by 4 people |
Computer Cooling Guide & PC Information
www.AugustaPcRepair.com
Now that summer is around for most, thought this Guide on Computer Cooling would be a good topic! Being in Augusta, GA, summers are very hot, computer cooling, ventilation, and computer location is very important. Everything inside your computer generates heat. Whether it's the motherboard, hard drive, RAM modules, or your CPU. Have been called for many computer repair jobs, many have been cooling related, dead case fan, desk compartment sufficating the computer, "tumble-weeds" of dust inside of the case clogging all ventilation holes, etc. For many average home computer owners do not realize the importance of, or the effects of not keeping you computer cool, and with proper airflow. Keeping your computer cool will increase its lifespan, stability, and prevent heat induced damages to your system. For overheating is the worst cause of electronic component death.
Computer Overheating can act erractically, usually shutsdown, shutsdown & restarts automatically, "freezes", lockups, run very slowly, or WORSE... shuts down, and you smell something not very good! Most of these symptoms are very similiar to a virus, spyware, power supply unit failure also.
CPU units have a built in thermal safety feature, whichs means they will shut themselves down, (or suppose to) before permanent damage occurs. But for most, they usually "hang" in this hot zone, and produce some of the symptoms listed above. Believe Intel CPU's have a built in "Throttle Down" feature that lowers the speeds down on the cpu automatically if it begins to get near the "Hot Zone".
Gamers might notice during intense game play, your system suddenly locks-up, freeezes, or shutsdown completely. Your CPU, and your video graphics card are working at full max, and producing alot, alot of heat. Improper airflow, and lack of good system cooling once again!
Most stock, store purchased computer systems are built with very poorly designed cooling. Usually 1, maybe 2 fans inside, the power supply fan, and the CPU heatsink fan. The average homeowner, usually doesn't encounter these problems unless a fan has failed, or cooling fans, vents are blocked,, OR they have there desktop inside of one of those really nice expensive, and hot, and lack of airflow desk compartments.
On Laptops, every bit of space inside of you laptop is jammed with very HOT, heat producing components. Failure of the 1 main fan inside of your laptop will kill your your laptop. Keeping all ventilation fans around and under the laptop clear IS CRITICAL! DO NOT use your laptop on your bed,,, blankets, comforter, conform around the laptop, blocking all ventilation grills, resulting in an overheat situation.
www.AugustaPcRepair.com
Laptop Cooling Products
Laptop Cooling Pads, Laptop Cooling Stands, Laptop Fans
Belkin F5L001 Laptop Cooling Pad
Amazon Price: $19.98 (as of 12/11/2009) 
Eforcity Notebook Cooling Fan with Card Reader + USB Hub
Amazon Price: (as of 12/11/2009)
Notebook Cooling Fan w/ 4 Port USB Hub
Amazon Price: $15.18 (as of 12/11/2009)
Xpad (Non-slip Laptop Cooler and Heatshield)
Amazon Price: (as of 12/11/2009)
Where Does Cooling Start With Your Computer?
With Computer Case Selection
A properly cooled computer starts with good, thoughtul, and resourced computer case selection. A good PC Case will provide many spaces for fans in addition to metal construction for heat dissipation. Look for a case with at least one spot for a hard drive fan, a blowhole fan at the top of the case, a fan on the side panel, and plenty of space in the rear to mount a powerful fan to evacuate all that heated case air.Proper airflow can make, or break your computers cooling efficiency, and knowing what makes for good airflow and what doesn't is the key. You want the air to enter, and leave your case as fast as it can keeping a fresh supply of cool air in your case at all times. While doing this you want that air to flow over key components like your CPU, hard drives, video cards and anything else needing to be kept cool.
Look at the case and make sure there ARE ventilation vents. Most are on the side of case, some under case, and usually on the front panel. Aluminum has slightly better heat transfer characteristics than steel. Airflow around the outside is just as important. Blocking the exhaust or intakes can reduce the internal airflow substantially.
