PC is setting my room on fire

C

cwilhelm

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 15, 2007
Messages
89
Got a problem here. My component temperatures aren't abnormally high as I run my system on water but the temperature coming from the computer in general is ridiculous. It turns the temperature in my room (12' x 10') up incredibly high to the point where I'm sweating just sitting here. It's becoming unbearable and I'm looking for some solutions.

I run two two Nvidia 7950GT in SLI, 4gb of DDR2 and an Intel E8500 processor on an EVGA 680i board. The processor and two video cards are both on water.

Where is all this heat coming from? When I turn my computer off, the room temperature will drop a good 6-8 degrees (F), easy. The RAM feels hot, as does the northbridge... what can I do to reduce heat? I feel like I should just take everything off of water and put it all into a compact case with good heatsinks...

Thoughts?
 
Your room is heating up because your cooling is very good. Cooling systems are designed to remove the most amount of heat as possible. All the heat is coming from your components. The only way to reduce heat is to underclock everything, get lower end products, or get things like a "green" video card that turns off when not in use. You could always move the water cooling into another room by cutting holes in your wall and have the radiator in an adjacent room.
 
Imagine five 100-watt light bulbs sitting right next to your desk. Or adding five people to the room.

That's what's going on here. All of the energy consumed by your computer - except the energy used by the fans moving air - is converted to heat. Your computer is like having one-third of a hair dryer or toaster on all the time.

The solution? More room cooling (ventilation or A/C) and/or more energy-efficient computer components.
 
I don't know... I just checked my temps and they are higher than I thought. My CPU is at 49, system 42, and both GPU at 47. They don't ever flex from here more than a degree or two, but this is way too high for watercooling....
 
The cooling setup doesn't really matter that much in terms of heating up the room. Watercooling will transfer the heat into the room slightly more efficiently, but that's it. A computer consuming 450 watts of power is a computer pumping 450 watts of heat into the room.
 
Where do you think the heat generated by the components is going?

Computers are furnaces.
 
Check your power usage at the wall.
This will tell you how much heat you are passing into your room.

To reduce heat from your PC, reduce power use.
It doesnt matter how hot things get (as long as they dont overheat).
It does matter how much power they use which is often NOT proportional to its temp when comparing between non like devices.

Alternatively, open a window and/or use a bigger room.
 
Ventilation makes a huge difference. If you can't condition the room, make sure the heated air can escape and get replaced by cooler air. Put a fan in a window blowing out, and optionally another fan to blow air towards the window. Think of your room as the inside of a computer. ;)
 
Heat in a room is a downward spiral it takes a while to go from cool to warm but from warm to hot in a second.

Poor house cooling is probably the problem; your room is likely 85 degrees while the room that governs the house temp is probably cool like 70. Block or slow down the flow of air to all the other rooms except yours. Problems should be solved.

Also some side factors such as double pain windows, shading from the sun, proper case cooling for both radiator and case, and a room fan.
 
cwilhelm said:
So I'm gathering the 750w PSU is the primary culprit?
Click to expand...

No...The wattage rating of the PSU is not like the other components and that's not the amount of heat it is putting out. The PSU is only going to put out as much power as that being demanded from it, in most systems the two main heat producers are going to be the CPU and video cards, but everything contributes. The output rating of a PSU matters less than the efficiency rating and how far you are loading it.

So unless you want to cut down on the heat output of the computer (underclocking etc), your options are to add a window or remote AC unit into the room, close off the vents partly in the rest of the house and/or put a fan in the doorway to blow in cooler air from the rest of the house
 
All the heat generated by your computer is heating your room up. Kinda like a mini-heater. Try opening your window up, and put a fan in it. Open your door will also help.
 
This isn't the first time I've seen some one post with this issue. It's whacked. My delta t is only 5 degrees idle and less then 15 under load. If the air coming out of your exhaust feels warm to you, you may not be moving enough air through your case. The longer the air lingers in your case the warmer it gets. Your system cooling has to match your heat load.
 
It's amazing how many people think this is a cooling issue, and that better cooling components are needed. I'm roffling pretty hard.
 
Some reason when I have 10 lights on in my room it gets hot and I don't know why :( (open your door)
 
Heat in = Heat out

Get some A/C into the room to lower the ambient, or turn the furnace down 3-4 degrees and warm your toesies with the exhaust fans :D
 
This is why my computer is in our finished basement. Cooler ambient temps, and no need to worry about heating it up. :p

but yeah, open a window and set up a fan to blow out that hot air from your room or some cool air in. Itll make a dig difference.
 
