Dumb case fan questions

[daverme]

(1) Should a single case fan blow cool air into the case or pull warm air out?

(2) I just built a PC for my wife with an Intel mobo and an Intel P4 (3.0GHz). The Intel doc says the case temp should be 38 deg C. With the 80 mm fan that came with the case, the "internal" temp was about 47 deg C and with a 120 mm fan, it's about 43 deg C. With the 120 mm fan, the CPU temp is about 60 deg C. I know the CPU must be cooled, but how critical is it to be right on the recommended temp?

(3) The BIOS shows the CPU temp, an "internal" and a "remote" temp. I assume the "internal" temp is the nominal air temp inside the case; does anyone know what the "remote" temp might be?

(4) If I add a second case fan, should they both blow out, both blow in or should they blow in opposite directions to create a "cross wind"? (The case has 7200 holes for ventilation.)

(5) Using Win XP, is there any way to see those temps through Windows? As it is, i have to reboot and check the BIOS to see the temps.

Thanks,
Dave

[Midknyte]

(1) either one. you should have as much intake as exhaust.

(2) 60C at load is about normal for a prescott, but your case temp is high. you should try to stay in recommended specs. after reading question 4, it sounds like you lack proper intake/exhaust flow.

(3) you need to specify your board. some can have another thermal sensor which you attach to the board. if you didn't add one, then you can probably ignore it.

(4) see answer 1

(5) look at speedfan in tech tools:
Tech Tools

[daverme]

Thanks for the replies. The board is an Intel D945Psn.

[Midknyte]

http://www.intel.com/support/motherb.../cs-020304.htm

Remote Temp - Displays the temperature of the onboard remote thermal diode

Sounds like you should have received an external thermal sensor with the board.

[daverme]

Thanks for your help. I don't have all the answers yet but the link above, in addition to having some very useful info itself, has lead me to some other pages on the Intel site. I found this one particularly interesting:

http://support.intel.com/support/mot.../CS-012552.htm