how to monitor temperatures

tyeh26 · Post by **tyeh26** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 2:50 pm

How do i monitor the temperatures of different computer components? Here's a list of things i would like to monitor, and ways of doing them that I already know.

PSU: physically taking a temp gun to the PSU.
CPU: uGuru (came with my abit motherboard)
HDD: S.M.A.R.T. monitoring software (SMARTCheck)
GPU: RivaTuner

As you can see, the PSU is where i am stumped.

I doubt there's any software to do it. So where do i aim the temp gun? should it be the general vicinity of the PSU's heatsinks?

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:08 pm

Good question without a good answer. If you want to constantly monitor temperature, I'd suggest placing an external sensor from a digital temperature gauge right on an internal heatsink.....probably at the spot the PSU's own sensor is located.

Alternate location....place the sensor at the exhaust opening. The readings will be different, but you'll be monitoring the temperatures for change, not particularly the exact temperature.

If you just want an occasional reading from the PSU, take it at the exhaust opening at an idle, and after benchmarking for a while. You'll probably get a reading of 5-10C difference between the two.

tyeh26 · Post by **tyeh26** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:59 pm

thanks. i want to run my PSU fanless, and i want to monitor my PSU's temps to see how big of a radiator i will have to add.

BillTodd · Post by **BillTodd** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 6:47 pm

i want to run my PSU fanless, and i want to monitor my PSU's temps to see how big of a radiator i will have to add.

The temperature will not tell you that.

You will need to work out how much power the psu is dissipating as heat. To do that, you must measure how much power is going in (as AC) and how much is coming out as DC to the motherbord etc. The difference will be the dissipation.

DO NOT PLAY WITH THE INSIDES OF A PSU, UNLESS YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE DOING.