xxx_ said:
I agree with you and I will be having 2x512 MB of RAM soon. My power
supply unit has a maximum of 200 watts and I am using a Pentium 4
Prescott 3.0 GHz processor and it operates at 50+ degrees Celsius. My
Seagate 250GB SATA hard disk operates at a highest temperature of 49
degrees Celsius. May I know if the temperatures are normal for my hardware?
Prescott processors tend to run a little on the hot side. So
the 50+ wouldn't bother me too much.
What you want to avoid, is hitting the "throttle temperature"
when the CPU is really busy. Try running this program, and then
watch the CPU temperature. If it hits 70C, I'd shop for a better
cooler, or at least investigate why it is so hot.
"Orthos Stress Prime - CPU tester" - tests CPU, runs CPU at 100%
http://sp2004.fre3.com/beta/beta2.htm
For hard drives, I try to modify the cooling arrangement in my
computer cases, so that there are intake vents located next
to the hard drive, and the net air flow, is to draw cool air from
outside, over the surface of the disk. Some cases make this
hard to do. On my oldest computer case, I have a fan mounted
externally on the front of the case, and it blows cool air on
the drives. The drive covers are removed on that machine, to
make that possible.
Current temperatures on my idle system (3.15GHz, Northwood):
Room temperature 23C
Case air temp 26C
CPU 38C (HLT instruction not working - due to antivirus program)
(I can make it run cooler than this at idle, with RMClock)
(Cooler type - Zalman 7000 series, running full speed)
Speedfan lists my hard drive temperatures as:
ST380011A: 31C
ST380215A: 32C
The drives are located right next to the intake vent on the front
of the computer. I have a single 120mm exhaust fan on the back, to
help pull cool room air over the disk drives.
If it was my hard drive, I would aim for a somewhat better
temperature for the drive. It really all depends on how you
view the temperature/humidity curves provided by the disk
manufacturers, as to whether my level of paranoia on drive
temperature, is warranted or not. I've had one hard drive
fail, during a month long period of hot and humid weather,
where my air conditioner was broken. And based on that, I'm
a little more careful now. Such an observation is not
statistically significant, but I cannot afford to do more
failure testing like that
Paul