Re: What is the Best Method for Minimizing PC Heat Output?

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

Thanks to all for all the suggestions and comments. I do have an
approximately 1.5 year old Olevia 27 inch LCD TV I use for a monitor. The set
I have was classified as TV as far as the Energy Star Rating System goes.
Therefore the computer does not have a means of shutting the monitor off. I
am pretty good about shutting both the monitor and the computer off if I am
not going to be using them. The monitor has a rated input of 180 Watts @ 120v
AC and puts out quite a bit of heat on its own.

The Antec Case used to replace my previous computer case, did significantly
drop the temperature of the air coming out of the computer case. Of coarse
the volume of air coming out is much greater, so the improvement to the room
temperature was not as much as I needed.

The power supply mounts in the bottom of my computer case so any additional
fans a power supply might have would not be effective, unless one of them was
mounted in the top of the PS unit. I thought the use of an 80Plus power
supply would put out less heat. As far as I can tell it puts out roughly the
same amount of heat the as Antec True Power 480 watt PS it replaced. The
80Plus PS only has one fan. I have wondered if additional fans were omitted
for the purpose of efficiency.

The suggestion for piping the heat outside the building, in my case a house,
is an excellent one which I took. Fortunately my computer sits besides my
desk and is located about three feet from a small window near the corner of
the room. A few comments regarding this project follow.

What I did first was build a wooden box to as a connector between the duct
tube and computer. Since the computer case has a top mounted 200 mm (about 8
inch) fan, this box was placed so that it completely covered that fan opening.
From there the duct tubing was run to a wooden plate that fits into the
window. While the computer is not being used or when I want the heat piped
into the room the wooden plate can be removed from the window and placed, out
of sight, between the corner of the room and the back of my monitor.

The case has four other five inch fans. The fan I added to the case was
installed to blow air into the case. The rear fan was turned around in order
to do the same. With this many fans and the length of duct tubing used, about
7 feet, it was not necessary to add any more fans.

In California the vinyl or plastic dryer duct tubing, I wanted to use, is no
longer sold. It is considered to be a fire hazard and only aluminum or steel
ducting may be used for this purpose. What I was able to find in its place
was 4 inch foil exhaust/heating/AC duct tubing. I also looked at vacuum
cleaner hose, but the biggest I could find was 2.5 inch tubing which is too
small. A schedule 40 plastic three inch coupling was cut in half for the
board and box flanges. The total cost of the tubing and coupling came to
about $20.


Although the heat from my power supply and monitor is still coming into my
room, it is not near the amount now being blown out my window. Having only
used this for a few hours I would say that the heat now being put into my
room by the computer system is at an acceptable level. If I have to I can
always move the power supply into the computer case and seal the back of the
case off, but I do not think that will be necessary.

Finally the idea of putting a bathroom exhaust fan in the ceiling above my
computer was considered. It was not taken because it would have cost too much
money, been too much work, and have to be removed if I ever sell the house.
Thanks again to all for the suggestions and comments.

Rich

--
Message posted via http://www.windowskb.com

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: laptop turns off suddenly after 100% cpu
    ... I cleaned the fan, and that helps a bit - I have also installed a heat ... monitor - and now I know that this was definitely a heating problem. ... Is there any other way not through the BIOS? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: Add a logo to hard copy
    ... there are 2.54 real world centimeters in a real world inch. ... suppose that a system is running on a typical 19 inch monitor. ... size of the display). ... about 13.5 inches if it is a CRT monitor and about 14.5 inches if it is LCD ...
    (comp.lang.basic.visual.misc)
  • Re: Where is MarkH?
    ... read the newsgroup can easily register. ... do they really have the budget to have someone monitor these ... I get nervous about the creators paying much attention to fan ... That is a place where MY opinion ...
    (rec.arts.tv.soaps.cbs)
  • Re: PrintForm method, no controls print
    ... When you say you are using a "20 inch screen" I assume you mean that you are using a 20 inch monitor. ... If so then you need to know that the actual physical size of the monitor does not really mean very much as far as the logical size of the graphics on your display is concerned. ... However, on CRT monitors an inch or more of the actual glass screen is hidden inside the edges of the case and so the actual physical diagonal size of a "20 inch CRT monitor" is probably about 18.5 or 19 inches. ...
    (microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion)
  • Re: Computer Locks Up - bad
    ... suggests to me that there may be an "Airflow" problem in the case. ... check the CPU Fan for proper contact and make sure the ... WD, CD-ROM/Burner, DVD burner, Acer 19" Flat Panel LCD monitor. ... I have run WD's diagnostics on both WD HDD's ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)