Is it normal of the case to get really hot?

[ixelion]

I have a metal case, and after a bit of gaming the case gets very hot - everything remains perfectly stable, no crashes, no lockups, even after several hours of gaming. But I am concerned the heat may cause problems in the future. My current case has 4x 80mm Coolermaster fans. The q9550 idles at around 45c, and mainboard is reported as 43c by Everest. The 4890 sensors all report mid 50's.

So is it normal for the case to get this hot? Do I need a better case?

EDIT:

So I am now looking for a new case, I was thinking the Antec 900 or Coolermaster HAF 922, I am trying to keep the price at around $100.

Any suggestions?

 

[mfenn]

Hot to the touch is fine as long as your temps are good. Your case is just doing its job by helping to conduct heat away from the components.

 

[Slugbait]

My system has been running all day today, and my Armor (original all-metal case) is cool to the touch...it's not the number of fans that you have, it's how the fans move air into and out of the case. If all four fans are intake, you may have an exhaust problem.

 

[pcgeek11]

I have never had a case get hot to the touch. I agree with Slugbait you are not moving air through the case properly. Esp with 4 X 80mm fans.

 

[oynaz]

Having more than one intake and one exhaust fan can create some some aerodynamical problems. Try disabling two of your fans.

 

[ixelion]

front and side are intakes, 2 rears are exhaust, so i think this is correct, I will double check all the fans to make sure they are actually facing the right direction

 

[fluffmonster]

The reflex that causes you to jerk away from touching a hot object kicks in at 42C. Skin burns at 55C. "Hot to the touch" isn't very meaningful as nothing under 55 is of much concern as far as the components, more so if your withdrawal reflex didn't kick in.

Try different fan configurations as suggested. The real problem is 80mm fans imo.

 

[piasabird]

You must have a case with poor air flow. Hot air rises if it has nowhere else to go. Maybe you need a little fan up on top? Power supplies use to be designed to suck hot air off the top. Maybe drill a hole on the top and put a grill over it.

The power supplies that pull air up from the bottom are flawed in some ways. They fail to remove hot air at the top of the case. Hard drives and DVD drives create quite a bit of heat. If you had an empty top 5 1/4 slot at the top you could put a fan in there.

Too bad these games are always designed to run off of the CD/DVD drives. They make a considerable amount of heat if they run constantly and they are always at the top of the case. It helps if your hard drives can be monted at the bottom of the case where the air intake can pull air accross them. I think the Game companies are the reason why so many optical drives are worn out.

Drives last longer if they have air flow over and around them.

 

[Zap]

I have never had a case get hot to the touch.

I have. It was my first Prescott P4 and of course it was overclocked. Was gaming at a LAN party and I was propping my feet on my case, and noticed that my feet were getting really hot. Touched the top of my computer and it was burning hot! Checked the CPU temperature and it was around 90°C! Still overclocked and still running fine! Turned out my 120mm sleeve bearing case fan died. It was the only fan in my case other than the fans in my Antec True Power 430W, which was sucking the hot air off the CPU but never spun up any faster.

 

[ixelion]

Ok I will replace my generic case with something a little more "serious", (it coming apart anyway).

So I was thinking the Antec 900 or Coolermaster HAF 922, I am trying to keep the price at around $100.

Any suggestions?

 

[Campy]

antec nine hundred two is nice. it comes with lots of fans pre-installed and has the great dust filters which the normal nine hundred lacks. pretty nice to build in too

 

[videopho]

What is the ambient temp?
it should feel warm to the touch but not "hot" as described.
may be it's the case of poor air ventilation in and outside the case.

 

[ixelion]

Ok I feel like an idiot, after I ordered a new case, I opened up my current one and found the front intake wasn't working. Apparently when I swapped my PSU I misjudged just how much pressure is needed to push the two molex connectors together, so it wasn't even powered all the other fans used the 3 pin headers so I was CONVINCED that the front fan was working when it was not. lol....

In any case my CPU temp dropped by 2c everything else is about the same give or take a degree, so I still think the new case will do some good.



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[mfenn]

Those temps look perfectly fine me.

 

[ixelion]

Those temps look perfectly fine me.

did I waste money on a new case

 

[mfenn]

did I waste money on a new case

Depends. If the new case is a nice upgrade in terms of aesthetics and overall functionality, I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[piasabird]

Maybe it was all the moving the case around. I dont think many computer cases are really designed to be sturdy enough to be dragged around to events. I saw this article on Tomshardware that said to test a case you should stand on it and see if it collapses. Interesting concept. New concept. Ruggedized Lan Cases.

Of course if you ruggedize anything then it gets heavier.

 

[ixelion]

The HAF 922 did wonders for my temps, CPU went down by 5c, GPU by 10c!. I didn't even put a side fan in yet. This is one hell of a case.

 

[betasub]

did I waste money on a new case

The HAF 922 did wonders for my temps, CPU went down by 5c, GPU by 10c!. I didn't even put a side fan in yet. This is one hell of a case.

I guess you can consider that money well spent!