40C case temp

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Wraith
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40C case temp

Post by Wraith » Mon Aug 02, 2004 6:43 pm

Are mid-30s to 40C case temps going to hurt any of my components? Are these temps abnormally high?

When I'm on my PC in the evenings lately:
- Idle: CPU mid-40s, Case 36-37C
- Load (well, right after exiting FFXI): CPU 50-52C, Case 40C
My room temp is about 77F/25C currently.
My specs should be in my signature. (Swapping in SP1614N soon.)

Last night I tried turning up the Enermax exhaust fan all the way, and turning up the power supply fan a ways. Case temp didn't seem to drop below 35C, and of course this was rather loud.

Case temp thermistor is located "just above and left of the agp slot" on my board. The CPU temp is from the on-CPU diode, which Soltek refers to as "ABS II."

My room is upstairs, and always feels like the hottest room in the house. Probably due at least in part to my PC.

bchung
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Post by bchung » Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:38 pm

I'd say the temps are pretty good actually. At 35-40C no components should be in any danger. Stability should be you best guage, since the only real damage that can be done to the HDs by heat round abour 55-60 (long term)

Rusty075
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Post by Rusty075 » Mon Aug 02, 2004 8:14 pm

Of all the temperatures in a PC, the case temp is the most useless.

There's so much variability in its implementation that its results are almost meaningless.

The CPU is temperature sensitive, I would keep its temp below about 70°, but if you go over don't worry about it too much. The HDD is, surprisingly, the most temperature sensitive part of the machine. I wouldn't run mine at temps over 50°. And the PSU, well, as long as it doesn't smell like you put Barbie in your Easy-Bake oven, you're probably A-O-K. :lol:


As has been said before: if you're stable, you're fine. :lol:

Wraith
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Post by Wraith » Tue Aug 03, 2004 4:32 am

Ah, well that's good to know. :) I was just wondering, since so many people's case temps never seem to break 30 or so. But I'm about stable as anything at current settings, so I guess I don't have anything to worry about.
The HDD is, surprisingly, the most temperature sensitive part of the machine.
I haven't been able to measure my HDD temp w/ software on my WD, so I really don't know what it runs. Warm to the touch at idle. But it looks like the Samsung I ordered will work for HDD temp monitoring.

Tigr
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Post by Tigr » Fri Aug 06, 2004 12:38 am

Wraith wrote:I haven't been able to measure my HDD temp w/ software on my WD, so I really don't know what it runs. Warm to the touch at idle. But it looks like the Samsung I ordered will work for HDD temp monitoring.
An easy, albeit very unprecise, method of measuring the HDD temperature. Press your fingers to the side or front of the HDD. If you feel a light burning sensation, the temperature is probably 50 C or above. If you feel just warm or hot without burning, it is probably below 50 C. :)

teejay
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Post by teejay » Fri Aug 06, 2004 2:44 am

Rusty075 wrote:Of all the temperatures in a PC, the case temp is the most useless.

There's so much variability in its implementation that its results are almost meaningless.
Had some first-hand experience with this yesterday: installed a slightly-better-than-stock cooler in an existing system (AMD 2500+ in a Sonata) and although cpu temp dropped 5C along with the noise reduction, the case temp went up about 5C to near 40C (room temperature about 25C and also the "hottest" one in the house).

However, there are 2 thermally controlled fans in this system (separately controlled, rpm monitored through mainboard) and both never sped up with the new cooler, which they did with the stock cpu cooler. That would seem to indicate a lower case temp if anything. GPU and HDD temperatures remained the same and the exhaust air certainly doesn't feel any warmer.

The only thing I can think of is that the new cpu cooler is blowing more hot air directly over the mainboard thermistor due to changed airflow. Anyway, I never trusted the case temperature reading by the mobo much to begin with and this just confirmed my suspicions.

luminous
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Post by luminous » Fri Aug 06, 2004 3:19 am

Case temps are hard to monitor in an accurate useful way. My old machine had really poor ventilation. Its case temps were being reported as being over 50C. I panicked, drilled a lot of holes in the case, both at the bottom and at the top. Installed some fans into the holes and greatly increased the airflow through the machine. The result? Case temps are still being reported as 50C......

The moral of the story, don't always believe what you see. I put in a proper calibrated thermometer into various places with the case. None ever recorded more than 35C. I even placed the thermometer next to the mobo sensor that was reading 50C, it read less than 35C. All of that work was for nothing really. Still at least I got to practice making a holes in a computer case :)

Wraith
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Post by Wraith » Fri Aug 06, 2004 4:25 am

I had kinda wondered if the case temp was "accurate" or not, with the thermistor is located where it is on the board. And I could open up the case, and the case temp wouldn't drop.

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