Air Cooled Computers??

84porsche · 84porsche's Garage

Alright, since many have air cooled cars and it keeps the car running cool - how can I cool down my computer?? I obviously cannot take the computer up to 100 mph letting cool air through it. I currently have 5/6 fans and it is still running hot when processing. It is a 2.8 Ghz Intel/Intel - Any ideas???

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

buy a Mac?

We still have G4 cubes running that don't have ANY fans. Work quite well...

Neilk · 04-07-2004, 01:12 PM

How hot is your processor? Are the fans pulling in air through the front and out the back?

djmcmath · 04-07-2004, 01:12 PM

Have you considered water cooling? I know it's a heretical thought for a VW -- I mean Porsche owner, but ... Oh, and as an electronics-type, you might also be reasonably paranoid about mixing water with electrons. However, you can build in no time flat a simple water-cooling solution. Or just spend a bit and get one. thinkgeek.com ought to have some stuff, or at least some links. Slashdot.org should be able to point you in a useful direction too.

Dan

Tishabet · 04-07-2004, 01:14 PM

How large a heat sink do you have on your processor?

RickM · RickM's Garage

Is it the proper heat sink for the processor?

Overclocking websites will give you great ideas for cooling your PC.

Here's one
www.overclocking.com

id10t · 04-07-2004, 01:25 PM

Is your heatsink and fan combo appropriate for that cpu? Do you have thermal paste between the 'sink and cpu (not too much either)? I run dual AMD chips and while it puts out enough heat to warm the room quite a bit, the cpus are actually quite cool - around 40 deg. c.

As for extreme cooling, you can go liquid (water) or even submerge the mobo/cpu/etc/ in oil that is cooled by a window shaker AC unit...

BlueSkyJaunte · 04-07-2004, 01:31 PM

Weren't early Crays submerged in a Freon bath or something?

Saintly · 04-07-2004, 01:43 PM

Zalman cpu heat sinks are awsome. the 7000Cu is the one to get.
My 3.2Ghz P4 runs quite cool even when it's flat out.
make sure your fans are in a push - pull config and consider replacing any high speed little fans (80mm or smaller) with lower speed (quiet) larger fans (92 or 120mm).

jyl · jyl's Garage

Make sure all the fans and heatsinks are working, clean, and unobstructed. If this is a stock PC from a reputable company, not being overclocked, and you haven't added heat sources, it should be designed to cool okay.

Also make sure it really "is" running hot. Use an app that uses a temp sensor(s) on the motherboard (I used to use Motherboard Monitor, a bit of shareware) or actually get a temp probe.

If that doesn't work, then:
- check the exhaust path. A lot of computer cases have plenty of noisy fans pushing air in the front, but not much room for air to exhaust out the rear. You can install an exhaust fan, drill holes on the top or sides of the case, etc.
- fancy and effective aftermarket heatsinks are available. Thermal paste is a good idea too.
- sounds crude, but with cardboard and tape you can make nice little ducts to guide air from a fan(s) straight to the CPU.

Doug Zielke · 04-07-2004, 06:41 PM

Recently, I took the box into a service center as speed seemed to be lagging. An accumulation of cat hair inside the machine was degrading the performance of my P-4 2.8 Ghz. One of our cats likes to sleep near the box 'cause it is nice and warm. Cat owners will understand.

rammstein · 04-07-2004, 10:01 PM

I had this interesting idea once- take one of those small cube fridges, and build a rack in it and install the whole entire system in there. Would this work?

id10t · 04-08-2004, 05:47 AM

Rammstein - too much moisture possibly...

There was this one website with a guy named Dr Freeze (his page is changed, can't find it any longer even with google cache). He submerged his motherboard, cpu, ram in a few inches of oil. Dirve cables, etc. all went up and out the top to the drives. To cool the oil, he pumped it with an aquarium pump up and over the cooling fins on a window shaker AC unit, where it would get nice and cold (below 0) and then pour back down into the "sump" where his parts were.

RickM · RickM's Garage

FYI, never remove the cover from a PC to cool it. A well designed case needs to have it in place to cool properly.

Also, high speed Hard Drives (7200-10,000 rpms plus), which are becoming more of a norm, will generate lots-0-heat. An expansion card or piggy back fan will go a long way to help.

84porsche · 84porsche's Garage

I installed the Intel Software to monitor the heat and it only increases when the processor is being used more - video editing and games - thats how I knew it was increasing. I opened the case to try to help cool it but I will put it back on and try to get better fans. Are the front fans supposed to pull and the back fans push or vice versa? It is a custom built machine but I had to change motherboards because the first one failed. I used the same processor and I applied the thermal stuff the other night to the chip but it only dropped the temp very little. I have four hard drives, two dvd roms and floppy drive - the rest of the case is empty. The processor when running reaches temps of 144° but in normal running about 120° - the monitor is set at 126° for the processor by default. I will look and see what other options you guys have put down. Thanks all.

Neilk · 04-08-2004, 08:33 AM

144° is pretty warm but within limits. According to Intel's web site, the max temp is 167. Dell uses an air shroud over the processor so that it blows outside air directly over the processor instead of using air from within the case. You could try that.

Are all fans blowing in the same direction from front to back?

Where was your processor made? I also have a P4 2.8 that seems to be running warmer (stays around 122 regardless of activity) than what other people are reporting. Mine is from Costa Rica.

Saintly · 04-08-2004, 03:37 PM

I would say that sucking the air in the front and pushing it out the back is the way to go as the PSU also pushes out the back.
seperating your hard disks so air can circulate between them (if possible) is a good idea. a few fans infront of them or a disk drive cooling bracket will help a lot.
What CPU cooler do you have? the thermal paste will help with the contact between the cpu and the heat sink but is limited by the ability of the heat sink.
Useing round cables (floopy and DVD drives) and SATA cables for the drives (i assume you have SATA drives, if not use round cables) will help a lot with air flow. also try to secure the cables out of the way to help.
what model case did you put this all in??