Suggestions for cooling monitors?

[GGtW]

I know close to nothing about monitors but my cheap LACIE electron 19 blue IV is producing alot of hot air, making a my small room close to death-trap-like.
Any ways I should or can go about cooling this off besides leaving it off all the time?

 

[kirbyrj]

1. Dust it off every now and then .
2. Get a fan.
3. Mod yourself some sort of watercooling solution to run out the back of your computer and all around your monitor to absorb excess heat.

 

[GGtW]

Have any links to some fans for monitor support? Like I've said, never touched a monitor before so would be catious on putting a fan in it when being clueless.

 

[jpmkm]

If you put a fan on it then it is just going to throw the heat into your room faster. The heat has to go somewhere, so no matter what you do to cool the monitor off all the heat is still going into your room. I say just have it power itself down when not in use.

 

[DFI Daishi]

If you put a fan on it then it is just going to throw the heat into your room faster. The heat has to go somewhere, so no matter what you do to cool the monitor off all the heat is still going into your room. I say just have it power itself down when not in use.

thanks for pointing out basic thermodynamic principles before i had to...........it's refreshing when someone else does it for a change.

 

[ashmedai]

Could always use the fan for the room itself to get some fresh air so it'll stop being an overheated death-trap...

 

[RawsonDR]

Yeah, like has been mentioned there's no solution to your problem that doesn't include modification of the way your room is cooled. All common cooling solutions that are discussed in reference to our computers (fans, water cooling, etc) don't destroy heat, they simply move heat from inside our case into our room. For instance anytime you better cool your CPU, you are making your case temps hotter. Anytime you make your case temps lower, you are making your room hotter (generally insignificantly).

So in your situation your room becomes the 'computer case' and thats what you're trying to cool. If you rearrange your room such that your monitor is near a window or a door, then you might notice a difference and even moreso if you create airflow from the monitor towards the door/window. Ducting directly from a vent in your room (blowing in) to your monitor may help as well, if normally some of the air from the vent slips outside a door/window without passing by your monitor.

 

[DFI Daishi]

perhaps a little more constructive than my last post: i am a big fan of sticking a box fan in the window, for those of us without AC.

it helps to keep the air in the room moving, and brings in some fresh air. even if the air is all the same temperature, you get some improved personal cooling in terms of increased sweat evaporation as long as the air within you rom is moving, and not getting saturated in personal humitidy. (ewww)

 

[GGtW]

Have 2 computers in my room, with AC on and window up + fan it still can be a death trap.
Guess I should move computers closer to window....
Reguardless, thanks for all the help

 

[DFI Daishi]

AC on.............window open.............
.....................................................
AC on.............window open.............
....................................................
WTF?
does ANYONE else see a problem with this situation?!?!

if you have the AC on, close the falking window!
if you have the window open, turn off falking the AC!

hey, i know, i'll just go and plug in a space heater outside the house in the middle of the winter. it'll do about as much good warming my house as running the AC with the window open does cooling my house.

ARG!!!!!!!!!!
you hurt my head!!!!!!!

 

[gwai lo]

i think he said "window up"..meaning..the windows are closed

 

[DFI Daishi]

well, when my window it up, then it is open.

i slide up the bottom part of the window, such that it covers the top half, and then my window is open.

i guess that its true that i automatically assume that everyone's stuff works about the same way as my own.

however, if he means to say that his window is closed, and his AC is on, then i retract my statement.

 

[bob]

Maybe is window unit is too small. Upgrading to a "G" Unit with 20" rims would help...

Seriously, im in a 40x10x10ft room, with a 5000BTU window unit. That thing rattles on all day during the summer. The thermostat sucks in window units. Theres a big temp difference from the On and Off settings.

I want to be somewhere around 50-75F. Its 100F outside, and I dont like 80F indoors where its more huimid. During the night when im sitting on my bed watching tv, its like laying underneath a freezer with its door open...

Wallmart sells 20,000BTU window units... grab one before they sell-out in the summertime, and run it at about 35-40F in your room without a problem .

