thomasshawn
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- Joined
- Aug 20, 2007
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Great forum. I discovered this site a while back when I first started having significant cooling issues with my PC. I tried a bunch of stuff and I'm left with the following problem. My ambient temps around my current box are kiiling me. My resting CPU core temps are ~46 hard drives often creep above 50. This is at idle. If I run orthos or play BF2 CPU can hit 62 easy.
Current PC AMD Athlon 64X2 4400+ (Toledo) running 2GB of Corsair PC3200 DDR on an AN8 Ultra MotherBoard running at 2210 MHz at x11 mult and FSB 200.9 (basically stock). with Stock cooler on the CPU
I have it all packaged in an Antec Ultra Quiet ATX Mini Tower. This is tucked into a desk that was custom built to hide the CPU, wires etc. Nothing really fancy, just a cabinet (about half again as tall and wide as the computer case) with all wires running out the back through tunnels under the desk. This cabinet has a door and a slide out drawer to make things easier when I need to service the box. Now I have augmented my setup when I first started having heat issues by cutting a hole in the computer cabinet near the top, mainly out of site in the area where my chair fits under the desk. This is a large hole that was cut to allow a standard air conditioner register to be attached.Something Like this
I then put two 120mm fans on the inside of the vent. One blowing in the other out. This help but did not CURE by cooling problems. Temps dropped to mid to high 30s on the SYS temp but still soared with any real activity like TV tuner, DVD burning/ripping or gaming. Now I have very little instability with these temps but I know it's not good. I do sometimes get random BSOD that I attribute to very hot temps in the cabinet but that is often after hours of inactivity. Basically the box is hut up in the cabinet for hours.
Now, if I open the cabinet door, pull the drawer out and basically let the CPU sit at ROOM temp, sys temp drops to low 30s even 28 or 29. and the Core temp registers very close to 33 or 34 within about 10 minutes. It is a precipitous drop. I can run orthos or play games or even rip/burn DVDs and the temp rarely gets above mid 40s. within 10-15 minutes of closing the door my sys temps and CPU tewps are mid 40s and with much of any activity I'm mid 50s on CORE temp. Again, no instability.I also have 2 90mm fans sitting inside the case, one blowing across the graphics card and one blowing across the HDs. I long ago took the one side off the case to allow better airflow.
My wife was concerned with noise, the cabinet sounds like a leaf blower with those two 120s blowing. So I added a small 7 inch house fan. It sits on top of the case and blows out the vent. That does well to drop it 2-3 degress but nothing more. If I simply leave the door open I get temps at idle of 35-37 core and similar SYS and around 40 on the 3 HDs.
Problem is as the cabinet gets hot. All these fans do is recirculate HOT air. I am at a point of having to change something. In my mind I can do 2 things and this is where I need help.
First, I can enlarge the hole where the A/C vent is and basically cut the side off the cabinet.
Current PC AMD Athlon 64X2 4400+ (Toledo) running 2GB of Corsair PC3200 DDR on an AN8 Ultra MotherBoard running at 2210 MHz at x11 mult and FSB 200.9 (basically stock). with Stock cooler on the CPU
I have it all packaged in an Antec Ultra Quiet ATX Mini Tower. This is tucked into a desk that was custom built to hide the CPU, wires etc. Nothing really fancy, just a cabinet (about half again as tall and wide as the computer case) with all wires running out the back through tunnels under the desk. This cabinet has a door and a slide out drawer to make things easier when I need to service the box. Now I have augmented my setup when I first started having heat issues by cutting a hole in the computer cabinet near the top, mainly out of site in the area where my chair fits under the desk. This is a large hole that was cut to allow a standard air conditioner register to be attached.Something Like this
I then put two 120mm fans on the inside of the vent. One blowing in the other out. This help but did not CURE by cooling problems. Temps dropped to mid to high 30s on the SYS temp but still soared with any real activity like TV tuner, DVD burning/ripping or gaming. Now I have very little instability with these temps but I know it's not good. I do sometimes get random BSOD that I attribute to very hot temps in the cabinet but that is often after hours of inactivity. Basically the box is hut up in the cabinet for hours.
Now, if I open the cabinet door, pull the drawer out and basically let the CPU sit at ROOM temp, sys temp drops to low 30s even 28 or 29. and the Core temp registers very close to 33 or 34 within about 10 minutes. It is a precipitous drop. I can run orthos or play games or even rip/burn DVDs and the temp rarely gets above mid 40s. within 10-15 minutes of closing the door my sys temps and CPU tewps are mid 40s and with much of any activity I'm mid 50s on CORE temp. Again, no instability.I also have 2 90mm fans sitting inside the case, one blowing across the graphics card and one blowing across the HDs. I long ago took the one side off the case to allow better airflow.
My wife was concerned with noise, the cabinet sounds like a leaf blower with those two 120s blowing. So I added a small 7 inch house fan. It sits on top of the case and blows out the vent. That does well to drop it 2-3 degress but nothing more. If I simply leave the door open I get temps at idle of 35-37 core and similar SYS and around 40 on the 3 HDs.
Problem is as the cabinet gets hot. All these fans do is recirculate HOT air. I am at a point of having to change something. In my mind I can do 2 things and this is where I need help.
First, I can enlarge the hole where the A/C vent is and basically cut the side off the cabinet.