Its flippin roasting....

[frood]

So I inherited a PC a few weeks back, its not a bad spec compared to my Celeron (700Mhz with GF2ti) that I had previously. The PC is a Athlon XP2500 with a Radeon 9800 Pro. The machine runs damn hot compared to the olde pooter and gets the room quite warm after around 15minutes of it being on. It was sitting next to me for a while with the side panel off but found that my ankle was getting roasted in the process so I have replaced the side cover and relocated the base. After poking around the insides of the PC it seems that most of the heat is coming off the graphics card.

My question is, are there any methods of actually decreasing the heat being produced?? Is there any software/drivers out there that will allow me to underclock (yes underclock) the gfx card (and CPU, although I do need to check the motherboard makers website)? surely this would decrease some of the heat being produced and I can ramp the speed back up when I actually come to playing a game that requires the full potential from the GFX card.

Cheers

[shaithis]

Underclocking is the same as overclocking, you just reduce the speeds instead of increasing them.

Decrease bus speed in the BIOS to underclock the CPU (set a fixed PCI/AGP speed if you can) and get an ATI overclocker tool to underclock the gfx card.

[iranu]

Heat Reduction = buy and fit better cooling solution.i.e. Better heatsinks and fans (or water cooling.

[frood]

Heat Reduction = buy and fit better cooling solution.i.e. Better heatsinks and fans (or water cooling.

That isnt heat reduction though, it may reduce the heat within the case. But the actual heat being generated is still the same.

I'll try the ATI tool and see what sort of effect it has.

[iranu]

That isnt heat reduction though, it may reduce the heat within the case. But the actual heat being generated is still the same.

Then why do people bother with more efficient fans and heatsinks?

The question is not about how much heat is generated by the cpu/gpu, but how quickly or efficiently that heat energy can be removed from the cpu/gpu in question.

The rate of heat transfer depends upon the temperature gradient and the thermal conductivity of the material. Aluminium and Copper have greater thermal conductivities than air, therefore they will remove heat at a faster rate than air which is why they are used as heatsink materials.

If you wish to challenge this well understood principle then take the heatsink and fan off the cpu and turn your pc on.

Because the heat produced by the cpu will always be the same no matter what it is cooled with, is not the basis of sound argument.


use case fans to reduce the heat inside the case. (one to blow the hot air out and one to draw colder air in)

[NikolaX]

but he wants heat to be reducted not to get out of case, i think.

[frood]

The question is not about how much heat is generated by the cpu/gpu, but how quickly or efficiently that heat energy can be removed from the cpu/gpu in question.

The rate of heat transfer depends upon the temperature gradient and the thermal conductivity of the material. Aluminium and Copper have greater thermal conductivities than air, therefore they will remove heat at a faster rate than air which is why they are used as heatsink materials.

I dont disagree with this, let me try and reword what I wanted to say.

I want the heat being generated by the GPU/CPU itself to be decreased, the only way this can be achieved is by underclocking em. All I wanted to know was, are there any tools out there that allow me to underclock my Radeon 9800 GFX card (i've found ATI tool which i'll give a crack later).

As for you're comment.....

Heat Reduction = buy and fit better cooling solution.i.e. Better heatsinks and fans (or water cooling.

That may well be the case with heat reduction on the CPU/GPU itself but where does the heat go after this...into the case...then out of the case and into the room. So the room is getting hotter and thats where I want to see the effects of the heat reduction. Oh and I dont fancy opening up any windows/doors etc .

[ed^chigliak]

I think he's more concerned about the heat gain to the room and his own personal comfort. A better heatsink will just move heat quicker.

Underclock or duct heat to outside or build something based on mobile components or buy air con unit.