 

[kpedge]

Whatever you do, I wouldn't crack open the monitor- there's enough juice in an unplugged monitor to make your day awful.

 

[daragon]

Whatever you do, I wouldn't crack open the monitor- there's enough juice in an unplugged monitor to make your day awful.

I second that. There is no good time to crack open a monitor for the first time. Those people that did it for the first time, and are good at it now, took their life in their hands learning how. Get you a 19 LCD and be happy with the saved space.

 

[zer0signal667]

I second that. There is no good time to crack open a monitor for the first time. Those people that did it for the first time, and are good at it now, took their life in their hands learning how. Get you a 19 LCD and be happy with the saved space.

Also, you should never open your computer case, or get into a car and drive anywhere - these are both potentially dangerous actions
With proper precautions and a little common sense, there is really no danger. I'm not saying that anybody and everybody should stick their hand inside their monitor, but you make it sound like a scene from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc will ensue.

 

[kirbyrj]

I don't know...I've heard all kinds of stories about people frying themselves playing with monitors. Much more dangerous than expected. I wouldn't go playing around in there . LCD might solve your problems. They are pretty cheap now actually (and getting cheaper all the time).

 

[kirbyrj]

Have any links to some fans for monitor support? Like I've said, never touched a monitor before so would be catious on putting a fan in it when being clueless.

I was thinking more along the lines of a box fan from Wal-mart for like $10.

 

[daragon]

Also, you should never open your computer case, or get into a car and drive anywhere - these are both potentially dangerous actions
With proper precautions and a little common sense, there is really no danger. I'm not saying that anybody and everybody should stick their hand inside their monitor, but you make it sound like a scene from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc will ensue.

Well, not everyone should be behind the wheel, and not everyone should be in their case. Some people can't handle it. And it is a scene from indian Jones dammit. When I did it last, I was destroying monitors for my old job. I jabed it with a screw driver and pryed the plastic case off. the tube fell out and exploded(imploaded) in the dumpster. I didn't know I could duck that fast. My co-worker found it quite socking when he tried to take the circuit board off. We were being cautions though, and we was wearing insulated gloves and a rubber handled screwdriver, but it still got him.

 

[Top Nurse]

My co-worker found it quite socking when he tried to take the circuit board off. We were being cautions though, and we was wearing insulated gloves and a rubber handled screwdriver, but it still got him.

Isn't it amazing how a little innocuos lttle thing like a round tube can shock you right to heaven? There is nothing wrong with opening up a monitor so long as you understand the basic principles in how a monitor works and the big ass power supply they use. The real trick of it is to figure out how to get the dang thing open as the manufacturer's don't think you should be in there mucking about.

 

[kpedge]

I was thinking more along the lines of a box fan from Wal-mart for like $10.

No LAN party should be without one...or ten.

 

[7718]

Don't touch the inside of your monitor , you could electrocute yourself.

I have a Micron 17" CRT that was a couple years old when i bought it back in '99, and it was accidentaly direct CRT watercooled once. So the story goes:

Back in the day i shared a shitty little apartment on 8th/monroe here in Spokanistan, and upon returning home one morning from breakfast out (at waffles plus) I found a horrible accident had accured in my absence. My upstairs neighboors airconditioning unit had broken and started leaking down the exterior wall, onto a support beam, into my apartment and directly allover my computer desk. My computer was of course on, diligently searching for aliens (seti@home baby) the whole time. The water leaked directly into the grill on the back of the monitor, and then onto the desk getting my netgear 4 port hub wet too. I turned it off via the powerstrip on the floor, and then after finishing my bruce willis in pulp fiction ( y'know the part about his g/f forgetting his watch) imitation i went to the landlord and bitched up a storm demanding a new monitor/router (I know , but carpe diem right?). He asked me to let it dry first and if either the router or monitor didn't work he would replace them. i put 2 box fans on a coffee table with the monitor between sandwich style and let it blow for approx a day or so. Much to my dismay BOTH the monitor and hub continued functioning ,and both still do to this day.

 

[ashmedai]

It sticks its finger in the socket?

