Author Topic: Baby It's Hot Inside (Read 458 times)

Halo · « **on:** August 04, 2004, 10:35:35 PM »

Just loaded Sisoft's Sandra and found my computer is really cooking -- too hot inside, especially the motherboard.

Surprises me since the builder specifically said he was including a more powerful fan to my P4 2.26 gHz to make sure the heat stays under control.

Computer has run great so far for about two years, on all the time.

Question: what do you do if Sandra says you're too hot?

Do you not leave your computer on all the time (would that make it run cooler or not?)?

Do you unplug all your stuff, open up your computer and blow some dust out (how much does this reduce the temp?)?

Do you do more drastic measures such as taking the computer in for adding more fans or something?

What is the best way to increase computer cooling with minimum fuss and cost?

Blooz · « **Reply #1 on:** August 04, 2004, 10:46:31 PM »

More fans. Better heatsinks (they have different kinds).

Kind of a pain but maybe move computer to a cooler area? I used to have mine in the basement and it was always nice and cool down there.

A/C the computer room. This could be more costly but it is nice for both you and the equipment.

All I can think of at the moment.

Roscoroo · « **Reply #2 on:** August 04, 2004, 11:12:19 PM »

check your fans and heatsinks for dust ... either blow them out or use a small paint brush and the hover . (they say vacumning may produce a static charge ) but ive been vacumning mine out for years with no failiers .

a dust filled cpu heatsink ussually shows a 5-10 deg C rise in cpu temp sometimes even more.

also if you have a side case mounted fan. check which way it is blowing (it should be blowing inward and helping the cpu fan ) not blowing out and robbing the cpu fan air

also if its within suction of the monitor (crt type ect) it can and will draw heat in from that heat producing monster .
( I dont heat my house anymore I just turn on all the monitors )

Another thing is if your case is sitting on a carpeted floor
(the lower bottem front of the case is were the air is drawn in ) and clogged up by carpet . (mine sits 6 inches off the floor on a wood box and is far enough from the wall that it gets good air flow .)

I run a front fan , the power supply fan , cpu fan , chipset fan, and video card fan ( and i have a side case fan for the over 90 deg F days but i havent had to use it this year )

If its still running hot after a good cleaning ect , you may have to pull the cpu heatsink off and clean up all the thermal paste and reinstall it with some good artic silver .

DipStick · « **Reply #3 on:** August 05, 2004, 11:57:44 AM »

Maybe it's just me but if it's ran great non-stop for 2 years I don't really see a problem? Maybe Sandra didn't report the temp correctly?

SlapShot · « **Reply #4 on:** August 05, 2004, 12:44:32 PM »

Do you not leave your computer on all the time (would that make it run cooler or not?)?

I leave mine all the time ... I don't think that it makes a difference either way - cooler or hotter.

I am old school and was told many years ago that turning on and off your computer can cause cracking of the boards. The expansion of heating and the contraction of cooling would, eventually overtime, cause things to crack. I know that we hated to turn off a mainframe cause once it was cooled and contracted, things moved and you dont want things moving in a Mainframe. Remember ... I am talking 1980s generation of Mainframes.

Heating and cooling might not be a factor these days, but I still always prefer my computer to stay at a near constant temperature.

Do you unplug all your stuff, open up your computer and blow some dust out (how much does this reduce the temp?)?

Yup ... at least one a month making sure that I get any and all little dust bunnies that may have lodged between the fan and the heatsink.

Do you do more drastic measures such as taking the computer in for adding more fans or something?

My computer has 7 fans in it.

What is the best way to increase computer cooling with minimum fuss and cost?

Add more fans if the case will handle it. Also, when we (Icer and I) built this machine, we did not use the grease that was provided with the CPU. We used "Artic Silver" paste between the CPU and the heatsink. "Artic Silver" is a tremendous heat conductive material that transfers heat from the CPU to the heatsink better than the crap that Intel provides.

Fans are cheap. Artic Silver is not cheap for all that you get (I think it was $12 a tube), but it does go a long way.

Halo · « **Reply #5 on:** August 05, 2004, 06:57:31 PM »

Thanks, guys -- I appreciate the good advice.

