HDD at ~52C when playing GPU intensive games. Are those temps dangerous?

[defred34]

I can't find safe operating temps for the chipset on the motherboard. Can anyone speak about that?

 

[biffzinker]

The PCH (BD82B75) on that board has a TDP of 6.7 watts.
Here's a link to Intel's B75 Express Chipset specs: http://ark.intel.com/products/64030/Intel-BD82B75-PCH

 

[defred34]

The PCH (BD82B75) on that board has a TDP of 6.7 watts.
Here's a link to Intel's B75 Express Chipset specs: http://ark.intel.com/products/64030/Intel-BD82B75-PCH

It doesn't seem to list anything about temps on that page?

 

[RejZoR]

Just wondering. Idle at around 42C, and when my GPU is under maximum load/temps for prolonged periods of time, the HDD temps reach 52C.

Is that still acceptable or is it dangerous?

Search for operating temperature range for your hard drive (usually you can find a PDF for it). If it's within operating range, then it's fine. If it's a bit over, world will not end, but do expect shorter life if you'll run it like this all the time.

 

[EarthDog]

We have already posted those links in here Rej.

 

[cdawall]

I'm pretty sure most HDDs have their listed max temps in their 50s for s reason.

Seagate list operating temp (environment temp) all the way to 60C for enterprise drives. These are what I run in my server no clue the temps they run raid array can't read temps.

http://www.seagate.com/www-content/...tellation-es-3-data-sheet-ds1769-1-1210us.pdf

 

[defred34]

Ok guys, there's some potentially good news and maybe some very bad news.

Good news: HDD temps have dropped after I shifted it one slot lower

Bad news: Did I break the temperature sensor in the process? The temperature reading goes up to 43C only.

-------------

So, based on the suggestion by one of the good members of this forum, I shifted the position of my HDD one slot lower. He had suggested that this would lower HDD temps, and seeing that it was something rather simple to do, I decided to experiment.

My case: http://i.stack.imgur.com/2FFrh.jpg

Stock case: http://i42.tinypic.com/2144k5i.jpg

I unscrewed and unplugged the wires, and placed it in the lower slot. I tried to be as careful as I could...though my bare hands did touch the back of the HDD with all the circuitry, so I am not sure if this could have damaged the temperature probe in some manner.

Nothing else in my system was altered.

I then fired up 30 minutes of The Witcher 3 without any framecap/vsync so it was running my GPU at 100% constantly. I also dragged the power/temp slider in Afterburner to the max to run my GPU as hot as possible on purpose.

So my GPU ran at 82-86C once it got sufficiently warmed up.

And the shocking thing to me was....the HDD temp climbed from 38C to 40C to 42C and then stopped climbing at 43C. Before this, it would go at between 50-52C when my GPU would max out at 80C. Now at higher GPU temps, the HDD temps were still considerably lower.

Is it really sensible that moving the HDD lower by 2 inches or so could result in such a dramatic drop in temperatures? Or did I really mess some sensor when I handled the back of the HDD with my bare hands?

-----------------

I have two further questions:

1) Unseen in the two photos above, at the bottom of the HDD is a black colour pad that is glued/affixed to the case. I assume this has something to do with the temperatures? Or is it to absorb shock? Cause, the bottom slot where my HDD now is at doesn't have this black colour pad. How important is it?

2) Before, the back of the HDD with the circuitry was almost against the HDD cage so it was kinda protected. Now the back is somewhat exposed. Is this something to be worried about?

 

[biffzinker]

The HDD is fine, you have no reason to be so overly paranoid about it. The temp sensor is likely on the opposite side of the PCB, and as long as nothing is touching the PCB to cause a short I wouldn't be worried about the black pad.

 

[alucasa]

You are worrying for absolutely nothing. 40c, 50c, 60, even 70c is fine for HDD. CPU can handle up to near 100c and mobo chips can handle 80c easily.

Go get laid and forget about temps. Well, PC temp at least.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Is it really sensible that moving the HDD lower by 2 inches or so could result in such a dramatic drop in temperatures?

Yes.

1) Unseen in the two photos above, at the bottom of the HDD is a black colour pad that is glued/affixed to the case. I assume this has something to do with the temperatures? Or is it to absorb shock? Cause, the bottom slot where my HDD now is at doesn't have this black colour pad. How important is it?

