How hot should a fanless VIA EPIA CN10000 board in fanless case get?

[Pealy]

Background : VIA CN10000 1ghz embedded fanless mini itx board in a sff case, external cd brick pus, single 3.5" Hard Drive, 512MB crucial valueram and Terratec 24/96 soundcard

Hi. I'm wondering just how hot I should let my new board get. All I can do is judge the external temperature by placing a probe in the cooling fins but the CN10000 seems to get much hotter than the VIA EPIA 533mhz fanless board it has replaced.

The probe in the fins is getting up to 55 degrees at which point it seems to stabalise a bit. I'm not noticing any errors or bsod, I'm creating drive images using maximum compression to keep everything working hard.

This seems pretty high to me, the only reason I'm testing is that I had a hard disk failure and everything seemed very hot when it went. I don't have any fans in the case, that being the whole point of a fanless board...

My question is, am I worrying over nothing, is the board safe to run at high temps? If so, how high?? When I bought the board the retailer stated that it had temperature monitoring facility but I can't find anything in any of the manuals or elsewhere..

Any help appreciated, if I need fans in the case then the new board will have to go..

[Steve B]

there should be a temperature monitor in the BIOS under performance or diagnostics or something like that.

does your case have any ventilation holes?

[Pealy]

there should be a temperature monitor in the BIOS under performance or diagnostics or something like that.

does your case have any ventilation holes?

If there is a temp monitor I can't find it and I've been through everything. There is a voltage monitor BIOS screen showing cpu,5v and 12v but that's all I can see.

I do have some ventilation, holes in the sides, back panel and above the HDD. Looks like it might be time to drill some more..

[cotswoldcs]

Try running the free DTemp utility to check HDD temperatures.

55c on the heatsink sounds a bit high but OK for a completely fanless system. I'd be concerned if mine hit 55c so you're right to question.

[Pealy]

Try running the free DTemp utility to check HDD temperatures.

55c on the heatsink sounds a bit high but OK for a completely fanless system. I'd be concerned if mine hit 55c so you're right to question.

Thanks for the link, that looks useful and I'll definitely try it out.

It's the CPU temperature I'm more worried about though! It's looking like I'll need to bolt an Arctic TC fan onto the side of my case - goodbye sleek styling, hello Heath Robinson

[nvening]

Or just try putting a larger HS on it.

[Pealy]

Or just try putting a larger HS on it.

Have you seen the heatsink on it already?

[Steve B]

electrical tape and a silent 120mm fan

[Noni]

Email the company that gives out the board.

It should be fine. 939 CPUS will run fine at 45C Idle, but most people dont like it for some reason.

I would not worry about it.

[Pealy]

electrical tape and a silent 120mm fan

That's the spirit! Unfortunately there's only about 15mm clearance between the sink and the case so it's gonna stick out like a great big boil.

[arthurleung]

That's the spirit! Unfortunately there's only about 15mm clearance between the sink and the case so it's gonna stick out like a great big boil.

Try a slim 8cm fan (1cm height)

Or alternatively, find a piece of metal so that it touch both the heatsink and the case and conduct the heat. Let the case become the heatsink

[fredered]

sorry to alter the thread but were did you get the board from?

thanks fred

[joshwa]

When I ran a 1.2ghz C3 passively it got to around 66 C and was fine. Any higher than 66 and it would concern me...

[daverobev]

sorry to alter the thread but were did you get the board from?

thanks fred

Try http://www.mini-itx.com/ they do..er...itx stuff thats mini.

[Pealy]

sorry to alter the thread but were did you get the board from?

thanks fred

From www.logicsupply.com in the USA, the pound is very strong at the moment so it works out pretty cheap.

[Pealy]

When I ran a 1.2ghz C3 passively it got to around 66 C and was fine. Any higher than 66 and it would concern me...

Thanks Joshwa, where were you measuring the temp? Was it a built-in CPU thing or did you have a proble somewhere?