adrimagnon said:
Hi Greeneman510,
Wow! Actually, from your description is sounds like airflow is not the problem. To test, I'd pull the side off the case and point a fan at it and run some temps. If it gets noticeably cooler than I would consider airflow into the case the problem.
I am not familiar with the current case but is the "120MM rear (flipped so I can use it as a intake fan)" above or below the power supply? If it is above then I would think that since warm air rises the the power supply exhausts hot air that the fan then returns the warm air inside the case.
Also, you want to drop temps 10% (from 55C to 50C) and I almost wonder if at that point you'll need water cooling. However, if your video card isn't overclocked or hot then I might add some cheap ducting to direct the cooler inlet air to the cpu cooler if not just one of the 120mm fans. This air, being ducted, will not be warmed up by the other PC components and so should stay a bit cooler.
Let us know if and what works! This sounds interesting since you pushed it so close to the edge.
Adrian
I've tried that in the past, pointing a fan at it on high with the side panel off. No effect. If you search for the P193 you'll see it's a sectioned design. The power supply is isolated and independently cooled at the bottom of the case. (I have a 120MM fan on medium cooling it) along with the 140MM fan built into my power supply. And my video card idles at about 28 C (gotta love the GTX 460's!) so it's not blowing much warm air out the back to be recycled into the intake (previously exhaust). But I usually keep a bit of cardboard slightly above the rear exhaust of the GPU just to make sure no warm air is recirculated.
I am thinking I might mod the case, it's only 4 screws and a few washers to mount the big fan outside the case, but I might lose a little efficiency from the fan by moving it like that, but not enough to really worry about. I'll try this once I have the required hardware to do it (about 4 or 5 washers per stud... 4 studs for the assembly so 20 washers. I'll want to use plastic so I don't scratch the case up. And replace the Alan Wrench headed screws they used with Phillips. ) but for now I am back at stock speeds. It seems Linux+Overclocked 6 Core= Not Gonna Boot (a problem with the latest Kernel I am told...)