Author |
Message |
nicom
|
Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 9:22 pm |
|
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:24 pm
Posts: 320
Location:
Melbourne, Australia
|
Last night I took out 2 slot covers next to the graphics card and the temp dropped to about 52°C while idle at menu. I was using the LinHES theme which has the pulsating penquin in the top left corner. I changed to the simpler MythCenter-wide theme and the temp dropped to 46°C. It rises a couple of degrees watching TV but I am still in the green bars on the temperature scale.
I think the intake vents on the back are too high so any air would go over the cards. I had also thought of baffles above the graphics card and may give that a try.
I am not sure about air intake near the HDs but I do not seem to have a problem with temperature there (~low 30s). My 2 HDs have a bracket each to themselves.
I will try another fan on the weekend.
_________________ Intel DG965WH, Dvico DVB-T Lite x2, HDHR, Gigabyte GT220, KingstonSSD, WD20EARS version=latest
|
|
Top |
|
|
tjc
|
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 8:23 pm |
|
Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 11:00 am
Posts: 9551
Location:
Arlington, MA
|
A 19C drop sounds like a huge improvement and puts you well on the way to reasonable operating temperatures.
If you're in a case modding mood I'd think about a couple things:
- Adding another exhaust fan where the CPU "intake" currently is. The opening looks like it will take a 120mm fan, and the location will help pull warm air away from the hottest corner of the box. A slow 120mm fan can add a lot of airflow with almost no noise.
- Add some venting at or near the front of the enclosure to replace the CPU intake. Either replacing the 2nd optical drive opening with a screen or adding some nice floor vents under the drive bays should work.
- You might even think about turning the 80mm fan closest to the card slots around and putting a baffle between them, so that it brings fresh air in for the CPU HS.
A few minutes playing with a joss stick or other cold smoke source can provide a lot of information about airflow. The NSK2480 is a marvel of clever vent and baffle placement. It pulls in air from at least 3 different directions (the floor of the HD compartment, above the I/O shield, and vented slot covers) and the resulting circulation helps to prevent dead spots
|
|
Top |
|
|
nicom
|
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 8:52 pm |
|
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:24 pm
Posts: 320
Location:
Melbourne, Australia
|
Some developments since my previous posts.
I taped a case fan to the video card and a baffle above the card. I also managed to get rrd working. The recorded temperature was consistently in the low 40s but I still had the occasional crash. Last Monday it crashed again and would only reboot with a garbled screen as I described at the top of this post. I removed the video card and was able to boot using the on-board graphics although the frontend would not start, probably an Xorg issue. I took the opportunity to run memtest and clocked up 20 hours with no errors.
I also bit the bullet and bought a GT220 card with fan. Surprisingly it worked immediately, probably due to the fact that I had already updated the nvidia drivers as you suggested, tjc. The card has a variable speed fan and what I notice is that it controls the fan speed to operate at about 62°C.
My next project is to try vdpau with the new card.
_________________ Intel DG965WH, Dvico DVB-T Lite x2, HDHR, Gigabyte GT220, KingstonSSD, WD20EARS version=latest
|
|
Top |
|
|
tjc
|
Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 9:11 pm |
|
Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 11:00 am
Posts: 9551
Location:
Arlington, MA
|
Ambient temperature here this week peaked in the high 90Fs (37-38C) worse in paved heat islands (I went though one intersection where the temp read 105F) and the greenhouse effect on my back porch (it's a freaking solar oven!).
Highest GPU temperature RRD lists for the week is 52C with a fanless video card. Thank goodness for outstanding case ventilation! I'm still watching the temperature graphs like a hawk though. When the weather is like this it's really easy to cook components.
|
|
Top |
|
|