Can't get to it for a week or so, but for starters, I'll open my computer and blow the dust out. Haven't opened it since I bought it in June 2002. Duh. Hate to fight all the octopus cords. After all, the outer case was not glowing red. I could have stayed oblivious if not for Sandra.

I also asked the computer store that assembled it. The guy said they do not use any computer software analysis of the innards, including Sandra. They have some kind of mechanical doodad that is much more accurate.

Like some of you, he was not confident that the Sandra temperature measurement is accurate. After reading more on the Sandra website, I agree. Good indicator, but as in medicine, need second opinion or more.

He said he thought the computer is probably fine since it has run perfectly for more than two years, but I should blow the dust out and maybe consider adding a front fan (only one fan now in upper back).

He also said it was not a good idea to set the computer on carpet but did not have any supplemental base to raise it up nor did he know of anything other than what people improvise.

As in all things computer, I shall proceed cautiously. Thanks again for your inputs.

Schutt · « **Reply #6 on:** August 06, 2004, 02:08:51 AM »

What cpu temp should the motherboard read on an athlonxp?

Roscoroo · « **Reply #7 on:** August 06, 2004, 02:44:17 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Schutt
What cpu temp should the motherboard read on an athlonxp?

55 deg C is the highest i let mine get to .( one i have overclocked on air cooling idles at 48C and games at 52C)

normally it should be at 48C and below at an idle .

note: the amd site says they can go to 70-85 C but ive had several amd cpu's start freezing up at 60C befor .

Pent's run hotter but they also have the capability to "throttle back" when they get hot , AMD's cant do this thats why we watch our temps more.

in a air cooled amd its best to check your temp about once a week, right after heavy gaming or cpu ussage. I also recommend that it gets a dust inspection/cleaning at least once a month .

DipStick · « **Reply #8 on:** August 06, 2004, 10:58:20 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Roscoroo
55 deg C is the highest i let mine get to .( one i have overclocked on air cooling idles at 48C and games at 52C)

normally it should be at 48C and below at an idle .

note: the amd site says they can go to 70-85 C but ive had several amd cpu's start freezing up at 60C befor .

Pent's run hotter but they also have the capability to "throttle back" when they get hot , AMD's cant do this thats why we watch our temps more.

in a air cooled amd its best to check your temp about once a week, right after heavy gaming or cpu ussage. I also recommend that it gets a dust inspection/cleaning at least once a month .

I have a p4 2.8, with stock heatsink/fan. I have 2 extra fans in the case. I run 28 to 30 C idle to 38 C max after alot of gameplaying over hours. Don't think you can say Pentiums run hotter.

Roscoroo · « **Reply #9 on:** August 06, 2004, 12:03:30 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by DipStick
I have a p4 2.8, with stock heatsink/fan. I have 2 extra fans in the case. I run 28 to 30 C idle to 38 C max after alot of gameplaying over hours. Don't think you can say Pentiums run hotter.

darn Dip , you have that thing parked infront of an airconditioner ?? or you must live in an igloo

my water cooled pc runs at 23C to 30C and it peaked this summer when it was 95 F at 32C

my p-4 ran at 58C when it was in the 90+ F range

DipStick · « **Reply #10 on:** August 06, 2004, 01:38:35 PM »

Well actually my wife has MS so she keeps it kind of cool. It's usually about 68-70 F in the house.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #11 on:** August 06, 2004, 01:45:29 PM »

58C Rosco? Wow!

My 2.8P4 Northwood overclocked to 3Ghz (stock HSF) runs at 48C with the ambient at 78F.

My case only has 2 fans + 1 PS fan (the internal one) + 1 CPU HSF (ths stock unit) + 1 GPU fan (the stock unit).

Roscoroo · « **Reply #12 on:** August 06, 2004, 10:36:58 PM »

yea my pent 4 and my old pent 3 bolth ran that hot ... 4 fans and a good heatsink w/ artic silver on it . the p 4 was OCed . and never went below 54C no matter what i did . (during summer time) the may have been a miss read on the mainboard. they bolth had gigabites in them , but they always felt hotter then my amd's do