 

[kevinb70]

Have 2 computers in my room, with AC on and window up + fan it still can be a death trap.
Guess I should move computers closer to window....
Reguardless, thanks for all the help

Duct your hot case air right out your window, man.

Make sure the filter and coils clean on your AC to increase its efficency.

Think of it like this... you can remove 5000BTUs of heat per hour with your AC. Think of everything you can do to reduce the amount of heat your AC has to remove from your room.

Turn off unneeded electronics or lights, they give off heat. Replace incandescent light with florescent bulbs. Regular bulbs give off tons more heat than florescent. One 60W bulb gives off about 200BTUs of heat an hour. Just 5 bulbs will take up 1000 of your AC's 5000 BTU capacity. o-O

Tin foil the windows where the sun normally shines thru to reduce heat coming in. Plus you'll start to look like a hardcore oc'ing recluse. The tin foil will also help reduce the alien brainscans. *adjusts tin foil hat*

 

[robberbaron]

Just put a Vapochill LS on it and run 2048x1536 @ 150Hz.

 

[zeebs]

ROFL. This is the silliest thread I have seen in a long time. Just turn on your ac or open a window.

 

[kevinb70]

Just put a Vapochill LS on it and run 2048x1536 @ 150Hz.

You'll have to vent the waste heat from the Vapochill right outside, otherwise there is more heat (generated by the electricity the Vapochill uses) to stress the poor 5000BTU AC even more...

 

[furiousfords89]

damn, i wish my comp sat by a window

 

[ashmedai]

Dump some liquid nitrogen on it? If you can't get the hot out of the room, bring in something that's already really really cold instead.

 

[DFI Daishi]

excellent idea. if he smothers himself by displacin all of the air out of his room, then maybe this thread will finally die as well.

 

[bob]

I don't know...I've heard all kinds of stories about people frying themselves playing with monitors....

I wont even begin to tell you all of the stories ive heard on Coast-to-Coast AM, and I only belive about 2% of them.

Bumping into a computer monitors CRT suction cup probably wont kill you (ive done it on a 21" TV), but it will cure adrenalytis. The problem is, When you get lead-plated glass in a vacuume, it makes an excellent capacitor. TV screens make excellent capacitors for HV projects.

Ive seen anywhere from 10,000-35,000V for CRTs. The windings on the Flyback transformers (black thing on the other end of the suction cup) are nearly hair thin. A milliamp or two @ 35Kv is nuffin. Sorta like a welding burn, with an extra kick. Flybacks make excellent arc generators, because they are relativly safe, small, and low powered. Remeber, it only takes a few milliamps to make your heart malfunction. Maybe 10-20mA to fry your brain.

I would say, the big danger is the danger of your arms jumping back and getting hung up on the sharp metal chassis. Now, Microwave ovens, those are deadly. Monitors? If they are unplugged, Not so bad. But you still can get hurt bad regardless of what your working on.

Capacitors in your Computers PSU have enough stored energy to blow up a peice of wire shorted on them.

Bottom line: Keep your paws away from the red suction cup.

 

[bob]

Duct your hot case air right out your window, man.

...

If this kid is too lazy to upgrade is window unit, Im assuming he/she wont do this:

Get ahold of a metal cabinent that can be sealed air tight. Get a small squirrel cage fan, and some insulated 6" A/C ducting (i bought 8' for 7$) and run it to the metal box. Put the computer and fan in the cabinent, Hook the ducting to a hunk of wood with two holes, and stick the wood in the window, shut the window on the wood, crank up the A/C and stop complaining.

By any chance, are you running the older Prescott CPUs? If so, maybe thats the problem. Wernt they supposed to be up in the 90W range?

 

[drizzt81]

if you have the AC on, close the falking window!
if you have the window open, turn off falking the AC!

hey, i know, i'll just go and plug in a space heater outside the house in the middle of the winter. it'll do about as much good warming my house as running the AC with the window open does cooling my house.

ARG!!!!!!!!!!
you hurt my head!!!!!!!

rotfl, you are killing me.. just about as good as my mom's BF, who leaves the balcony door open for like 1/2 hour in the middle of the winter with all the radiators on high!!