Temperature of air 1cm from PSU fan - 40 Degrees C
Temperature of air from floor case intake - 23 Degrees C
Jen - in general your temps are OK, but only that. In my opinion the 40C 'intake to the CPU fan' is abnormal.
On the one hand it figures that your CPU runs in the 60s under load (the CPU running 20 something degrees above the air being blown on its heatsink is absolutely 'in spec'). On the other, I am confused why the CPU temp was not MUCH better with the case side off. I figured your results from that test were just consistently 'biased because of how you measure', but I presume now the 40C was measured with some other thermometer? In theory if the CPU fan intake was 23C (= room temp) I would expect the CPU to be in the 40s under load
Something is wrong.
Personally I figure you aren't letting enough room air (@ 23C) INTO the case. You have 2 fans trying to extract (psu & rear case) but they can only exhaust as much as can get in. To keep them as efficient as possible you need the equivalent of 2 * 80mm fan holes for intake. You have only 1 (your nice new bottom intake). I would recommend:
- remove tape from bottom 'slot' (front/bottom plastic) and use a Stanley knife to get that slot as big as possible.
- Cut out the front tinwork (in front of your drive, behind the USB plastic)
- Probably increase the size of your existing hole in the bottom of the case, to say 100mm diameter.
And yeah, I was away for a few days after I stirred the Barracuda debate: personally I cannot hear my 7200.7 (suspended from rubber bands).
Last - Rusty is around, mostly hanging round the F@H forum methinks.