Comp running very hot

[RSI]

Is it normal for my comp to run really hot? Even with the case off it's pretty hot. Touching the top of the tower is really hot and my bro said he noticed warm air being blown out from the back. Warm enough to take note of..

My monitor makes craploads of heat (much more than any other monitor I've seen), but it has had to be repaired before, and it's understandable that it might be defective or something, but it works and has worked fine for years. The comp I'm a little more worried about. I don't want it catching fire or something.

Could it be that I only have a CPU fan (no video, case or hd fans)? Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[MichaelD]

Could it be that I only have a CPU fan (no video, case or hd fans)? Any suggestions are welcome.

*ding-ding-ding!* Give that man a cigar. Absolutely! If you have a high-powered video card, that produces quite a bit of heat. Add that up with the heat produced by the HD(s) and PCI cards and you've got quite a bit of heat. With no exhaust fan except the fan in PS exhausting all that hot air, it's going to build up.

The physical size of the case has quite a bit to do with it too. I'll use my server as an example.

It's a full-tower (Antec 1040). I have two HD's in it. 1GHz "B" Athlon (the original space heater) and a small (GF2GTS) video card that does not get used (no monitor attached).

I have one intake fan in front and no exhaust fans in back. The PS is a dual-fan model. One fan is right on top of the CPU. I have the two 80mm exhaust fan holes on the case taped over with duct tape.

I get a very steady stream of fairly warm air out of the PS. The most important phrase here is "very steady stream."

It's not really the temp of the air that matters, but the fact that it is MOVING thru the case. Fresh air drawn in, stale hot air blown out.

Does your PS have the two exhaust fans? If not, you need to add two fans to your case. One exhaust and one intake. Your temps will drop like a stone. Good luck.

 

[RSI]

My comp is already noisy as fsck, I don't really want to add 5 fans and turn it into a jet engine.

I can see only one fan in the back by the power supply. There are two places in the back that have little holes I guess for other fans, case fans. My video card is NOT high powered and doesn't *require* a fan, it's a TNT2. It could use one to cool it down, as it is hot, but it's not required. Same with my HD. I have a 20GB 7200rpm Quantum drive, which gets hot sometimes, but never ridiculously hot.

Damn... I'm screwed aren't I.

 

[RSI]

Just checked the sensors and it said 59 celsius for CPU and 38 celsius for case temp. wtf? That doesn't sound too bad. 38 certainly isn't as hot as it feels on the top of the case, and what is most certainly heating my room additionally to my monitor.

You know the heat gets so bad sometimes, that I could just be sitting at the comp, and start sweating. Just SITTING!

 

[MichaelD]

Those temps are not bad at all. I'm curious about something; if you have no fans, how is your computer too noisy? Do you have a high-speed fan on your CPU HS? Please explain.

 

[RSI]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Those temps are not bad at all. I'm curious about something; if you have no fans, how is your computer too noisy? Do you have a high-speed fan on your CPU HS? Please explain.

Dunno, I guess the combination of the PSU fan, the HD itself and the CPU fan make quite a bit of noise. In comparison to my sis' P83 system, and the old P166 system I just set up, it's hideously noisy. My CPU fan is the one that came with the CPU.

 

[Legendary]

Sacrifice a bit of your eardrums for the safety of your computer hardware. Personally I think anything over 35 for case temp is too hot but to each his own.

 

[RSI]

Originally posted by: Legendary
Sacrifice a bit of your eardrums for the safety of your computer hardware. Personally I think anything over 35 for case temp is too hot but to each his own.

Your beliefs don't really mean anything. Unless there is evidence backing you up.

If temperatures over 35 degrees is proven to be harmful to computer hardware maybe I'll consider getting more cooling, one day (when I have money).

 

[Jeff7]

You could just get some of the $3 ball bearing fans from Bestbyte - get the low RPM ones; they don't move a lot of air, but they don't create much noise either.
I have quite a lot of fans in my system, 2 optical drives, 2 HDD's - it's not quiet, but I wouldn't call it loud. How quiet are you looking to keep the system? There are methods (and posts, probably in Cases/cooling) of achieving near-silent cooling.

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

No fan on your GPU? What kind of graphics card is it?