I'm running at 56 CPU and 42 Case. How much higher can I go?

joedornan · Post by **joedornan** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 9:54 am

Hi all,

I'm new to these forums, so if I missed something in my searching forgive me...

I know little about temperatures, and was wondering how high I should let my system go before intervening with adding a case fan?

I have this setup:
- D.vine 4 case http://ahanix.com/ahanix_product.asp?pid=9
- 80gb seagate 7200.7 (noisy!)

- 160gb Samsung Samsung SP1604N (silent! thanks spcr!)
- Athlon XP 2200 CPU
- PSU SilenX350 http://www.thetechlounge.com/review.php ... ilenx_350w
- Zalman AlCu 7000b http://www.silentpcreview.com/article92-page1.html
- Radeon 9200se (no fan)
- Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
- LG DVD burner http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1589
- 2x Hauppauge PVR-250
- WMP54G wireless PCI http://www.linksys.com/products/product ... 20&scid=36
- Bytecc 7in1 card reader http://www.byteccusa.com/product/cardreader/BT-618.htm

At the moment there are only two fans in the entire box:
- the zalman cpu fan
- the silenx psu fan

both are very quiet. and thus the whole machine is very quiet. perfect in its role as an htpc.

however, this configuration was done in the winter, and summer temperatures are raising the ambient room temperatures. originally the system idled at 50 cpu and 36 case not bad! Now however they are at 56 cpu and 42 case. uh oh.

how much more can I let it go before installing a case fan?

should I also be worrying about my hard drive temps? If so, how do I monitor those?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
-Joe

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 11:52 am

Your CPU temp seems ok to me. As long as all you're doing with the machine is HTPC use.

Your case temps are another story... those seem rather high to me. As long as they don't go up any more, I would say you are ok. System stability with an HTPC is key, and as long as the temps remain stable and aren't going out of control you should be ok.

But, like I said, I would start to worry about those case temps if they start increasing. That high of a temp is telling me that there isn't a whole lot of airflow in the case. And remember, you can't cool any component lower than the ambient air temperature with air cooling.

So its really up to you about what you want to do at this point in time.

For hard drive temperature monitoring, I use HDTemp. I'm sure, however, that there are much better programs out there for your use, and maybe someone can comment on that?

Likif · Post by **Likif** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 1:23 pm

Since you're not overcocking, and your system is stable, the only thing you should worry about is HD temps. I like to keep mine under 40 degrees.

Erssa · Post by **Erssa** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 3:34 pm

Yeah, temps are pretty fine. I have run my xp 1700+ palomino at 60c for 2 years now and it never crashes. I have ripped away my mobo fan and gpu fan and still perfectly stable at 32c ambient case temp. I ran my first year without case sides at 60-70c cpu and 40c mobo. 3,5 years behind it and still going strong. I'd guess you have nothing to worry about...

Blazkowicz · Post by **Blazkowicz** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 10:45 pm

yes, nothing to worry; but I'd base the decision on temps on CPU burn (with prime95), not idle.

for monitoring the HDDs (and everything else) I use Speedfan (I guess S.M.A.R.T. has to be enabled in the BIOS)

len509 · Post by **len509** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 11:05 pm

Blazkowicz wrote:yes, nothing to worry; but I'd base the decision on temps on CPU burn (with prime95), not idle.

I agree as well. With a 939 CPU core and undervolting, underclocking, or Cool and Quiet, idle temps can get ridiculously low. But what's more important is the CPU load temp and stability under load (prime95).