Heat inside my Dell case

My compter is a highly modified DELL ( the only things in it that are still DELL is the ram and mobo).

I need to see how hot it is getting in the case, I tried to install a program but it didn't work. I heard somewhere that Dell mobo's don't have the sensor that tells you the temp inside the case. Is this true and there is no way for me to install a program that will tell me the temp?

 

Re: Did you try .....

I will try it thanks..do you have a Dell? what is a good temp to have, and what is too hot?

 

I had the same problem back in the day.

The best way I can tell you is to use your better judgment. Place your hand at the back of the case, if it feels too hot, then it might be.
One thing I know would help is installing a 5" front drive bay intake fan system, you can buy them most anywhere for about $20, some may even have a temp sensor.

You could also remove that 100mm fan in the back and fit in 2x 80mm, but that really didn't help me.

 

why not take the case off, see if anything is to hot, if so then mount a fan blowing on whatever it is thats hot. You just need good air flow to keep the air moving, that should keep the machine cool enough unless your overclocking to some insane level.

 

Well I just recently started leaving my Dell on 24/7 so i am concerned. I have the fan on the back of the case that the comp came with, and the power supply fan. I installed a fan above the processor and the processor has a heat sink. I installed a new Thermaltake fan and heat sinks on my graphics card. I don't overclock anything.
Should be enough to keep it cool?

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Good temps are over rated.

 

I am going to see how long it will stay on non stop and see how long I can go without a reboot. should be interesting.

 

I've got 6 hard drives in my case atm.
So it generates a fair amount of heat. Ive got 1 fan for ever 2 drives blowing in them and a fan at the back extracting heat.
Only downside to fans they make to much damn noise.
Specially if they are cheap like mine

 

Temps inside the case usually don't keep rising and rising. After your PC has been on for a few hours of CPU and video stress, its probably reached its peak.
Things you should watch out for is the room temp, and were nearing winter so I don't see any issues there.

I wouldn't bother seeing how long you can keep your PC on for, being that it pretty much depends on your OS, and Windows 2000 Pro is the only one I know of that can be on for over a year.

You probably wont make it past a month without running into major windows errors/slow down etc.

 

What sort of raid setup do you have?

 

interesting.. Well, I am running XP PROand I have a gig of RAM.... thanks for the input.

 

no raid just ata 100 controler card
2x 40 off the Primary ide
2x 40 off the Primary ATA100 Card
2 x 80 off the Secondary ATA100 Card

I've got a cheap and nasty Shuttle mobo. That i got for an upgrade to a duron ages ago.

Haven't upgraded the board yet once i do that i might get rid of these drives and buy a coupla 200 gig serial ata drives

 

Immaculate: If you're going to try, be sure to get a good RAM defrag program such as "Fast Defrag".

SgtRedneck: Do you multi-boot several versions of windows and Linux or what?

 

Actually this machine runs XP Pro only,
Ive got another machine that i run linux on when i feel the urge.
mandrake 9.1
But i usually get bored of it within 2 weeks and go straight back to windows
This machine is mainly for games movies n stuff.

 

how often should I defrag the RAM?
and what does Defragging the RAM do?

 

it free's up ram so you've got more to play with bassically

 

which would normally only happen on reboot.

Usful if you dont fancy restarting your computer much.

 

immaculate, hopefully you woudnt be stupid enough to overclock the dell, unless you felt like frying some hot dogs. So yes, listen to hassle, temps are very overated, especially in your case. My comp never goes about 23 celcius, yes, celcius....or so my lovely temp monitor says....What is useful about it? The satisfaction...thats it...I have no reason at all to overclock my processor, its allready at 3.0, what would be the point?

 

What about Fast Defrag? It doesn't really work?