Opening the case might not be a good idea. It can completely disrupt the airflow, resulting in overheating. Use round ATA cables - the usual flat cables obstruct the airflow in the case. Make sure your system sucks in air at the bottom front and expels it at the back top. You might need to place your case on blocks, especially when it's standing on a carpet (bad idea!) There should be at least 1 cm of free space between the case bottom and the floor. Use a GOOD power supply. The cheap ones usually have a less stable output, and spikes in the voltage can fry your CPU just like that. And cleaning up the case once in a while is a very good idea. I run an Athlon64 3500+ in a roomy Chieftec case, 400W Chieftec power supply (not the best there is, but a good middle-class case and power supply), 2 case fans, 2 drive fans (it's got 4 drives!), the boxed cooler from the CPU. Even when it was very hot (over 35 C in the house) the system kept reasonably cool during full load (CPU temp below 50 C, case temp around 42 C). AthlonXPs are (in)famous for generating heat. One of my older systems, an AthlonXP2700, had serious overheating problems until I installed two additional case fans. My P4 2.8 HTT also doesn't like heavy renders.

The pen is mightier than the sword. But if you literally want to have some impact, use a typewriter

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