What is the Best Method for Minimizing PC Heat Output?

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RRTRACKS via WindowsKB.com

Heat during the summer in the Southern California area I live in is a concern.
Even though I have an older computer system it still puts out a great deal of
heat. The questions I have are: What is the most cost effective way of
minimizing the heat an older computer puts out? And do newer computer
systems run cooler?

The most significant heat generating components my current system has are:

Asus P4P800E Motherboard with a Pentium 4 3.2 GHz CPU (Not OC)
ATI Radeon X850XT PE (Not OC)
Antec EarthWatts 500W PS
Four 7200 rpm ATA HDs
Four 512 MB PC3200 Memory Chips

What I have done so far:

Zalman CPU Cooling Fan
The Antec 80 Plus PS listed above
Antec 900 computer case with an added side fan

Not for purposes of cooling, but bad cluster reports, I am in the process of
replacing the four HDs with two larger drives having the same capacity.
Unfortunately I have run into problems doing that described at this link,
http://www.windowskb.com/Uwe/Forum....Have-With-Windows-Activation#74db2b5f4f3b1uwe
. I am about to play chicken with the Window’s authentication process in
doing that.

Any suggestions or experience you might have with the cooling issue you might
have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Rich
 
RRTRACKS via WindowsKB.com said:
Heat during the summer in the Southern California area I live in is a
concern.
Even though I have an older computer system it still puts out a great deal
of
heat. The questions I have are: What is the most cost effective way of
minimizing the heat an older computer puts out? And do newer computer
systems run cooler?

The most significant heat generating components my current system has are:

Asus P4P800E Motherboard with a Pentium 4 3.2 GHz CPU (Not OC)
ATI Radeon X850XT PE (Not OC)
Antec EarthWatts 500W PS
Four 7200 rpm ATA HDs
Four 512 MB PC3200 Memory Chips

What I have done so far:

Zalman CPU Cooling Fan
The Antec 80 Plus PS listed above
Antec 900 computer case with an added side fan

Not for purposes of cooling, but bad cluster reports, I am in the process
of
replacing the four HDs with two larger drives having the same capacity.
Unfortunately I have run into problems doing that described at this link,
http://www.windowskb.com/Uwe/Forum....Have-With-Windows-Activation#74db2b5f4f3b1uwe
I am about to play chicken with the Window's authentication process in
doing that.

Any suggestions or experience you might have with the cooling issue you
might
have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Rich
Click to expand...

I had your problem here in Australia___one thing I did was to purchase a
power supply with a tri fan setup and it did work__I also have 4 HDD's and 2
DVD Burners___I also found that changing around my exhaust fan to draw in
outside air did the job__I am running an Intel P4 ______hope this helps
 
RRTRACKS said:
Heat during the summer in the Southern California area I live in is a concern.
Even though I have an older computer system it still puts out a great deal of
heat. The questions I have are: What is the most cost effective way of
minimizing the heat an older computer puts out? And do newer computer
systems run cooler?
Click to expand...

One source of heat you did not mention is your monitor, particularly if it
is a CRT. Make sure it is set to power down when not used. And, most users
should also set the HDs to power down when not used. Under XP, you control
monitor/HD power down through the Screensaver tab of the Display Properties
window.
 
The amount of heat _generated_ is going to be fixed based on items such
as cpu type and speed.

The purpose of the fans in the system are to exchange the air inside the
case and near the components with (hopefully) cooler air from outside of
the case.

Since you are in a hot region, one of the best approaches would be to
get the hot air from the computer outside of the building which can run
from very simple to impossible depending on your location in the
building and the construction of the building.

One solution would be to install a "dryer vent" to the outside and use
that to get the hot air from the box outside of the house... in most
cases you should add a fan to that rather than rely on the box fan(s) to
move the hot air out efficiently.

Another possibility is to use the same type of flex duct to get the hot
air from the duct into the attic.

If the box is in a confined area such as under a desk or in a cabinet,
you can use a "hood" approach above the components since hot air rises
and exhaust just the general area which will be replaced by cooler air
from the building.

hth,
Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
 
Thanks to all for all the suggestions and comments. I do have an
approximately 1.5 year old Olevia 27 inch LCD TV I use for a monitor. The set
I have was classified as TV as far as the Energy Star Rating System goes.
Therefore the computer does not have a means of shutting the monitor off. I
am pretty good about shutting both the monitor and the computer off if I am
not going to be using them. The monitor has a rated input of 180 Watts @ 120v
AC and puts out quite a bit of heat on its own.

The Antec Case used to replace my previous computer case, did significantly
drop the temperature of the air coming out of the computer case. Of coarse
the volume of air coming out is much greater, so the improvement to the room
temperature was not as much as I needed.

The power supply mounts in the bottom of my computer case so any additional
fans a power supply might have would not be effective, unless one of them was
mounted in the top of the PS unit. I thought the use of an 80Plus power
supply would put out less heat. As far as I can tell it puts out roughly the
same amount of heat the as Antec True Power 480 watt PS it replaced. The
80Plus PS only has one fan. I have wondered if additional fans were omitted
for the purpose of efficiency.

The suggestion for piping the heat outside the building, in my case a house,
is an excellent one which I took. Fortunately my computer sits besides my
desk and is located about three feet from a small window near the corner of
the room. A few comments regarding this project follow.

What I did first was build a wooden box to as a connector between the duct
tube and computer. Since the computer case has a top mounted 200 mm (about 8
inch) fan, this box was placed so that it completely covered that fan opening.
From there the duct tubing was run to a wooden plate that fits into the
window. While the computer is not being used or when I want the heat piped
into the room the wooden plate can be removed from the window and placed, out
of sight, between the corner of the room and the back of my monitor.

The case has four other five inch fans. The fan I added to the case was
installed to blow air into the case. The rear fan was turned around in order
to do the same. With this many fans and the length of duct tubing used, about
7 feet, it was not necessary to add any more fans.

In California the vinyl or plastic dryer duct tubing, I wanted to use, is no
longer sold. It is considered to be a fire hazard and only aluminum or steel
ducting may be used for this purpose. What I was able to find in its place
was 4 inch foil exhaust/heating/AC duct tubing. I also looked at vacuum
cleaner hose, but the biggest I could find was 2.5 inch tubing which is too
small. A schedule 40 plastic three inch coupling was cut in half for the
board and box flanges. The total cost of the tubing and coupling came to
about $20.


Although the heat from my power supply and monitor is still coming into my
room, it is not near the amount now being blown out my window. Having only
used this for a few hours I would say that the heat now being put into my
room by the computer system is at an acceptable level. If I have to I can
always move the power supply into the computer case and seal the back of the
case off, but I do not think that will be necessary.

Finally the idea of putting a bathroom exhaust fan in the ceiling above my
computer was considered. It was not taken because it would have cost too much
money, been too much work, and have to be removed if I ever sell the house.
Thanks again to all for the suggestions and comments.

Rich
 
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