If your purchasing a stock, shelf, package deal computer system from a store ask the salesman about the computers cooling features, have him open the case and look for yourself. You should see at least 1 fan on the back as an exhaust fan,, if you don't see this, move along, keep looking.
These package deals, from the "Big" Mega Stores", are a great cheap deal for sure, but these manufactures of these computer systems build, and will cut any costs, to price and sell that system at an un-believable cheap price! Other maybe than the CPU, how fast the system is listed with the system box, the rest of the components are usually cheap, basic, generic parts, including the cooling system! What customer is going to ask about how good the case cooling is, how many fans does it have, and with those fans, what is the rated airflow inside of case? Most customers are not concerned, and have no idea. Case fans are low priced, and can be easily installed, so they can be added easily.
In addition, 120mm fans cool better while making less noise than smaller fans, so pick a case which will accommodate as many 120mm fans as possible.
Computer Case Cooling - The Physics of Good Airflow
Contact Lightspeeds Computer Repair of Augusta, GA
Dust Build Up Inside your Computer
Example of Dust Build Up Inside your Computer
Water Cooling, Computer Cooling Alternative
Liquid Cooled The Alternative Solution.
Water Cooling: efficient, and requires a bit of space outside the case. Costs twice as much as an air solution, and needs a good deal of patience in order to assemble properly. Air cooling is much cheaper, easy to maintain, and to replace compared to "Liquid Cooled" Systems.Liquid Cooling Basics:The purpose of any PC cooling system is to take heat away from your components and put it somewhere else.
"With a traditional CPU air cooler, the heat is transferred from the CPU into a heat sink. A fan is actively pulling air past that heat sink, and as that air travels past the heat sink it draws the heat away from it. The air in your PC case is drawn out of the case and out the back by another fan or fans. With liquid cooling, coolant is used to transfer heat instead of air. Liquid coolant is pumped from a reservoir into a tube that transfers the coolant to where it's needed. The liquid cooling unit can be either in a separate unit outside of the PC case, or integrated within the PC case.
The heat is transferred from the CPU into a "cooling block." The cooling block is simply a hollow heat sink with both an inlet and outlet for the liquid coolant. As liquid travels through this cooling block, it transfers heat along with it, and it works much more efficiently than air can.
The heated coolant is then pumped into a reservoir. From the reservoir it travels into a radiator where it is cooled, typically by a fan. It is then pumped out again to the cooling block, and the cycle begins anew.
Liquid cooling is superior and more efficient than air-cooling. If you are an enthusiast and air-cooling has taken you as far as you can go, liquid cooling is the next logical step. Yes, there are risks, and the equipment will certainly cost you more than air-cooling equipment, but the benefits can't be ignored."
I prefer myself to stick with Air Cooling your average desktop, and home computer, Liquid Cooling a computer can be risky, for a leak inside of that case, and your computer is toast!
Contact Lightspeeds Computer Repair of Augusta, GA
How Water Cooling Works
Liquid Cooling Example
Heatsink Coolers
"In planning for a cool system, Heat Sinks are the first line of defense. They come in all shapes and sizes, and serve many different components."
CPU Coolers - Your CPU will die very quickly without a good reliable, non failing heatsink cooler! Your investment to upgrade is fairly cheap compared to replacing a CPU, which usually means the motherboard also.
Heatsink Memory Coolers - Your memory also produces its share of the heat load of your PC, and cool running RAM can also play a role in maintaining the highest level of performance.
Contact Lightspeeds Computer Repair of Augusta, GA
Water Cooling Components For Your Computer
A few of the many liquid, water cooling products
Thermaltake Cl-W0153 Tmg Nd4 Lcs Vga Cooler For Nvidia
Amazon Price: $80.86 (as of 12/11/2009)
Water Cooling Nautilus 500 External Water Cooling Unit 3/8IN
Amazon Price: (as of 12/11/2009)
PrimoChill Pure WaterCooling Coolant- UV Green (32oz.)
Amazon Price: (as of 12/11/2009)
PrimoFlex Pro LRT UV Red Tubing -1/2in. ID X 3/4in. OD (10ft pack)
Amazon Price: (as of 12/11/2009)
CPU Heatsink Failure Video, An Example
How Quickly Your CPU Will Fry!
