Category: temperature

Computer Cooling

Posted onAuthorTruXter

Get more fans, reduce occupied space, tie wires back, increase air flow, and update heat paste.

Clean all dust out of all heatsinks and fans and off of any memory or any exposed chips.

Contrary to the past few years of opinions that say using some modified heat paste, and how it reduces temps by a drastic amount. I am currently using original heatsink that came with my CPU, and it has the factory tape on it. I have owned it for about 3 months now and done some pretty stiff gaming, mostly Crysis (demo) and Need For Speed Carbon and most wanted. My temperatures are amazing, but as I know with all things, it wont last. Or maybe it will. My current temperatures are as follows:

<taken from everest>

Temperatures
Motherboard 28 °C (82 °F)
CPU 22 °C (72 °F)
HDT722516DLAT80 31 °C (88 °F)
MAXTOR 6L080L4 23 °C (73 °F)

Cooling Fans
CPU 3013 RPM
Chassis 4116 RPM

Yes I know the Hittatchi is a little warmer than it could be, but in all the time I have messed with computers, I have never seen under 90 degrees for the CPU , other than right at boot. and that was typically around 89 degrees. I will be buying more of the heat tape that came with my Sempron if I can locate it.

Many people suggest that you use some paste/metal mix stuff. I have never been to keen on that junk, after it warms up for a long time and gets used a few times the stuff tends to harden, or become so tacky it’s like jb weld and could damage a few things when removing parts when cold.. Plus temps where always at least 8 degrees warmer than if I used the $3 white packets of paste. the major issue with the white stuff, well, you have to tend to it often and redo it atleast once every three months.

I try and not block any path of airflow. i have double checked airflow with a piece of scotch tape to see how it flaps and where it flaps.

The best cooling for a case involves a dremel, a drill, a metal file, 80 mm fan. and a brave brave soul. you use the dremel and a drill to punch an 80 mm hole at the top of the case facing upward and build yourself a fan there blowing air inward. the reason for inward is so you do not steal the air from the power supply cooling, that would easily increase the temp of ps unless you either make a tunnel or a blockade but would drop overall temp of case, now a tunnel makes great for making sure you blow air directly onto and across the motherboard.

Another suggestion is three 50mm fans across one of the CD-ROM bays but you have to build a frame for them.. which I will put on the site later… oh… and it is frickin’ loud.

Precautions For Building Computers

Posted onAuthorTruXter1 Comment

Use lots of overhead light. Once you have all the parts together, find a flat, smooth, clean, static-free surface. Make sure your clothes are not polyester or you stand a chance of building up buttloads of static and having a merciless discharge turning your junk into… well… junk.

I like using Gatorade lids to hold my screws and small parts in. Yeah Trailer Park Boys-ish, I know, but it works. Working above tile is good, also, so you can hear the small parts when they drop and kinda locate them easier by where the sound comes from. With the tower open and all parts scattered on the table, lower the motherboard in. Take small pin nails and set them through the mounting holes to mark your spot — should take like 6-9 of them depending on board size and tower abilities. Pull motherboard back out and try to not disturb the pin nails. Replace each nail with mounting studs, lower board in, and screw it down. Follow instructions in the manuals for motherboard and instructions from tower to set up power switches and USB connectors. you may sometimes need to split the end connector for the tower speaker so it fits the prongs. Tie back wires so they stay low and out of view.

Insert RAM, CPU, and heat sink. Simply put: Be gentle, be slow, bend no prongs, and scratch no boards

Set in all drives: CD-ROM / DVD / hard drive / floppy drive. Place the power supply in, and take the board connecting the wire strand and try and map the cleanest, least visible route. Then plug it in. Do not crack the motherboard (yes, it can happen)! Do the same with the drives. I tie them to the rack as I go down the line. Keep hard drives away from all magnets — even the case speaker magnet!

The Video card is done pretty much the same way as the RAM. The slit(s) in the card tells you which way it should face.

Get a good look at the inner case. All air paths need to be clear of anything — even wires. Now plan the path your air will flow and then look at your fans to see which direction the blades should face to achieve the airflow you planned.

Close the case, cross toes, plug in all devices for first boot, and press power button. Pray for BIOS/CMOS boot. Press delete and watch temperatures for about ten minutes or until you see that it is getting really hot.

More stuff to keep in mind.

Computer Component Removal

Posted onAuthorTruXter

For hardware removal, there are some simple rules you should follow.

  1. Unplug the PC first!
  2. Disconnect all wires coming from the power supply. Unscrew the four screws on the back of the power supply. Slide the power supply out of its case and set it aside.
  3. Disconnect all IDE cables and FDD cables and set them aside.
  4. Unscrew all screws from all drives and slide drives out and set them aside.
  5. Unscrew the fan on the heatsink. Unclasp the heatsink, wipe off heat paste, and set aside. Pull out CPU, wipe off paste, and set it with prongs facing up.
  6. Disconnect power and reset buttons, wires, and USB wires and case speaker wires. Tie them back.
  7. Unscrew the retaining screw for the video card. Undo locking mech (if you have AGP) and just slide the AGP card out.
  8. Push down on retaining clips on the memory cards and slide memory cards out and set aside.
  9. Unscrew retaining screws for the motherboard. Pull the motherboard out and set it aside.
  10. If you are just cleaning , I suggest you use canned air and blast every little inch in which you see dust (but do not be careless); remember, some items cannot take a beating, so be very careful.
  11. Just reverse the removal method when you are ready to reinstall.

my page

Computer Hardware Installation

Posted onAuthorTruXter

Installing hardware into a fresh PC is not that complicated, really.

If the prongs and the holes line up, read the part number and look it up and check compatibilities. Sometimes some hardware is too powerful, so checking specs is always a plus. 80% of the time they will work, but sometimes you can run into problems — like an AMD Athlon XP will not fit into an AMD Athlon 64 board. Same goes for AMD and Pentium. Prongs won’t line up.

The red wire always faces toward the power source. Look really close to the IDE cables (even the ones with the center top hole filled); you will notice there is a red dotted wire. Magnify it if you need to. Same with the FDD seven cable twist. FDD plugs in after the twist — never before.

PCI or AGP video cards just clip in. If it has a hook at the end, it is AGP. If not, then it is not. AGP will be the smaller slot.

Memory is just a clip in, also. Look up board manufacturers and part numbers and read through the specs for the board to know the minimum and maximum memory capabilities for your PC. (I have also looked this up more than… well, plenty of times and can easily do it. You can, too!)

With the CPU, once again, part numbers and manufacturer numbers are of wonderful help. Check board specs, check CPU specs, and always double check before the hard part, which is sliding the CPU into the dock. Squirt a thin layer of heat sink paste on the side facing away from the motherboard. Set the heatsink onto the CPU and center it before it actually touches (so you don’t smear off the heat paste while wiggling all around to position it). Clasp the retainer on either side. Screw the fan down to the heatsink. Plug the fan into the board.

With the power supply, make sure you have one strong enough to run your fan and that meets your CPU’s requirements. Make sure it is fastened really tightly; clip all wires into what ever hole they fit in (this is usually true). If you have one drive power connector that has no other splices or additional connectors on it, I would suggest you either use it for the master drive or you could plug your fans and lights into that connector.

With IDE and FDD cables, red goes toward the power source.

The use of a hot glue gun by splatting a tad at the clasps for most parts except the CPU is okay to prevent stuff from falling out of place.

Scroll to the bottom of my page if you want to make a donation and request further assistance. Any donation helps! If the problem is resolved, please pass this link on when you know of someone in need.