Too hot computer?

I try to avoid air conditioning unless it's extremely hot and humid. My apartment is on a tree-lined street and I don't like being closed off from the outside.

Trouble is my computer lives here also and I often run it several hours a day in the heat. Right now its about 86F with approx 80% humidity. Even though the computer is protected from the sun it's under a large desk and I'm concerned about its longevity. It's a good one and just a few months old.

Any thoughts?

Brightnorm

This really depends on your individual computer. If the case is ventillated well, it will still be able to transfer enough heat to work well. The computer will make it hotter in your room.

The computer will also let you know if it is not staying cool. Erratic behaviour and lockups, up to the screen turning blank and not operating are some of the things overheated CPU's have done to me in the past. Does the motherboard have a utility for monitoring temperatures of the CPU and ambient air temp inside the case? Many modern BIOS will have an alarm for overheating.

Everything BF said is right on, but let me add:

Even if you don't have a utility for monitoring temps, many motherboard setups will have a page showing system and CPU temps. Try rebooting and going into setup after running for a few hours on a hot day and see what your temps are (as compared to a cool day). If your CPU is within 5 or 10 degrees F (or 4 or 5 C), it's probably alright.

Warning: Intel processors will reduce CPU speed if the CPU gets too hot, and run slow until it cools down. AMD's Athlon processors are defective in this area, so it's especially important to monitor Athlon systems. AMD is aware of the problem and stated it will be corrected in later Athlons, however, I don't know what series will contain the fix.

Sometimes you can add additional fans to your existing case, and it's really simple to do - if you're afraid to open your case you can get it done (relatively cheap) at a store or have a friend do it(You might have to open the case to see if there's an available mounting space for another fan). Takes about 5 minutes and costs $8-15 for a good quiet fan.

tomshardware.com has several articles on cooling and tests of various heatsinks and case fans if you discover it is a bit too warm in there. They also have some interesting videos of Athlons going up in smoke /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Thanks guys! Very helpful.

Brightnorm

Brightnorm,
I am aware of Intel's way of slowing the CPU down when it overheats. I am also aware of ASUS having a system in their mobo that does the same thing. You can remove the heatsink with the computer running and the mobo chipset will shut down the computer if the temp jumps over 70C. My Biostar will slow the CPU down (user can specify which temp)I set mine to 60C and it works, slows down then shuts the computer down at 70+C.
Skip tomshardware.com /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smoker5.gif and go to www.silentpcreview.com/ to read about thermally controlled motherboards, fans and quiet cooling systems. Another great site is www.hardocp.com for everything that is going on in the world. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif I assume you don't want the computer to sound like an airport so check out the easy tricks of the trade at silentpcreview.
Have fun, I know I am with my thermally controlled fans, power supply and wazoo motherboard running Athlon goodness /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Defective Athlons,
Oh yeah, the Athlon XP use the internal thermal diode that Bill H was talking about. If you purchased an Athlon in the last year and a half, it has that feature. No worries.

Brightnorm,

I blew out a motherboard a while ago due to heat. What I learned from that is just to be aware. Don't put your computer in a closed area; put it out.

Open up your computer and take a peek. Look around for fans, and places where you can add fans. Go to your local computer store and buy some fans for where you can put them. They are very easy to install, and you can find a decent fan for about ten dollars.

Maybe you'll find some fans with LEDs. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Brightnorm, I too compute under the same hot, stuffy conditions without air conditioning. The computer sometimes run up to 20 hours strait! And the processor operates under passive, but massive heat sinks. It gets pretty hot in there during the summer, so I added an 80mm smart fan. The hotter it gets, the faster it spins. The airflow is much more efficient now, but the noise is a bit too loud and annoying. It spins faster than the power supply fan. It is only during the winter when the fans are at a whisper.

I'm a bit worried about the monitor overheating under these conditions and under prolonged usage (I've already seen 2 monitors burn out because of this elsewhere), so I used my high velocity fan to keep it cool, and used the regular fan to keep me cool. High velocity fans tend to be very noisy, so the noise is even worse now.

Antec has fans with red LEDs, green LEDs, blue LEDs, and all three LED colors in one too!

its very warm here as well, so what i did was remove all the panels on my cpu. the fan in my room is aimed at me, and helps ventilate the computer as well. despite what some "experts" might say, leaving the case open and ensuring good ventilation will always bring down the temperature of your computer. no casing fan will be more effective than a standing fan powered by a wall outlet. just make sure the cpu is put in a safe place that precludes the possibility of you damaging the internal components /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

our home server and main desktop (p3 450) lives in the hottest room of the house at the end, which just happens to collect all the hot air rising from the rest of the house. even the a/c vent can't deal with the heat collected in the room, so it's easily high 80s, maybe 90s F if everyone gathers on the other side of the house and runs the a/c on THAT side of the house. haven't had any heat related issues. once i think i saw the cpu throttle down to 410mhz (normally 450, o/c-ed to 460 for gaming or video) and the gpu (which has its own fan/heatsink) throttle down to 115 (normal 230, o/c to 275 for gaming). that was just once, most of the time, it takes it in stride. now, the laptops, under heavy video use, once the CPU temp approaches 70C will start to skip, so i use a fan control app to start the fans earlier when it's being used for video.

as long as the comp. isn't in an enclosed space, i wouldn't worry.

If you havent cleaned the internals of your computer in a long time, spraying some compressed air in there will help. Layers of dust insulate and keep heat in.

may i suggest vacuuming instead of blowing dust around. the usual static discharge caveats, yada yada yada. a strong vac (generally the canister or central types) you can hold the wand/stick a few cm's above the surface and it will really clean up. ditto the crud around all the vents, esp the power supply.

BrightNorm, for monitoring, if you're running Windows, check out "MotherBoard Monitor", if you're running Linux, look at Gkrellm.

Joe

[ QUOTE ]
was_jlh said:
BrightNorm, for monitoring, if you're running Windows, check out "MotherBoard Monitor", if you're running Linux, look at Gkrellm.

Joe

[/ QUOTE ]
Motherboard Monitor is good, I have it running on my system with the Onscreen display option. It has high temperature alarms that you can set to go off if the temperature of the CPU, Motherboard, or anything you're monitoring is overheating. Best of all it's totally FREE. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Kirk, have you tried CoolMon with Motherboard Monitor? They work well together.

http://coolmon.arsware.org/

Joe

was_jlh, where do I get the MotherBoard Monitor? Works for Windows 98?

I think it will be OK as long as the fans keep running. I have a friend who lives in central Florida and works in a non-airconditioned space. Mostly he works evenings in the summer time, but the computers and servers run 24/7 regardless of the weather and have been fine for years.

Course, those are all Macs, haven't had the cause to test a intel/athlon motherboard in those conditions...

No windtunnel Macs I hope /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

Catapult, haven't tried it on 98, will prob work fine:

http://mbm.livewiredev.com/

Joe

My old P3 450mHz system had a temperature monitor in the BIOS, but I didn't see anything like that in the BIOS of my P4 1.8GHz system. Does Motherboard Monitor snoop around in the BIOS to get its readings, or does it use some other method?