Hey there. I'm just after some info.

I think my PC is really starting to heat up big time. I downloaded a temp monitor for my hard drive and it said the temp was 47C!! And when I checked in the BIOS, the CPU temp was 38C. Is this normal, as I dont really know??

Also my hard drive always seem to be 'busy' now, and by that I mean, the busy light just flashes on and off like its working, even when the comp is idle. Something going wrong there maybe??

I have bought a PCI cooling fan, but I have no idea how to install it, as the instructions said, and I quote, "plug it into the PCI port, attach the power cables and done!"

this is the exact sort I have:
Cooling fan

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thankyou

The CPU temp you are reading sounds just fine.

The hard drive is running a little hot though. Still, this should also be within operational parameters.
The excessive hard drive access may be caused by different things. One could be that you are running a background task that is accessing the drive a lot. Something like AntiVirus might do this, or you could simply have a low amount of System RAM (memory) and this is causing windows to access the swap file on the hard drive a lot.

I'd start by trimming down the apps that start when windows does, using the msconfig utility. To do this, Click Start->Run and then type msconfig in the box and click OK. Then in the startup tab, uncheck all the programs you don't want to start when windows does, and reboot.

If you are concerned about the hard drive temp, you could pick up a hard drive cooler (that slots into a 5 & 1/4" bay, or a fan unit that attaches to the actual drive) quite cheap.

hey thanx for the reply

I've trimmed some bits of the startup, so thanx for that.

I've already bought a PCI cooling fan, just dont know how to install it. Does it just literially fit over the PCI slot??

I'm not too worried about the hard drive temp that much, its just recently its started to always be busy.
But about a month ago, my graphics card blew (as it was faulty from when I bought it) and the technician replaced my power supply to a more powerfull one, could that have a possible effect??

RAM wise, I've got 480MB.

Thanx again

As Erin said, your CPU temp is fine. Meltdown on AMDs is approximately 90C, and any reading under 45C is excellent. Power supply has nothing to do with your CPU temp, other than the fact that the exhaust fan on the PS helps to exhaust heat in the case.

Your fan: it installs just like any card and screws in at the top, but does not insert inside the slot itself, obviously. Then plug it in.

hey thanx for your reply. I've managed to install the fan and everything works cool now, hard drive isnt busy all the time - weird.

thanx for your help. SAF remains one of the best places to sort problems out, so thanx everyone.