Computers & Heat...

[fffblackmage]

How much ventilation does your case have? Is it MOSTLY the vid cardputting out the hot air? Or is there gobs of hot air coming out of the PSU and any other exhaust fans as well?

I have a server in a closet, it stays fairly cool. But I also made sure it had a TON of ventilation through the case. The more cool air you put through the case, the cooler the overall air that exits the case is. Add an intake fan in the front, and an exhaust fan in the back to help move air through more quickly. That is if there arent already fans there.

The other suggestions here will also help, I realize fans add to the power consumption, but not MUCH, you cant have too much airflow through a computer case. 85% of all computer component failures are heat related.

I think you're confused about heat and temperature. If you have enough airflow, you won't be able to "feel" the heat, because heat is being dumped out effectively enough that the air temperature isn't high enough for you to feel it being warm/hot. Looking at the early 4870s, they idled at high temps because they had a crappy ineffective single slot cooler. The double slot coolers brought idle temperature down, but it's not like the double slot 4870s were pumping out any less heat than the single slot versions.

Basically, in both cases, the heat output is the same, but temperature was different due to the coolers used.


@cessation:
Something is consuming a lot of power. Could be that 4870, but I guess we'll know when you get it. You could also try unplugging a few of those HDDs and so how much the number changes. Also, are your DDR2 ram running on 1.8V? Higher voltage will mean higher power consumption and higher power dissipation. And how about a screenshot of CPU-z with your computer idling? The clock frequency and voltage reading should tell you if CnQ is working or not.

For your reference, my primary rig idles at ~100W.

 

[cessation]

Also, are your DDR2 ram running on 1.8V? Higher voltage will mean higher power consumption and higher power dissipation.

They run at 2V . My system will not boot if I lower the voltage. The EIST is enabled but doesn't seem to work, the cpu is always running at 2.83GHz.

 

[fffblackmage]

They run at 2V . My system will not boot if I lower the voltage. The EIST is enabled but doesn't seem to work, the cpu is always running at 2.83GHz.

What model ram are they? If they're DDR2-1066, you could probably run them at 800MHz at 1.8V with 5-5-5-18 timings. If it's DDR2-800 with 4-4-4-12 timings at 2.0V, then just use 5-5-5-18 at 1.8V instead.

I don't think ram use all that much power, but every little bit can help.

The cpu being stuck at 2.83GHz... yeah... that's gonna contribute significantly to your heat problem.

Oh, I just realized I meant Speedstep, not CnQ, in my previous post. Make sure SpeedStep is enabled in BIOS. Also, make sure Windows is throttling the cpu down when idling. Details on that here, specifically, near the bottom about "processor power management."

 

[cessation]

Oh, I just realized I meant Speedstep, not CnQ, in my previous post. Make sure SpeedStep is enabled in BIOS. Also, make sure Windows is throttling the cpu down when idling. Details on that here, specifically, near the bottom about "processor power management."

Yeah it's enabled and so is the c1e or whatever it's called. All the windows settings are right. I checked google to try to figure out why it's not working but nothing seems to help...

 

[Zap]

They run at 2V . My system will not boot if I lower the voltage. The EIST is enabled but doesn't seem to work, the cpu is always running at 2.83GHz.

That could account for a chunk of the power draw and heat output. Have you considered upgrading? Once Sandy Bridge motherboards get re-released, go that route with some 1.5v (or lower) DDR3. Just changing out the CPU/mobo/RAM will probably knock a good 80W off your non-gaming power draw, in addition to giving you a performance boost.

 

[cessation]

That could account for a chunk of the power draw and heat output. Have you considered upgrading? Once Sandy Bridge motherboards get re-released, go that route with some 1.5v (or lower) DDR3. Just changing out the CPU/mobo/RAM will probably knock a good 80W off your non-gaming power draw, in addition to giving you a performance boost.

I'll probably do that then. I've put up with this for a long time so it's not going to kill me to wait some more. That video card I ordered should put out a lot less heat too.