Overheating Advice

[C Dub]

Hi,

I have two Athlon 64 systems (not overclocked, air cooled with Tuniq T-120-LFB) that are overheating.... Bear in mind that due to the heat wave in southern california it's been well over 100 degrees F in the room for a good 2-3 hours a day. Right now room temp is 107 (yes I'm dying in here too). It's pretty important that these boxes stay online so obviously overheating is a problem.

I'm not sure if it's the PSU or the CPU that's overheating, one just powers down, and one beeps and then powers down. So maybe we're dealing with two different problems here.

I'm pretty limited financially right now so I'm looking for poor-man's advice on lowering temps... Right now I've resorted to opening up the cases and pointing a regular room fan into them. They still shut down occasionally though.

Just upgraded to the Tuniq coolers about a month ago, so there's no dust and they seem to be seated well. Those things are H-U-G-E. But those basically blew out my budget for keeping these boxes cool.

Is there a way to UNDERclock and keep them online whilst sacrificing performance to lower temperature? Anything else I can do?

Thanks in advance...

 

[mjrtoo]

sure, reduce your CPU voltage in the BIOS.

 

[customcoms]

I think some a/c for the room would be a good option as well...you can lower the cpu multi's and all the voltages as far as they will go, but there comes a point where even that fails if the environment is too hot.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

invest in an air conditioner, it'll cool everything in both of your computers (about 30-40F drop in temps in the room) and also cool yourself. thats probably ur best bet. theres nothnig u can do if u keep circulating hot air.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
invest in an air conditioner...

Exactly!

READ & HEED OP

Look, I've lived in Arizona my whole life and know a little bit about heat - it either makes you healthy, or it kills YOU...

I know you were making a joke but, Dude, 107 F isn't good for YOU or your computers!

And, fans won't do jack! Take my word on this... After 105 F, fans will actually make things hotter, not cooler!!!

If you keep goofing around, you're not only gonna kill your computers, but you're gonna kill yourself too! Don't be stupid...

You might *think* the heat isn't affecting you, but I can guarantee you're ^%$& up your internal organs - possibly irreversibly!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

VD's response seems a but blunt, but it's in the ball-park.

I grew up here in So-Cal, spent 30 years in the mid-Atlantic (Virginia / DC), and I've been back in So-Cal for almost 8 years. I despise this summer's weather. I curse it.

I can't stand an indoor temperature warmer than 83F. 76F makes me sweat, and I hate to sweat.

107F -- this is insane. But I realize the dilemma over utility bills and community campaigns to conserve (anticipating rolling black-outs before summer's end.)

You're beginning to push your systems toward their thermal limits. Either crank on the AC and get your room temps down to at least 80F, or save your "up-time" for the evening when (or if) it cools down.

 

[felang]

One quick thing to try is to make sure Cool N' Quiet is enabled, as far as I know all Athlon 64 processors support it, also most motherboards, although you might need a Bios update. Cool N' Quiet will automatically lower Cpu Speed and Vcore depending on load. On my rig idle temp drop a fair amount when it kicks in, obviously this will not help if CPU load is constantly high.