Reminds me of this last summer down here in Aus, almost had to have the air-con on all day just because of the PC :p Winter it was nice though, leave the PC on and the room stayed nice and warm :D
 
SilverSliver said:
It's amazing how many people think this is a cooling issue, and that better cooling components are needed. I'm roffling pretty hard.
Click to expand...

Enlighten us. Cause I'm a building engineer specializing in air distribution systems. You have a heat load in the case. The faster and cooler you can move the air through the case the lower your discharge temp will be.
 
But the same wattage in heat is still getting produced and being exhausted, moving it at a faster rate through the PC simply produces overall lower temps inside the case.
 
Computers components generate heat, we cool these components to keep then functioning properly. The heat is transferred to the air and exhausted out of the case and in to your room. What kind of cooling your PC has makes little difference in the amount of heat it will put out. All that changes with the type of cooling is how efficiently that heat is removed from the components.

Someone mentioned that if the PC is properly exhausting it's hot air then when you put your hand by an exhaust fan it wont hardly feel warm. Now this is all fine an good for keeping the PC cool but for the OP the room will heat up the same as it does now, gradually raising the ambient temps.

So if your PC is making your room to hot then you need to either find a way to cool or vent the room. Or you need to make changes to the PC components to reduce the heat generated by the PC.

Selling your 2x 7950GT and getting a single higher performance video card would be a great start with out taking a hit in performance.
 
Someone mentioned that if the PC is properly exhausting it's hot air then when you put your hand by an exhaust fan it wont hardly feel warm. Now this is all fine an good for keeping the PC cool but for the OP the room will heat up the same as it does now, gradually raising the ambient temps.
Click to expand...

That's incorrect. If the discharge air temp from the pc exhaust is lower, it will have less impact on room temp. Assuming the room is capable of holding 72-74 degrees. I was also refering to volume not velocity.
 
dkev said:
That's incorrect. If the discharge air temp from the pc exhaust is lower, it will have less impact on room temp. Assuming the room is capable of holding 72-74 degrees. I was also refering to volume not velocity.
Click to expand...

Not true.
No matter how you label this, the energy being used by the PC will end up in the room as it has nowhere else to go.

In a closed system (ie no air venting into/from the room), it will heat up the room slightly slower at first if the PC has bad cooling, but the PC/components will be getting hotter and hotter.
After a short while, the exhaust temps will be hot enough to compensate for lack of airflow on components, thus simply delaying the time for the room to reach close to its highest temperature.
Lack of airflow in the PC is damaging so is best avoided.

With decent cooling on the PC, the same energy is heating the air, just more air is passed through and thus at first, exhaust air temps are lower.
As the system is still closed, the now warmer room air will be recycled into the PC and further heated.
Because the PC is running cooler, more energy has passed into the air in same time period, thus the room heats up a bit faster.
 
dkev said:
That's incorrect. If the discharge air temp from the pc exhaust is lower, it will have less impact on room temp. Assuming the room is capable of holding 72-74 degrees. I was also refering to volume not velocity.
Click to expand...

False. Energy cannot be created or destroyed...only transformed. Therefore, if your PC is pulling 500W from the wall, it does not matter if your exhaust temp is +1 degree above room temp or +100 above room temp because heat at a rate of 500W is being pumped into the room once steady state occurs (thermally, this takes about 30 minutes).
 
Indeed. Once the temperature of all the parts of the PC (components, radiator, heatsinks, case itself) stop getting warmer itself, it makes absolutely no difference (in terms of heating up the room) what sort of cooling solutions or fans you have in or on any of it.
 
dkev said:
That's incorrect. If the discharge air temp from the pc exhaust is lower, it will have less impact on room temp. Assuming the room is capable of holding 72-74 degrees. I was also refering to volume not velocity.
Click to expand...
The room as it stands now has the ability to expel a certain amount of heat. The computer itself produces a certain amount of heat. Those values can be considered as constant, and will not change no matter how the case is being cooled. Regardless of how fast the heat is expelled from the case, eventually the room will reach equilibrium and remain at a fairly stable temperature, and that temperature does not depend at all on the cooling situation of the case. The only thing that will change is how fast the room reaches that temperature.
 
Wow some of you guys scare the shit out of me. OP, 5000BTU window AC is 99.95 at Home Depot. Go get one if you have a window.
 
I heard if you buy a triple rad WC set-up, it actually works like an air conditioner and COOLS your room!!!

