Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (
More info?)
In article <r1s831d5lutea18068nkeqh31dl96tcjmg@4ax.com>,
nospam4me@notaol.com.invalid wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 11:56:58 -0500, "zzipper" <zzipper@sympatico.ca>
> wrote:
>
> >Prescotts run significantly hotter and need good cooling. I would suggest
> >that you make sure you have good airflow in your case. My Northwood 2.6
> >overclocked to 3.0 would idle at 32C. At work, I have a Prescott 3.0, it
> >idles at 40C. Both have a stock Intel cooler installed, both cases are in
> >open enough areas that there is good aiflow around them, both cases have the
> >side air duct recommmended by Intel and both cases have a 120mm low rpm fan
> >at the rear so the comparison is pretty accurate in my mind.
> >
>
> I wonder if you or Paul would be kind enought to answer a question for
> me.
>
> I have a P4C800E-Deluxe running the 2.8C (Northwood)
> (no over-clocking) in an Antec P-160 case with an Enermax
> EG475P-VE-SFMA-470W-SATA power supply. No additional cooling has been
> added other than the Intel stock cooling which came with the CPU.
>
> MotherBoard Monitor (MBM) indicates the CPU temp hovers around 35C at
> idle. Since I do a lot of DVD processing, MBM shows the CPU temps
> reach 52C for as long as an hour when the CPU is at full throttle as
> MPEG files are being encoded and processed. It's never gone over the
> 52C mark.
>
> From what I've read on this forum, I'm given to understand 52C is
> nothing to worry about but I would appreciate your thoughts if you can
> take a moment.
>
> The temp sensor on the Antec P-160 does indicate a somewhat higher
> idle temp (43C) but never seems to go beyond 52C at full CPU use.
>
> Can you or Paul share any insight?
>
> Thanks
>
> f
There are three temperatures to consider - the room temperature,
the case ambient temperature, and the CPU temperature. Each one
influences the other, so cooling performance is measured by
taking the difference between these three temps. (I cannot find
a link now, but if memory serves, I think AMD may have recommended
no more than a 7C delta between case ambient and room air temp.)
I have a similar configuration - P4 2.8C, P4C800-E, Antec Sonata.
The Sonata has the same internals as the P160, but a different
external design.
What i noticed with my case, is the 120mm fan is starved for air.
When I open the door on the side of the case, the fan speed drops
due to the air being able to move more freely. There are not enough
inlet vents on the front of the case, for the capacity of the fan.
On the Sonata, this is easy to fix. There are plastic pieces on the
front of the computer, that can be removed. I get to keep the upper
door, while exposing more vent area in the lower half of the case.
By doing that, more room air blows immediately over the drives in
the lower front drive frame.
I think I got about 8C reduction in case ambient, which allows the
CPU to cool down by an equal amount.
52C is not too much for the processor, so there is no issue there.
I would be more concerned about the case ambient and the effect
this could have on disk drive life. Hard drives are sensitive
to the combination of high humidity and high temperature. The
IBM web site used to have manuals for their disk drives, and there
are curves in a graph that show acceptable levels of humidity
and temp. For example, at 60% relative humidity, the drive
case temp is supposed to be maintained below 37C. 60% R.H. is
the point at which the carpets in your room will start to
mildew.
In an air-conditioned room, the R.H. will be around 40%, so
both temp and humidity are improved at the same time. That is
why someone working in an AC environment has little to worry
about.
I had an air conditioner failure, and worked for about a month
at temps and humidities around the level listed above. I lost
a Maxtor drive (in one of my other computers) during that time.
Statistically speaking, that doesn't mean anything, but I have
to wonder if it wasn't more than a coincidence.
If you make any improvements to your computer case, remember to
pamper the disk drives, because they are more sensitive to
temp than your processor. Adding a duct and vent hole to the
case side panel, helps the processor, and will allow the case
air temp to drop, but a better solution, is to increase the vent
area in front of the disk drives, so the fresh air moves past
them first.
HTH,
Paul