but hard to tell.
Also many older ATX PSU have a air intake to front to pull hot air out of case and blow it out back. Newer ones have fan/intake on bottom and blow out back for same reason...
better pictures needed !

I'll get more pics tomorrow but basically the only intake fan in the case is in the front notated by the red circle.
It is COMPLETELY obstructed by the front panel via the USB and headphone assembly, so it is basically useless.

I'm starting to seriously lean toward a side fan cut into the panel.....

You can get one of these fans that fit in a bracket slot:

I have two of these somewhere but I haven't used them yet myself so I can't vouch for the effectiveness but it might be worth a try. Just seach eBay for something like "System PCI Slot Blower Laptop Chassis CPU Cooler Fan" and you should be able to find them.

Those cases were made wirh slot cpus in mind, a lot of people had that problem when they wanted to upgrade their Pentium 2/3 slot based computers.
With the PSU on top of your CPU, more photos may help, but, if the PSU is on top of your CPU and if it is a Socket A Thunderbird like I think it is.
I only can say that the best option is another case.

tomcattech wrote on 2023-04-25, 05:24:

I'll get more pics tomorrow but basically the only intake fan in the case is in the front notated by the red circle. It is COMPL […]
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Horun wrote on 2023-04-25, 02:36:

Agree ! Your pics do not show anything of value as far as what the case has.... most all my old ATX cases had a place for front […]
Show full quote

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-04-25, 00:51:

Do you have an unobstructed wide shot of the whole case (open)? It's hard to tell what you're working with from the provided pictures.

Agree ! Your pics do not show anything of value as far as what the case has....
most all my old ATX cases had a place for front case fan and some type in rear. I see what appears as front fan but hard to tell.
Also many older ATX PSU have a air intake to front to pull hot air out of case and blow it out back. Newer ones have fan/intake on bottom and blow out back for same reason...
better pictures needed !

I'll get more pics tomorrow but basically the only intake fan in the case is in the front notated by the red circle.
It is COMPLETELY obstructed by the front panel via the USB and headphone assembly, so it is basically useless.

I'm starting to seriously lean toward a side fan cut into the panel.....

The slot blowers mentioned by pan069 are OKish for a small boost to case cooling, but tend to be noisy quite at 12V and are pretty much useless if you dial them back to 5 / 7V.

First thind I'd suggest is altering the front intake / fan - cut away the front fan grill and move the fan inside the case (either the one you have or a better one with more airflow). Also might help if you could tidy your cable runs to be less obstructive of any front airflow.

Round IDE cables might help a bit. But honestly I wouldn't use a case with the PSU on top of the CPU except for hardcore nostalgia (I had one with my Pentium II back then). Apart from troubles with air flow it's really a pain in the youknowwhat to change anything in there.

HanSolo wrote on 2023-04-25, 13:22:

Round IDE cables might help a bit. But honestly I wouldn't use a case with the PSU on top of the CPU except for hardcore nostalgia (I had one with my Pentium II back then). Apart from troubles with air flow it's really a pain in the youknowwhat to change anything in there.

+1

tomcattech wrote on 2023-04-24, 23:52:

I'm adding some pics but the situation is this: The CPU is RIGHT underneath the PSU and there is pretty much no intake air path […]
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I'm adding some pics but the situation is this:
The CPU is RIGHT underneath the PSU and there is pretty much no intake air path for the case.
(The intake air fan spot is blocked by the face plate and USB\headphone assembly)
--
Thoughts?

An option is installing something like this in one of the upper 5.25 CD-rom bays:
TITAN TTC-HDC3Hard Disk Drive 5.25 inch Bay 3 Fan Case HDD Cooler
https://tinyurl.com/mrcu98h6

You may need to trim the voltage down - these thingies make a lot of noise.

More pics....

I'm definitely going to keep the case.

Worst case scenario is that the dremel comes out to make a nice mounting hole for a 90mm fan grille\screen.

That slot fan looks like a good exhaust solution.....

PARKE wrote on 2023-04-25, 15:10:

An option is installing something like this in one of the upper 5.25 CD-rom bays: TITAN TTC-HDC3Hard Disk Drive 5.25 inch Bay 3 […]
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An option is installing something like this in one of the upper 5.25 CD-rom bays:
TITAN TTC-HDC3Hard Disk Drive 5.25 inch Bay 3 Fan Case HDD Cooler
https://tinyurl.com/mrcu98h6

You may need to trim the voltage down - these thingies make a lot of noise.

Oh, I like that....

That 'bracket' fan is not a good option from my experience, it's noisy and ineffective (still have one) and in your case the upper slot it's occupied by the video card so at best it can be used as an exhaust for the gpu, not the cpu. I still think your best option (if you don't want to cut the side/upper panel) is to 'cut' the front metal (where the place for the fan is) and ad internally a 120mm fan or cut in the front bottom add a 120mm, add some case feet to rise the case and use a ATX psu with a 120mm fan for exhaust and maybe use the 'bracket' fan for the gpu exhaust. I would go for another case, so i will not 'overcook' my retro parts (it's not about the way it looks, it's about the internal design).

If there is room to fit an intake fan between the case (in the position that the intake holes are in) it might help to drill air holes in the front panel and place a fan there. I don't know what your skills are, but that is the best position if the outtake fan(s) is at the top (ie your PSU or near the PSU)

OK so I'm going to try the following:

Going to remove the 2nd optical Drive (DVD) and move up the Soundblaster panel.

Going to put the 5.25 intake fan in the third 5.25 bay and point it down.

Going to move the diskette drive to the lower spot for more airflow.

Going to put a PCI slot fan in the rear of the case as just below the agp card.

Going to put an upgraded PSU with an internal intake\exhaust fan above the CPU cooler.

Let's see what idle and "in work" temps look after that.

----------------

If that still doesn't work the side panel has a date with my Dremel.....

Instead of dremeling the side panel, why not just leave it off entirely?

That case is definately NOT designed for any high wattage system. I quickly see two things wrongs. 1. PSU is vertical mount so cannot suck as much air out as a horizontal at top of case. 2. No extra back fan mount area. Even if the front fan was made wide open it would not allow the heat build up to escape near top where it collects. Here is a quick pic of other late 90's - early 2000's case backs designed for 1/2 decent air flow. I suggest figuring a way to do as Bitwrangler said and create a blow hole either in top mid of case or in top mid of the side panel.

OK so next issue....

I can't find a valid temp monitoring program.

All my usuals: Speedfan, AIDA32, HWMonitor ALL show 120 Celcius... (Basically it says the CPU is melting at idle.)

I know this is incorrect as Bios shows right at 50 degrees Celcius at idle.

If I run prime95 at all to see if the readout changes.... It stays right at 120.... under stress or not.

Latest Bios is on the board..... any ideas?

As an option, take a PSU with a 120mm fan on the side cover.
And flip the fan on the CPU heatsink.
The CPU fan should blow in the same direction as the PSU fan.
Otherwise, they will pull airflow away from each other.