[plug] Hot and bothered CPU hankers for cool breeze

[Bernd Felsche]

On Tue, Dec 16, 2003 at 05:49:27PM +0800, Cameron Patrick wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 16, 2003 at 05:30:09PM +0800, Bernd Felsche wrote:
> 
> | > Generally a CPU will run at 55-80 degrees but will give serious errors
> | > 85-90 degrees is where it starts to fry.
> | 
> | AMD seem to cope with 80C quite well.
> 
> I've never been game to let them reach that temperature :-/

Think unattended server in an office without airconditioning; over
the Xmas/New year period and a heat wave... ambient temp close to
40C.

> Another thing to be concerned about is not just your CPU temperature,
> but also your HDD temperature.  Often hard drives aren't rated to
> withstand the high temperatures that CPUs are, but in a case with poor
> ventilation a 7200rpm drive can get quite hot.  Some drives (in my
> experience, Seagates but not WDs) can measure their own temperature -
> from the output of smartctl:

> ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
> [...]
> 194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   034   053   000    Old_age   Always	-       34

> The 53C reading was from when the drive was in a different case with
> poor airflow, and is probably higher than the drive would like.

I just checked and the drive I have reckons it's been to 40C, though
I can't figure how seeing that it's new and the current temperature
is near enough to ambient... it has its own 80mm (40cfm) fan. It
might be a burn-in value at the factory.

55 degrees case temp is usually the specified limit.

> | Low-noise fans tend to have much-reduced flow rates for their size.
> 
> Incidentally, there are scary people around who run their machines with
> low-noise fans off not 7V, but 5V...  http://www.silentpcreview.com/

Nice... most 12V fans won't kick over at 5V; once the bearings are
worn and the dust has built up.

> might be interesting reading for those who are annoyed at how loud their
> computers are, although the guys on that site are a bit excessive even
> by my standards :-)

-- 
/"\ Bernd Felsche - Innovative Reckoning, Perth, Western Australia
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