I made this post a week or so ago; http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] -good-idea

I've gotten all of the parts, set it all up, and I'm currently using it to type this. This is the first computer I've had to worry about over heating, so I have no idea what to do about it. When I was putting it together the case had two spots for 2 80mm fans, so I bought those and they're currently being shipped to me.

I've been playing a couple games that haven't been too demanding and they run fine, but I installed Devil May Cry 4 and started playing and the PC Prob II that the motherboard software came with and it started yelling at me with the mother board light flashing red. I can only assume that's not good and quickly closed DMC. Everything went back to green after closing it and all good(i hope).

So the two front 80mm fans will be added soon, but I don't know exactly how much that will help. On top of that I'm not exactly sure what good temps should be. Just sitting here it says 41°c for the CPU and 41°c for the motherboard. The motherboard started yelling at me 46°c. The only 'cooling' I have at the moment is the one fan at the back, the fan on the video card, and the heatsink dealio. Oh and some random cone/vent thing on the side panel. Did I get a terrible case? Will the 2 front fans work for what I need? Is there something else I can get that isn't too hard to install?

yea if you only have the one exuast fan in the back and no intake fans that's most likely the cause of your problems. Once you get the other fans installed there shouldn't be to much of a problem. If there is Id suggest geting an after market heatsink such as the xigmatec rifle120 and some higher CFM fans. Hope this helps

46 is WAY to low to start screaming at you. Nvidia SLI chipsets(based on your other thread.) run hot and they are made to take it. I would not worry until 55-60. Same for the cpu 50-60 will not hurt it.

The 2 front fans will not help cool the system much, but they will cool your hard drive if its down there. I would get it.

The cone/vent thing is a air duct. It allows your cpu to suck cooler air from the outside of the case so it does not have to breath the warmer case air. They actually work well in lowering cpu temps in a warm case.

Next time you look for a case, a 120mm fan in the back(exhaust) is best. cools well and is quieter. You should still be ok, your system is not a massive heat generator.

If you want to cool your video card you can make its fan run faster.
this guide tells you how, it DOES work on the 4850 as well.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost. [...] ostcount=8

thanks for the info. The threshold to the mb monitor was default at 46 degrees, so I guess I'll just raise that to 50 or so. I'll install the two front fans when they get here and see what I can do about getting a 120mm fan for the back, there are larger screw holes than the 80mm fan that's in there now, so maybe I can replace that one.

Wow apparently that PC Probe software has some stupid default settings. 46C is way fine.

Most CPUs I've ever owned had max temp limits of 68-70c. So I generally try to keep everything below 65c. Specific parts have different max heat limits, so just try to keep it as low as you can.

Frankly though, for Asus (I think PC Probe is Asus) to set the default alarm at 46C is silly. It's going to scare to many people when there's nothing bad going on.

For the cpu alarm, I would go a bit higher, my A64 ran at 52 probe load(once i turned it from games to server[still full load just with a weak video card] its 46in probe and 52 in Coretemp), but it was an old one.

You should get coretemp if you want to see the cpu temp, it will be higher but more accurate(do not worry, a cpu can take allot of heat). This will give you an idea of the offset so you can better set your thermal alarms.
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

The biggest fan you can fit in that case in the back is a 92mm fan. The extra air will be minimal, If noise does not bug you and you find it too hot get a high speed fan(91 or 80). It will make allot of noise, but can move as much as a low-medium speed 120mm fan.