Video Card Sauna

Soulmetzger

Soulmetzger

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Messages
1,329
So at the moment in my office I am running two 6970's in crossfire (rig 1 in sig) and my wife's rig has a single 6950. When we both play games and the video cards start to heat up after an hour or so, the heat filling the room gets uncomfortable. We have a ceiling fan to circulate air and have the air conditioning running as needed to keep the house at 75 degrees but it doesn't run enough to cool the room. With the Florida summer on its way opening a window will not be an option as it will be hotter outside. I've been tossing around the idea to upgrade to an Intel 2600k and a 7970. Should this lower the heat considerably?
 
7970 is HOT at full load, especially when oc/ed. a window a/c unit would cost less to install, but of course it all comes down to whether you and the wife want to upgrade or stay cooler.
 
Well, either way heat will be a problem. Getting more efficient hardware will decrease the heat, but the most cost effective way to keep the heat down would be some AC.
 
Im in florida and I find that running the AC at 72 when so many PCs are in one room (when my friends and i do small LANs) is one of the only ways to combat the heat.
It never gets that hot with my rig on its own.
But a couple PCs (even just two) can really do work when you are running CF or SLi
 
I think a lot of us have the same problem, and even with more efficient hardware, it's still going to get hot in there eventually. I usually just leave my door open and put a fan in the doorway to pull in cool air from the rest of the house. Not a whole lot else you can do, unless you want to get crazy and go with a remote water cooling system where the radiators vent to the outside or another room. Another idea is an exhaust fan in your computer room, which I had in my old house, and it made a big difference.
 
I think i'll try kicking the central air down to 72 like Fidel does and see how that goes. Also, I'll pick up a portalble fan to throw in the doorway while heavy gaming is going on and just keep it in the closet when not.

Thanks for the input guys. I figured I wasn't the only one with this issue.
 
Easy ghetto mod :


I used extra flexible tubing (clothes dryer) & duct tape. Just taped the tubing to the rear GPU exhausts and brought it outside the house.

It's amazing how much heat these cards make, efficient or not.
 
i lived in florida for 24 years, computing most of the year was very warm, i live in the pacNW now and my idle temps on 2500k are 85f. good change!
 
they make a portable ac unit. i will try and find u a link i have seen people use them for cooling there pc. It might look kinda ghetto but who cares as long as it isnt on display.
 
Soulmetzger said:
As much as this would work.... I think my wife would have a fit if I had a personal AC unit for my PC.
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make it about her-- tell your wife you want her to be more comfortable while gaming and it will be better for your equipment bla bla bla :)
 
I think i'll try kicking the central air down to 72 like Fidel does and see how that goes. Also, I'll pick up a portalble fan to throw in the doorway while heavy gaming is going on and just keep it in the closet when not.

Thanks for the input guys. I figured I wasn't the only one with this issue.
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Yeah if you have auto and full try auto at 72. If that doesnt do it try full at 72. I find 70 is all you need.
Im from Orlando so I know how it can be.
 
window unit is the best way to keep heat down. fan in the doorway in theory should help, but in my personal experience a window unit works 100x better.
 
andrewbub said:
i lived in florida for 24 years, computing most of the year was very warm, i live in the pacNW now and my idle temps on 2500k are 85f. good change!
Click to expand...

My i7 2600k is idling right now at 20c can't beat the temps of Pacific Northwest can we.

Soulmetzger said:
So at the moment in my office I am running two 6970's in crossfire (rig 1 in sig) and my wife's rig has a single 6950. When we both play games and the video cards start to heat up after an hour or so, the heat filling the room gets uncomfortable. We have a ceiling fan to circulate air and have the air conditioning running as needed to keep the house at 75 degrees but it doesn't run enough to cool the room. With the Florida summer on its way opening a window will not be an option as it will be hotter outside. I've been tossing around the idea to upgrade to an Intel 2600k and a 7970. Should this lower the heat considerably?
Click to expand...

Since its in an office I would look at how to install a vent close to the ceiling venting into another room or some way to let the heat circulate through the whole house. The fan on the floor might work but don't blow the air out blow the air into the room that is hot.
 
Yeah, just duct directly out of the room somehow is your best bet.

A 7970 will put out half the heat of two 6970s provided they're at stock speeds. A 2600k will also put out less heat.
 
I have one of those portable AC units and mine is made by Sharp. Mine was rated the quietest available at the time but is still a bit noisy for AC use. It can also be used to De-humidify and circulate stale air and has an ionizer.
 
{NG}Fidel said:
Yeah if you have auto and full try auto at 72. If that doesnt do it try full at 72. I find 70 is all you need.
Im from Orlando so I know how it can be.
Click to expand...

Lastnite I tried something along these lines. I was thinking about installing a small bath exhaust fan in the office but then remembered. Our house was built within the past 5 years and has a newer style of central air. Each room has it's own air return vent so after what you said I left the air at 75 since anything colder makes the wife grab a winter coat. I then turned it from "auto" to "on" so that the fan was running the whole time but the A/C compressor would only run as needed to regulate the temperature of the house. I can say this made a world of difference with the heat.

This was one of those cases that after trying this I felt stupid for not thinking about it myself.

Fiza_fairy said:
wow sweet both of u plays games :)
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Right now her games of choice are TF2 and Rift. Our relationship is a long story but we were friends for a couple years before we got together. We use to go to clubs together on the weekends and afterwards come home to play PS1 games till dawn. That was 10 years ago.
 
Could always water cool everything. Will cut down on your heat out put. your system wont dump near as much heat into the room. be cheaper to get a window ac unit though lol
 
Only thing your doing with water is transporting the heat away to another location, you still have to deal with it.
 
Makeroflostsouls said:
Could always water cool everything. Will cut down on your heat out put. your system wont dump near as much heat into the room. be cheaper to get a window ac unit though lol
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huh don't the laws of physics make this impossible? I don't see how this could be possible unless you had the rad dumping the heat outside of the room.
 
When I built my addition that includes my office, I just made a hole in the wall for a window AC unit to be installed permanently. I knew heat was going to be an issue, especially with 3 computers in here (mine, my wife's, and a server)
 
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