Summer heat and folding...

[xVeinx]

So as summer draws near, along with the 100+ degrees that will be beating down on my house all summer, I'm wondering what I need to do to keep my computer cool. I've got an E8400, P5K, and a 3870 with the double slot cooler, all of which needs to be kept cool enough to function and fold. Even with great airflow and fanage, my CPU temps are hitting 63 degrees right now while folding. I only have the stock cooler, not a fancier heatsink, and I'm ok with buying a new one. Any suggestions? I looked in water cooling last year, and that was with an AMD build now used as a htpc for my roomies, but my current rig is far warmer... and we haven't even hit the high 90's temps yet. I have an ultra aluminus for reference, and I'm not sure what coolers\h20 units would fit in this thing...

How do you all keep your computers cool through the summer?

[SparkyJJO]

AC :D

My main rig is watercooled. The rest are on air of varying sorts, mostly stock heatsinks. They do get warm that's for sure but they seem to be OK, they stay under 60C usually.

A bigger heatsink would help you. Commonly suggested is the TRUE, though I've never used one myself. Not sure about the GPU.

[The_Barnacle]

It was over 100 here on Thursday and Friday and in the 90s today. INside the house it's up in the low 80s... I have 2 Q6600 clocked at 3.0Ghz with the stock cooler and 1 with a TRUE, I just went ahead and let them cook; they all got up to around 69-70C, but I think that's right around spec, so I wasn't too worried. They did just fine with the exception of a third of a WU lost due to NaN error.:shrug:

My main rig is a water cooled Q6600 at 3.6Ghz and it never went above 62C in the same conditions as those others.

[Stijndp]

Just buy a TRUE and a silent 1200-1500rpm fan :)

[MikeB12]

all mine are on big air hsf's with an active 120 push fans.... cheap and effective...
true 120, mugen, xigmatech

my small home office has 2 oc'ed quads and a x2 in it all going full tilt. it helps to put a walmart fan in the room to keep air circulation moving... but I guess the ac eventually picks up the brunt of the work that way.:shakes:

anyway, it keeps the pc's in my sig cool. the true120 is the best... 52-58c... the mugens stay somewhere bt 58-63 depending on how high I set the thermostat. if it's +80F in the room like during the day when I'm not home, they'll sit at around 63c...
they seem to do better with the side panels off and a fresh breeze blowing in/by from the walmart fan... when I'm home or at night when the house is cooler, it's not really an issue..

tons of ways to do it, but that's one cheap, easy, and effective way to do it..

edit: make sure you use a hsf fan though.. when I woke one morning points were down bu 50% on one pc. checked it and temps were a constant 75c.. the mugen fan had fallen off and was dangling at the bottom of the case... but it was still folding, just thermal throttling..

[Kingcarcas]

It sucks, the heat is one of the reasons why i'd like to leave LA. I have a fan in my room to keep me cool and it's blowing at my PC, i keep the window open as well. :shrug:

[DAK1640]

My folders are in da basement...

[xVeinx]

It sucks, the heat is one of the reasons why i'd like to leave LA. I have a fan in my room to keep me cool and it's blowing at my PC, i keep the window open as well. :shrug:

Yeah, not a fan of the heat, but I like LA anyway :). There is a lot to do here, not worth leaving. We technically have ac at my place, but it's ancient and tends to blow the breakers, so we use it sparingly. The evening breeze (when it happens) is the only thing that saves in La Mirada...

[Rmc[AZ]]

I'm in the Central Valley of Northern California, temp was 104 F here yesterday. I noticed my E6600 has wanted to start rebooting by itself lately, and I think it might be heat-related... :( I don't feel like messing with the clocks though.

[coo-coo-clocker]

My folders are in da basement...

heheh I wish I had a basement...

[Stijndp]

I wish I didn't have groceries in the basement :(

[SparkyJJO]

Don't you CA guys have AC? Even if you set it to like mid-70s it would be better than sweltering in 80s or higher.

I wish I didn't have groceries in the basement :(

Eat them!! :D

[The_Barnacle]

Don't you CA guys have AC? Even if you set it to like mid-70s it would be better than sweltering in 80s or higher.
:( No AC for me....

[p2501]

Oh come on guys, you can't be seriously complain about summer heat (it feels to me that you do, so no offense okay?), can you? Some systems might be melting down, but... it's summer! Having a summer with sunny and warm days is luxury to me, over here it's all cloudy and rainy and whatnot. The last good summer here was 2003...

And for the op, I really think you should consider going water with this box too. If you have the $, that is.

[The_Barnacle]

Trust me I ain't complaining about summer in general. I hate the cold, or any weather I can't comfortably wear shorts and a t-shirt in. But my boxen are the opposite...

[p2501]

Trust me I ain't complaining about summer in general. I hate the cold, or any weather I can't comfortably wear shorts and a t-shirt in. But my boxen are the opposite...

That's true, they absolutely don't like the heat. Someone should change that.. :)

[sc00p]

Do not overlook Noctua. I've Noctua NH-U12P and NC-U6 on my air cooled dedicated rig. Temps I do not know nothing, haven't checked not once, cpu is C2D6420: nude though. That cpu cooler is low noise which I like a lot, but nb cooler (=nc-u6) has to be lapped. 8800GT has a Thermalright HR-03GT on that box too.

IMHO... watercooling is more of what I always recommend. Stuff on my sig right now is munching wus @3600MHz@49C@ambient_temp_19C (<-cheating, I admit;)), vcore set on bios to 1.4V. However cpuz says 1.456V? Anyways with that pump (=Swiftech MCP600) those temps are good achievement if you let me say that.

Oh well my next C2Q rig is going have a quad rad, ordered months ago still no sign of it yet :(

[SparkyJJO]

:( No AC for me....

Meet your friend, the window AC! Just perfect for the PC room :D
Just put it on a different circuit than the crunchers if possible, these things draw a bit and might pop a breaker ;)

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/11779623/Window_Air_Conditioner.jpg

[xVeinx]

Meet your friend, the window AC! Just perfect for the PC room :D
Just put it on a different circuit than the crunchers if possible, these things draw a bit and might pop a breaker ;)

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/11779623/Window_Air_Conditioner.jpg

Except for the price of the unit I can buy a new rig and watercooling for both it and my current rig. Now lemme think that one over... hmmmm...

:p:

[stocius]

It was actually cold here in PA for this time of year. That will change, tho I doubt I'll much over 90 egrees.