Maximum CPU Temperature and Maximum CPU Power Usage
Other "Hot" Areas, That Add to The Computer Cooling Factor
OverClocking The CPU, The Video Card
"Overclocking" is a term well known in the gaming sector,, "To run a microprocessor faster than the speed for which it has been tested and approved." A term generally used to describe how you have increased the clock frequency on your board to run your system at a higher speed. Overclocking means faster frequency, which means more current and power. Which in turn means MORE heat inside of your case. And more heat means more cooling needed, and temp monitoring software.
The benefit of overclocking is that it sometimes allows you to achieve a modest boost in overall performance without purchasing new hardware.
"Overclocking is not recommended or supported by major chip manufacturers.
You will void your warranty. You should never attempt overclocking unless you are extremely familiar with computer hardware. You must make sure your system is very well cooled. Using standard cooling (example, standard fans and heatsinks), no heat transfer compound on the CPU/heatsink interface, and only one case fan invites danger. If you overclock your system, you may notice an increase in unexplainable crashes and freezes. Typically, the type, quality, and quantity of RAM modules present in the system are very important if you try to overclock your system bus. Some users have found that despite having a motherboard capable of overclocking, the RAM was not capable of running at higher (unsupported) bus speeds."
Overclocking your Video Graphics Card, an upgraded heatsink fan is recommended to keep the graphics chip on card under required temperature. Also a fan to exhuast this heat. Most newer high end video cards now are designed with a heat sink cooler that will exhaust the heat out of the back of the computer case. There are also a wide range of upgarde video card coolers to choose from. Another option to keep your video card running efficiently is to add copper heat sinks to the RAM modules. These will work in the same manner as the heat sink on your CPU and GPU.
Heat is hard on hardrives! Your Hardrive also generates a great amount of heat, if more than 1 hardrive, leave space between the drives for better cooling. They have specific upgraded hardrive coolers that install on the drive either blowing air onto the drive, OR drive coolers that will pull hot air away from the hardrive.
Overclocking does come with some risks, system instability, and over-heating.
Few Links On Overclocking:
Toms Hardware Overclocking Guide
What Is Overclocking
What Is CPU Overclocking?
OverClockers Forums
Extreme OverClocking Forums
OverClockers Club Forum
Contact Lightspeeds Computer Repair of Augusta, GA
OverClocking Poll
Who Overclocks................
Mine was the first vote, 1 computer of mine is Overclocked on Air Cooling
Lightspeeds Computer Cooling Accesories On Line
Computer Cooling Fans, and Computer Products
If your in the Augusta, GA area and need help with your computer, more computer case cooling, feel free to contact me here thru Squidoo!
Lightspeeds Computer Cooling Accessories
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byFew Other Cooling Tips I Learned Thru The Years
How to Keep Your Computer Cool:
- Periodically using a compresseed air can, check, and keep ventilation vents clean. Make sure to blow out the back of case, fan grills, power supply unit.
- Depending on your house, (pets, smokers) periodically open case, check & clean case fans, CPU, boards, power supply unit.
- Depending on your house, apartment (pets, smokers, baby powder, etc) and the location of your PC, PERIODICALLY means roughly at least once every 3 months, or at least once per 6 months. Some may require it sooner, and frequently!
- This takes some mechanical work, but those stock perforated "Built In" air grills on the case,, usually on the back restrict ALOT of air! I usually do this BEFORE assembling a PC, performing this afterwards takes EXTREME care. I cut these stock, perforated grills out using a dremel tool cut off wheel. Then install a less restrictive wire grill over the fan, this really improves air flow!
- Sometimes adding to many fans, OR fans in the wrong location can actually disrupt air flow, and raise inside case temps. With my experience having a strong exhaust fan(s) is more beneficial than, than to many intake fans.
- Monitor your case temps under "full load", gaming for example. Then watch how quickly, the time your temps drop after ending gaming session. Add a case fan, repeat steps above, check for any differences in case temps, make small adjustments to the fan position inside of case.
