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Hot HD help!

Discussion in 'Techno-Magic' started by Brallrock, Feb 22, 2007.

  1. Brallrock Gems: 23/31
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    [​IMG] I know that there are many gadgets out on th market to cool down hard drives, but what have you all tried that really worked. My new PC runs great and really smokes Oblivion, but it was also running at 59C after about four hours of play time the other night. I have all ready put in an extra fan that blows right on the HD, but it doesn't seem to being doing the trcik. The good news is that my proccesor was only about 37C when the HD was so hot.

    Next question, do bigger hard drives run hotter? This PC has a 320 gig HD so I don't need the extra space, but if I put my smaller 80 gig HD in as a slave dirve and installed my games on it, would that make things run cooler?

    Some more info would probably help. I have a mid sized tower case with side ventilation holes. I am running an Antec True Power Trio 430 watt PSU, heatsink with fan combo on the Core 2 Duo E4300, and I have three extra case fans. One is at back of tower, one about three inches from the HD, and one sucking out heat by the Ati Radeon X1900 GT.

    [ February 22, 2007, 15:20: Message edited by: Brallrock ]
     
  2. Erod Gems: 14/31
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    So, the HD was at 59°C? That is quite a lot, you should try to get it somewhere near 40-45°C at least.

    You could try to move it away for any other heat generating components, install one or two small heatsinks on top of it and have a fan blowing through them.

    Size does not really matter, as smaller drives usually have the same amount of platters in them or maybe one less.
     
  3. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Not really aesthetic, but removing the case cover is a very cheap and easy solution to bring the temperature of everything in the case down by quite a lot.

    As for overheating, there a number of possible causes, but most often the problem is bad case design and/or cables getting in the way of the air flow. If a case is designed poorly, putting more fans in won't help you much. Getting cooler air in and hot air out fast is what really matters.

    [ February 23, 2007, 00:07: Message edited by: Taluntain ]
     
  4. Kitrax

    Kitrax Pantaloons are supposed to go where!?!?

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    I haven't used any HDD coolers myself, mainly because I only have a laptop at the moment...but I know a few people that have.

    One of my friends has a nifty little low-profile HDD cooler, similar to http://www.xoxide.com/untwofanhadr.html. I also know a few people that use the 5.25" bay coolers, similar to the ones listed here.

    Going to the hard-core side of things, there are water blocks that attach to the sides of the HDD to help pull the heat off.

    But like Tal mentioned, a poorly designed case, or a rat's nest of cables inside could be your biggest problem. A little cable management or a case that's from a manufacturer known for producing cases that have good airflow, Anetec and Silverstone come to mind, would go a long way. :thumb: :rolling:
     
  5. Brallrock Gems: 23/31
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    Well asthetics aren't important to me at all, so I am going to give taking the side panel off a try. I am going to play a bit of Oblivion and see how hot she gets.

    I am thinking of taking the whole inards out and putting them in my huge old PC case that currently has a dead PC in it. It had much better air flow, but it is pretty ugly.
     
  6. Brallrock Gems: 23/31
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    Well the new PC is in the old case now. I had the scare of my life, I hooked it all up and it wouldn't turn on. I could see that there was power to the MB, but the switch was dead. After having a heart attack, I switched the LED for the power switch, and the power switch wores around, and it started up just fine. This case is much larger and has much better air flow, I think it will probably run much cooler. Thanks all for your advice!
     
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