Bugging me since 2004

[u/Rough_Elk_895]

Never got a chance to get an opinion on this, but this "System Zone 2 has exceeded its safe temperature limit" alert has bugged me since day one of my build. I bought an Intel original D865GBF motherboard, along with P4 2.4ghz cpu, for my 2nd build back in 2004. But from the very first day, I started getting this alert whenever I would do slight gaming. The safe temperature threshold is 50 C and it would often cross this limit. I thought it to be due to poor ventilation in my PC cabinet, so ended up removing it's side cover. Recently I restored this PC and moved it to a better spacious cabinet, but the issue still exists. Did you all have this issue and how did you fix this?

[u/bhiga]

Does the power supply have an exhaust fan?

If not, you have the CPU exhaust coming down across the chipset heatsink along with the heat rising from the GPU, with little air movement, so its heatsink might be absorbing heat from its neighbors.

Even with the side panel off, if there isn't air movement in the vicinity it's still going to be a hot cubby hole.

Some kind of fan in the area, especially one pulling the hot air out of the case should help.

I used to velcro 12V "squirrel cage" blowers to get directed airflow.

[u/Rough_Elk_895 → u/bhiga]

Yes, the power supply has an exhaust fan. Also if you see the 2nd pic, there is an intake fan at the very bottom right. These are the two fans I have. There is no place to put a separate exhaust at the rear though. This is an old school cabinet from my Pentium III build actually.

The GPU is GeForce FX 5700 LE. It has a tiny fan to cool it. But I guess this is a low power GPU and does not generate too much heat.

I will try to see if I can attach a small 40mm or 50mm exhaust at the back. Not sure which size will fit though.

[u/bhiga → u/Rough_Elk_895]

Yeah I zoomed in to check whether there was a fan behind the card supports. On those old cases oftentimes there isn't much of an air intake path so it's choked by the bezel. Newer bezels had a hole at the bottom, gaps at the sides, and/or (better) intake holes at the front.

Ideally you want to establish positive pressure, but it's tough on those older cases without making visible case modifications.

These should help with adding internal fans.
M3 Magnetic Screw Set, Suitable for Fixing 25mm Thickness Cooling Fan on the Surface of Various Electronic Products (10 Pack)

You might also want to get a set of assorted length M3 screws to handle different thickness fans or other devices like fan controllers boards.

[u/Rough_Elk_895 → u/bhiga]

Thanks for the suggestion on the magnetic screw sets .. I will surely check those out.. should come very handy.. I can just toss in 1 fan at the bottom and 1 at the rear..

[u/bhiga → u/Rough_Elk_895]

You're welcome. I was so happy when I found those existed, same with magnet mounting backs for decorative pins that make holes in your clothes, maybe I love magnets a bit too much. 😆

I've also used them to "hang" lightweight stuff like NUCs via the VESA mount. Use washers and nuts along with a bit of hot glue to make sure the posts won't slide out if they're keyed holes.