Thermal Grease,, The Secret to Making the CPU Heatsink Cooler Work
Thermal Grease, also known as Thermal Compound
Heat transfer between the processor (CPU, Video Graphics Card) and the heatsink cooler. It is important that the heat sink be seated properly on the CPU. Any resistance to thermal transfer could allow the CPU to overheat. A heat sink is a device that clamps on to the CPU unit, designed to draw heat away from the chip to protect it. The physical contact between the processor and the cooler isn't perfect. Imperfections that exist both on processor surface and cooler surface prevent the 100% perfect contact between them. As both surfaces aren't perfectly even, minuscule gaps of air are formed when putting them together. Air is a terrible heat conductor!
To solve the problem and improve the heat transfer between the processor and the heatsink cooler, we should apply Thermal Grease between them in order to fill in the tiny gaps of air. By doing so, the heat transfer between the processor and the heatsink cooler is more easily made, since the thermal grease has higher conductibility coefficient than the air.
Thermal grease needs to be applied between the CPU and the heat sink, in a very thin and even film. When applying the thermal grease, be careful not to apply too much.
The CPU unit should never be operated without thermal grease, thermal compound, and a heat sink. Temperatures can quickly rise to melt the core, making it inoperable.
A highly rated Thermal Grease Compound product, that I use personally is "Artic Silver". I've use Artic Silver on all computer builds, especially on the CPU unit, and Video Graphics card mainly. These stock
heatsinks come prepared, setup with a "thermal pad". Carefully
removing, thoroughly cleaning, and properly applying Artic Silver about
2 weeks later noticed a 6-10 degree drop in temps on the CPU unit itself alone! Takes a few weeks approximately for this Artic Silver to fully "set" after being applied. To remove, clean off the old stock thermal pad thoroughly I used "Goo Gone" (that stuff that you can find anywhere, that removes all sorts of sticky stuff), then alcohol, with a coffee filter (no lint). Remember, the heatsink surface has to be thoroughly clean, smooth!
Guide To Applying Arctic Silver Thermal Compound
Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive Review
How do I monitor CPU temperature?
Intel Active Monitor
Speedfan 4.34
Motherboard Monitor 5.3.7 (MBM)
ATI Radeon Video Graphics Card Tweaker & Temp Monitor ATI Tray Tools 1.4.7.1193
Computer Case Mods
A Few Cool Computer Case Mods
Water Cooled, Led Fans, Cold Cathodes
CoolerMaster Temp Dials
Feel free to comment, and add any computer cooling tips
Comment, and if you have any great computer cooling tips, cooling case mods, that has dropped your computer temps, feel free to contribute!
Make sure to check out my other Squidoo Lens:
Lightspeeds Computer Repair of Augusta, Georgia
Best Discount Shopping at eCrater.Com
Thank you!
-
Reply
- 1dara 1dara Sep 13, 2008 @ 10:34 am
- Great lens. I have built several systems, all clocked at 50% and have worked with a lot of the cooling puzzles. This is great info for the newbies.
-
Reply
- shufflah shufflah Aug 25, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
- Fantastic lens, this kind of information should be a must for anyone thinking of buying a new computer. The ammount of systems ive had to repair absolutley chocker with dust is rediculous. If you get the chance check out my Silent mods site
-
Reply
- Euryale Euryale Aug 4, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
- Congratulations! Your lens has been picked as a "best of Squidoo" for August 2008. http://www.squidoo.com/bestofsquidoo
by donm207
Explore related pages
Augusta Home Computer Repair Service- Home Computer Repair Service Augusta GA Lightspeeds is a home operated business,...
Looking at the Cooler Master PC- This is a True LAN Gaming Chassis. The design focuses on:...
Coolest Laptop Cooling- It is amazing how many laptops/notebooks have ineffective cooling. Poor laptop c...
How To Give Your PC Keyboard A Bath- A simple way to refurbished your old keyboard. They never seems to make them lik...
Laptop Power Jack Repair of Augusta, GA- The DC power jack in laptop computers, is the connector through which one would...
