cooling fan runs nonstop

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Something not mentioned in the video is that if you hold the can away from the fan a bit more, you don't need to worry about blocking the fan since the air won't be powerful enough to rotate it anyway.

There only problem being there is that if you don't blow hard enough for the fan to rotate you're not removing any dust either

It needs to be blown HARD. Otherwise the fan would have blown everything away already anyway. It's easy to hold the fan still with your thumb while blowing. Or do as I do and don't care, the fan makes a funny sound when pushed to extreme revs 

Charge may be right about the bearing - but I never seem to use my hardware long enough to make them fail anyway. At least I never had a failed fan so far (that I cleaned before failing that is).

[Skuzzy]

Fans are generators, when they are allowed to rotate by forced air.  A DC motor, rotated by the shaft generates power.  They have the potential of wrecking your temp/fan sensor on your motherboard and power supply.

I use a leaf blower to clean out my computers. A simple piece of tape on the blades of the exposed fans and a toothpick through the power supply grill taped down stops the fans from sending current back through the circuits of the motherboard and power supply.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Fans are generators, when they are allowed to rotate by forced air.  A DC motor, rotated by the shaft generates power.  They have the potential of wrecking your temp/fan sensor on your motherboard and power supply.

I use a leaf blower to clean out my computers. A simple piece of tape on the blades of the exposed fans and a toothpick through the power supply grill taped down stops the fans from sending current back through the circuits of the motherboard and power supply.

As I clean my components using an industrial compressor they're always unplugged. And in my gaming rig CPU is watercooled. For some reason I've noticed that the CPU is rarely the one clogged up, it's the GPU that collects most of the dust usually.

[Dragon Tamer]

There only problem being there is that if you don't blow hard enough for the fan to rotate you're not removing any dust either

I try not to let my computer get that dirty before cleaning time.  Compared to some computers, it's got the good life.  It only runs for 4 to 5 hours a day about 3 or 4 days a week.  The computer that I'm using right now on the other hand, is junk and I really don't care how dirty it gets.  I cleaned it once when I got it and that was it.  If it can't run AH then it's not worth the effort.

It needs to be blown HARD.

... That's what she said 

Elaborating on what Skuzzy said:

Yes all motors can act as generators, some better than others.  The brushless motors typically used in computers have the magnets moving in parallel to the magnetic field generated by the copper coils.  A standard DC motor will move perpendicular to the coils.  Basically meaning that while the high RPM can generate electricity, and while this can damage your computer, I think the fan would take the most damage from over stressed bearings.

[W7LPNRICK]

EVGA Precision X has a program where you can set auto/thermostat controlled fan triggering. 

[Dragon Tamer]

Sometimes the computer will have a debug feature built into it saying what the processor temp is.  I've got it enabled on mine though I can't remember how I enabled it.     It says the CPU in mine averages about 135*F

[W7LPNRICK]

Sometimes the computer will have a debug feature built into it saying what the processor temp is.  I've got it enabled on mine though I can't remember how I enabled it.     It says the CPU in mine averages about 135*F

Ouch! when mine's hot it's only 39'C-102.2F....

[Dragon Tamer]

It is in a poorly ventilated cabinet, despite my protests.  It is also worked half to death.

For an integrated circuit, 135 is nothing major.  I just grabbed a handful of components (don't litteraly do that by the way, it hurts like hell) and looked at their data sheet.  The lowest max operating temp I could find was on a battery charger IC for 150*F.  Most of the others were caped at 185*F, and some of the voltage regulators went up to 220*F.

I'm not saying that they should be pushed to those limits, but that's what the manufacturer says is the limit before they start taking damage.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

It is in a poorly ventilated cabinet, despite my protests.  It is also worked half to death.

For an integrated circuit, 135 is nothing major.  I just grabbed a handful of components (don't litteraly do that by the way, it hurts like hell) and looked at their data sheet.  The lowest max operating temp I could find was on a battery charger IC for 150*F.  Most of the others were caped at 185*F, and some of the voltage regulators went up to 220*F.

I'm not saying that they should be pushed to those limits, but that's what the manufacturer says is the limit before they start taking damage.

The specs mean they won't fail immediately untill those temps - but always the higher the operating temperature is the shorter the life of the component usually is. A cpu may last for several years run moderately hot though - long enough to be completely obsolete.

[Bizman]

Having a proper cooling is important. A 10°C higher temperature will halve the expected lifetime of capacitors. And almost every component has them.

[Skuzzy]

It is in a poorly ventilated cabinet, despite my protests.  It is also worked half to death.

For an integrated circuit, 135 is nothing major.  I just grabbed a handful of components (don't litteraly do that by the way, it hurts like hell) and looked at their data sheet.  The lowest max operating temp I could find was on a battery charger IC for 150*F.  Most of the others were caped at 185*F, and some of the voltage regulators went up to 220*F.

I'm not saying that they should be pushed to those limits, but that's what the manufacturer says is the limit before they start taking damage.

You do know you are specifically mentioning parts which are designed to dissipate large amounts of power?  The more power any part dissipates is going to cause it to operate hotter.

Parts like RAM are not designed to dissipate large amounts of power.  Allow them to operate at high temps and they will fail earlier than they should.

There is also the concern for the parts adjacent to those hot running IC's.  Those fragile analog parts such as capacitors and resistors whose electrical characteristics change with thermal loads can induce many problems in a computer and can facilitate the expiration of IC's they are attached to if left to operate at higher than normal temps for extended periods of time.

[Dragon Tamer]

Let me start by saying, this is the most engaging conversation I've had with anyone for 3 months.  I love it! 

Second, Skuzzy is right.  The parts that I mentioned were specialty parts intended for power supplies or power amplifiers.  The properties of components, be it resistors or CPUs, changes with heat.  This all comes back to the original issue of make sure your computer is clean (and also don't lock it in a box with no ventilation).  The majority of the components in the computer are considerably sensitive to temperature swings.  The only exception, other than the components in the power supply, would be the CPU.

A friend of mine works for a company called FARO.  They make high precision laser measurement equipment (among other forms of measuring equipment).  I say high precision as in they can cut the wavelength of a red laser into quarters and get an accurate reading from it (it's freaking cool!).  Anyway, he was telling me the other day that they are starting to use components made of ceramic instead of plastic.  They are a bit more expensive but they have more stability over their temp range, and they are better at dissipating heat.  I don't think it will be too long before we see something like that showing up in high end gaming computer components.

For MrRiplEy[H], my cabinet dwelling computer is 7 years old, has had an OS reinstall and a hard drive replacement.  While it's life may be shortened, it doesn't seem like it's going to quit any time soon.

[Bizman]

my cabinet dwelling computer is 7 years old, has had an OS reinstall and a hard drive replacement.  While it's life may be shortened, it doesn't seem like it's going to quit any time soon.

I take a wild guess that it has an Intel processor, which already then slowed down to prevent overheating as this old Tom's Hardwarevideo shows. You wouldn't expect wonders from a 7 year old rig, so noticing the slowing down would be difficult.

[Dragon Tamer]

I take a wild guess that it has an Intel processor, which already then slowed down to prevent overheating as this old Tom's Hardwarevideo shows. You wouldn't expect wonders from a 7 year old rig, so noticing the slowing down would be difficult.

I completely forgot about the clock slowdown.  Now that you bring that point to light, I do notice that it will run fine for about a half hour and then it just  starts to turn to crap.