Computer over heated want temps checked

My computer sits in a large cubby hole of a desk it is off the floor but does tend to get dusty there and I walked in to the room this morning and my tower was very hot to the touch and the room was full of burnt rubber type smell. I immediately shut computer down (it is generally shut down every night and hubby turned it on this morning) took the case off and there is not much dust in the tower at all but it was all very hot to the touch and the smell was horrible. I put it in front of a fan to cool down and blew out the minimal dust.

I then hooked it back up downloaded Everest and am posting my temps here and just want to make sure that the temps are still not too high as I do not want my computer to over heat.

Would a small fan set to blow directly on the tower help to keep the air circulating in the cubby hole? The hole is approx 22 inches deep, 21 inches wide and 19 inches high.

Thank you..
Darla

 

Hi Darla,

Better to run it outside of the cubby hole for a while to get a baseline temperature measurement.

Did you check to see if the PSU fan was working?

 

Yes I plugged it in and turned it on and both fans are working the one visible through the back that is enclosed in metal and also the one that is visible only with the casing door off. I am sorry I am not literate about the insides to tell you which fan is which I am more program than hardware literate. :-o

I will run it over night outside of the cubby hole and then re post a new temp in the morning. I do have a small fan on it right now and blowing air out of the cubby hole. But during the day it is next to impossible for me to have it out of the cubby hole as i have kids in and out of this room all day long

Thank you for your time and help!!
Darla :cool

 

Here is my new temp.
I left the computer on over night and outside of the cubby hole. The tower feels cool to the touch but the fan at the back still feels like warm air is being blown out.

I do not know what is and isn't normal as far as the hardware aspects go. To describe the warm air coming out of the fan at the back it feels lukewarm. Also the metal in holes that allow the air to be blown out were hot to the touch yesterday but feel lukewarm today.

Thank you,
Darla :cool

 

The temps show no massive change to those listed yesterday, to me they seem pretty normal.

In open air, the case pulls cool air in from the bottom front, exhausting it from the top rear, keeping it cool.

In the cubby hole, as the ambient temps rise, much of that warmer, exhausted air gets recirculated via the other holes in the sides of the case, causing the temps to rise.

I think that a small fan inside the cubby hole, pushing the warm air out would be most beneficial.

 

I have a PC set into my desk that is using a heavy graphics prog full time that coupled with a GTX295 graphics card makes for a lot of heat.
The laws of thermal dynamics come into play here so you will need to get rid of the warm air that is building up inside the case.
There are two ways to achieve this.
The fans in your case are set to pull cold air in at the front from the bottom of the case and because warm air rises the rear fan should be set higher than the front.
Now because you have enclosed the PC (just like me) you can install a fan in the top of the case blowing upwards if you have the place and that will not only pull warm air out of the case but will also dissipate the air in the cubby hole.
Or alternatively you can cut a hole in top rear of the desk (if it's unseen) and install a small fan blowing out from the cubby hole.

The whole problem revolves around the air that is warm and static in the desk, it need to have a way to escape.
If you put a fan in front of the desk blowing in you just trap the warm air at the back of the cubby hole.

 

Thanks for the replies...

As for the fan that I purchased it is a small 4inch $7 fan from wal-mart. Currently I have it set at the back of the cubby hole blowing out towards the front and having the air pass along the vents at the side while it is blowing air out towards the front opening of the cubby hole.

Now since the vent is designed to pull cold air in should i have the fan sitting where I currently have it or should it be on top of the tower, or where is the ideal place to set the fan so it is pulling the warmer air out of the cubby hole?

Thanks,
Darla

 

I assume you have 2 fans inside the case, at the front bottom sucking cold air in and the second at the rear mounted higher than the front one blowing warm air out.

The auxiliary fan would ideally be best on top of the case blowing from front to back of the cubby hole because it will re-use the warm air that is rising from the rear of the case and if it blows from front to back it is getting the coolest air available.

 

Difficult to be 100% sure of the airflow/heat and pressure around the rear of the PC in the cubbyhole.

I would pull the PC forward as far as is reasonable to give several inches (a foot would be good) of clearance for the exhausted warm air so that it minimises the amount of warm air being pulled straight back into the case via the vents under the PSU.

I'd then mount the fan on top of the case towards the rear (exact placement is trial and error without a heat-sensitive camera ) blowing out of the cubbyhole.

(I think Bill's suggestion is likely to create a warmer spot at the rear of the PC (trapping more of the warm air), leading to more of the warm air being pulled back into the rear of the case, increasing the case temperature.)

Also check between the front plastics of the case and the front metalwork to clear out any dust bunnies that may be blocking the cool air inflow.

PS., the only assumptions I'm making are that the PSU fan is the only one at the rear and that there is no fan at the bottom front).

 

I was assuming from the previouse post that there is no back on this cubby hole (or am i mistaken when you said the 4inch fan was at the back blowing forward?)

 

Maybe shewolf should attach a photo of the PC in situ so we can see what we're up against

 

Ok Here are some pictures that I took..

I did have the 4" external fan sitting in the corner blowing from back to front and I realized that it was actually blowing the warm air along the side vents in the casing door. So, I thought that may be defeating the purpose of the fan (basically like Bill said it would be reusing the warm air and pulling it inside the tower) and moved the fan to sit on top of the tower to blow the warm air out as best as possible without the warm air blowing past the vents.

The pictures show the inside of the tower the top left is the fan enclosed in a metal shield that blows warm air out the back of the tower and then there is another fan and this I am assuming is the fan that pulls the cold air in from the holes in the back and also the vent in bottom of the door casing.

Then the other pictures show the external fan sitting on top of the tower, where the vent is in the door casing, and then also the little hole in the back of the cubby hole.

Thanks for all of your help!!!
Darla

 

Thanks Darla, that's pretty much as I'd visualised it to be.

Fan no1 is the fan that cools the power supply (PSU).

Fan no2 cools the processor (CPU) - I'd like you to check there's no dust/fluff built-up inside there, that would reduce the cooling efficiency, especially when the processor is working hard.

Otherwise your setup is the way that I would do it too.



Going back to the event that triggered the initial overheating and burnt rubber smell, I'm inclined to think that when your hubby booted up the PC that morning, the PSU fan failed to start, causing local overheating inside the PSU

Fans suffer from the bearings drying out and becoming congested with dust, often making odd whining/squealing noises as they struggle to reach normal running speed.

I'd recommend replacing the fan inside the PSU before it happens again (or replacing the power supply unit). WARNING - PSU's are dangerous to open and work on - please get someone qualified to do the replacement.

Oh yes - and don't close the cubby hole door whilst the PC is running

 

Also get a small internal fan and mount at the holes below where you thought #1 fan was. Those holes care where a fan is to be mounted to pull interior air OUT of the case.
Should be a 2-3 pin connection on your motherboard for one.

 

Fan #1 IS above those pin holes it is enclosed in the metal casing. It blows the interior air out the back thru a circular type hole (it has long worm like openings going around in a circle pattern).

You can count on that I will NOT touch the inside of a computer except to blow the dust out that is as far as I go I just remove the door and blow the dust out and replace the door. So, I will take tower to someone who is qualified to do such a thing.

Thank you everyone for all of your time and help!!!! :major:major:major

Darla

 

to shewolf
Those holes I pointed out are FOR an internal fan to be mounted at if needed.
Fan #1 as you pointed out looks to be the exhaust fan for the power supply, not internal air circulation.