I've built an iDEQ 200V, and it's pretty quiet for day-to-day computing. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with Mobile Athlons very well (won't low-power stand-by), so I've got a regular Barton 2600+ in there.
Trouble is, it's hot. Really hot. It sits in a computer desk (with a door) - I punched a 3" cool-air hole in it, and a 3" hot-air exhaust hole in the top. I haven't put any fans to force the air, since I was assuming that convection would do the trick.
On boot-up, it's about 26 DegC, and quickly goes up to about 43-47 DegC when out in the open (I built a slide-out shelf for it). Inside with the door open, it goes up to about 52-55 DegC. If I close the door, it'll start cooking at 60+ DegC, and that makes me really worried.
Is there a guidance for how hot is too hot for things like DVD-Burners & Hard drives? I'm assuming that the processor is OK when it's around 60 DegC.... right?
Any tips greatly appreciated! I'm toying with replacing the rear fan with a 80 MM panaflow that I've got recently. I really with I could replace the stock cooler with something, but doesn't look like that's possible.
Any way to find out the hard drive temp? Looks like my hard drive cooks over 55 DegC
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 -Temperature Operating (°C) 5 to 55
-Dan
Tips to cool down a iDEQ 200V?
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All I can guess is that there just plain isn't enough airflow in there. I've got one computer in my closet which has probably 1000 times as much free air as a desk drawer and it takes 4-5 hours, but even at idle it raises the whole temperature of the closet by abot 3-4C over ambient. I can only imagine the effect is far more pronounced in a desk drawer.
I would get a radioshack thermometer with a remote probe (usually $20 or so) and monitor the temps in the desk. If you're seeing ambient temps in the desk above 90-95F then it's pretty much hopeless; there just isn't enough air circulation, period.
In general, your temps sound about right when the case is in free air (43-47C) so if it's soaring above 60C in the drawer, there must be a corresponding increase in the free air temp of the drawer. A thermo probe in the drawer would allow you to confirm that. Most hard drives are rated with a max temp of 55-60C and most folks try to keep them under 50C. You can monitor it with a utility like MotherboardMonitor or SpeedFan, both of which work on my 200V with a little bit of fiddling.
You could try running a utility like CpuIdle, which definitely reduces power draw both from the PS (itself a heat source) and the CPU, but I suspect it probably isn't enough to keep the unit cool inside a desk without some sort of active air circulation in the desk.
I would get a radioshack thermometer with a remote probe (usually $20 or so) and monitor the temps in the desk. If you're seeing ambient temps in the desk above 90-95F then it's pretty much hopeless; there just isn't enough air circulation, period.
In general, your temps sound about right when the case is in free air (43-47C) so if it's soaring above 60C in the drawer, there must be a corresponding increase in the free air temp of the drawer. A thermo probe in the drawer would allow you to confirm that. Most hard drives are rated with a max temp of 55-60C and most folks try to keep them under 50C. You can monitor it with a utility like MotherboardMonitor or SpeedFan, both of which work on my 200V with a little bit of fiddling.
You could try running a utility like CpuIdle, which definitely reduces power draw both from the PS (itself a heat source) and the CPU, but I suspect it probably isn't enough to keep the unit cool inside a desk without some sort of active air circulation in the desk.