:D
 
Zero82z said:
The room as it stands now has the ability to expel a certain amount of heat. The computer itself produces a certain amount of heat. Those values can be considered as constant, and will not change no matter how the case is being cooled. Regardless of how fast the heat is expelled from the case, eventually the room will reach equilibrium and remain at a fairly stable temperature, and that temperature does not depend at all on the cooling situation of the case. The only thing that will change is how fast the room reaches that temperature.
Click to expand...

Wow, now I feel emigicated. :rolleyes: The room temp is not a constant. Forget it ...this is clearly over your head.
 
dkev said:
Wow, now I feel emigicated. :rolleyes: The room temp is not a constant. Forget it ...this is clearly over your head.
Click to expand...

He never said the room temp is a constant.

He's maybe in over his head a little bit, but his conclusion is correct. The room doesn't have the ability to expel a constant amount of heat - the amount of heat the room expels is proportional to the temperature of the room.

Ultimately, the cooling methods used by the computer will make no difference whatsoever regarding the temperature of the room once it reaches steady-state.
 
BillParrish said:
Wow some of you guys scare the shit out of me. OP, 5000BTU window AC is 99.95 at Home Depot. Go get one if you have a window.
Click to expand...

^^^This. I have a window AC unit in my office. It's the only way to keep the room cool during warm days unless the the central AC is on.
 
kumquat said:
Indeed. Once the temperature of all the parts of the PC (components, radiator, heatsinks, case itself) stop getting warmer itself, it makes absolutely no difference (in terms of heating up the room) what sort of cooling solutions or fans you have in or on any of it.
Click to expand...

Your right, it's a silly argument. If you can't keep your room cool enough to start with, there's little chance of keeping the pc cool.
 
BillParrish said:
Wow some of you guys scare the shit out of me. OP, 5000BTU window AC is 99.95 at Home Depot. Go get one if you have a window.
Click to expand...

+1

like I said, window or remote unit.

dkev said:
Wow, now I feel emigicated. :rolleyes: The room temp is not a constant. Forget it ...this is clearly over your head.
Click to expand...

He did not say it was constant, nor does it seem over his head as everything he said is correct. He said the room has a fixed ability to remove a given amount of heat (energy), if you surpass this the system will become overloaded and the ambient temperature will rise. No matter how fast the heat is being removed from the case, it is still being removed into the same fixed system, that being his room, unless he does something to change this fixed system, such as turn down the AC. Fans do not cool, all they do is move air, the energy in that air remains the same and in this case, moved into his room.

dkev said:
Your right, it's a silly argument. If you can't keep your room cool enough to start with, there's little chance of keeping the pc cool.
Click to expand...

He is not talking about cooling the PC, he is talking about cooling his room, as the PC is making the room uncomfortably hot.
 
dkev said:
Wow, now I feel emigicated. :rolleyes: The room temp is not a constant. Forget it ...this is clearly over your head.
Click to expand...
Go look at my post again once you've learned to read.
kumquat said:
The room doesn't have the ability to expel a constant amount of heat - the amount of heat the room expels is proportional to the temperature of the room.
Click to expand...
I didn't mean that it was the room itself expelling the heat. I was referring to the heat that is removed from the room as a result of the air conditioning or air circulation that is already present.
 
Last edited:
Seriously, now.... has anyone explored ducting as a solution for removing PC exhaust heat from a room?(flexible/rigid dryer hoses for example) I'm assuming you'll need a pretty powerful fan at the end of the hose to vent the exhaust to a hallway or another room.
 
Saturn_V said:
Seriously, now.... has anyone explored ducting as a solution for removing PC exhaust heat from a room?(flexible/rigid dryer hoses for example) I'm assuming you'll need a pretty powerful fan at the end of the hose to vent the exhaust to a hallway or another room.
Click to expand...

If the ducting has an upwards vertical element and remains high, it should be no problem.
It can even pull more air through due to convection.
You could feed it into a room above or under the floorboards.
That might be a neat way of getting free underfloor heating if your PC has a floor above :D:D
 
dkev said:
Enlighten us. Cause I'm a building engineer specializing in air distribution systems. You have a heat load in the case. The faster and cooler you can move the air through the case the lower your discharge temp will be.
Click to expand...



You are correct in that it will reduce the temperature of the discharged air if you move it faster. However, it's moving faster! The heat input into the room is a product of this temperature difference times the mass flow rate times the specific heat of the air. One goes up, the other goes down. Power (rate of heat transfer) stays constant.

Actually, you will be producing more heat with more fans, as the power exterted to turn those fans and push the air is also converted to heat. But this is usually small compared to the power of the other components.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top