Could be and not very important unless you're noticing vibrations through the case.

2) Before, the back of the HDD with the circuitry was almost against the HDD cage so it was kinda protected. Now the back is somewhat exposed. Is this something to be worried about?

Nope.


Hard drives are supposed to make contact with the metal of the case because they're grounded through it.

 

[EarthDog]

You are worrying for absolutely nothing. 40c, 50c, is fine for HDD. CPU can handle up to near 100c and mobo chips can handle 80c easily.

You missed the links in this thread about HDD temps.

Fixed.

 

[alucasa]

You missed the links in this thread about HDD temps.

Fixed.

Didn't miss it. I just don't believe it.

 

[EarthDog]

LOL, hahahahahahaha. Wow. I mean, if you don't believe the maker.... who can you believe?

 

[cdawall]

LOL, hahahahahahaha. Wow. I mean, if you don't believe the maker.... who can you believe?

Most spec a 5-60c operating temp

 

[alucasa]

LOL, hahahahahahaha. Wow. I mean, if you don't believe the maker.... who can you believe?

I let HDDs be. Don't care and don't check temp. And certainly don't believe what they say since I've seen them endure far higher temp for years in servers. I did also state that my own media PC has HDDs running in 70c, plus my camera surveillance unit.

People are getting too paranoid as of late. CPU temp, GPU, temp, Mobo chipset temp, and now HDD temp.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Server HDD temps tend to be much cooler than consumer PCs. They're housed in rooms with the AC set to 60F and they have fans galore moving the hot air out. In a server environment, it's extremely rare to see an HDD temp reach 40C, nevermind exceed it. Some get below 20C which is almost unattainable in a house environment (winter with no heater probably).

That said, we are talking single digit percentage points in lifespan changes here. For example, a 150,000 hour HDD running at 70C may die at 148,500 hours because of the additional heat. If you don't have a huge sample size, you likely would never even pick up on the trend. That said, there is definitely a correlation between hardware operating temperatures and failure rates.

In this case, the fix was simple: get it away from hot graphics card exhaust. Hard drive should last a little bit longer now.

 

[defred34]

Mr Ford, again I just want to thank you. I am sitting here wondering what a simple fix it was. Losing 8C under load just by doing that sounds too good to be true, but it is!

 

[Makaveli]

Time to water cool that HD!

 

[EarthDog]

Server HDD temps tend to be much cooler than consumer PCs. They're housed in rooms with the AC set to 60F and they have fans galore moving the hot air out. In a server environment, it's extremely rare to see an HDD temp reach 40C, nevermind exceed it. Some get below 20C which is almost unattainable in a house environment (winter with no heater probably).

60F? Who does that anymore? ASHRAE standards regarding DC temperature have gone up significantly over the past few iterations. For example, my Data Center was set to 73F. I could have gone higher but because of poor rack placement by DCM before me, I couldn't due to Venturi effect/bypass issues on the CRAC unit which is too close to my production row of servers.

Anyway, if DCMs are still doing that, they are so far behind the times and wasting so much money its not even funny!!!

 

[vnl7]

Yep. I think they have it for the warranty and safety. Though I think enterprise HDDs should have higher temp tolerance. I just ignore HDD temps just as I ignore CPU temp until it hits 90c.

When WD had those vectiraptor, I am pretty sure those ran near 90c because at once point I had one that had the whole sticker on it burnt. WD black runs pretty hot on its own also. Most performance HDD will easily go over 50c. You don't really need to cool them though.

My 4 WD Blacks doesn't go over 33C. I only use a 120mm fan to cool them.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

60F? Who does that anymore? ASHRAE standards regarding DC temperature have gone up significantly over the past few iterations. For example, my Data Center was set to 73F. I could have gone higher but because of poor rack placement by DCM before me, I couldn't due to Venturi effect/bypass issues on the CRAC unit which is too close to my production row of servers.

Anyway, if DCMs are still doing that, they are so far behind the times and wasting so much money its not even funny!!!

73F = 22C. It's still possible at that temp to get the drives under 25C which is the lower threshold for most drives.

 

[EarthDog]

Not my talking point. I was simply surprised at hearing such a low temperature for a Data Center. This isn't the 90s!