Optimum system temp?

[RKM]

I was wondering, if a person could ultimately control the temperature inside the case of their computer... what would be the perfect temperature to run a system? Is there a point where things get too cold (without being ridicules, of course)?
Living in Canada this time of year presents me with the opportunity to control the temp of air flowing into my case anywhere from 0 degrees celcius (that's 32 degrees F. to the non metric nations) up to room temperature of 20 degrees C. (72 degrees F.).
CPU temp. fluctuates with load of course but with the GORB I have installed the cpu temp never rises more than 10 degrees celcius above system temp. even under heavy load.
Any tips or insights from the hardware gurus out there?

 

[Pretender]

In terms of the components themselves, they should be fine with 0C and probably a little below (cooling with liquid nitrogen is fun ), however, the lower it is there's probably a chance of condensation (I don't remember how it works exactly, I think when there are two extremes of tempatures near each other), and condensation->water, water+computer components->bad.

 

[Wompa164]

REAL ADSL?

... down here we can get 1.5 Megabits minimum download with 385 Kilobits miniumum Upload

Suck it!

 

[Pretender]

*sigh*
Wompa, please search the forums for a user named Lozer. Then grow up and stop using phrases like 'suck it'.

BTW, 'up here' we could get 7mbps DSL. But I'm not going to waste money on essentially useless bandwidth.

 

[urbantechie]

Suck it?

Lame man! Very lame!

 

[Soybomb]

Actually I don't know if you could get it too cold. As long as there was no contact with air there should be no condensation. Then I'd imagine the colder the better. Don't see why not at least

Damn newbies getting all smart mouthed...kick 'em to the curb Pretender!

 

[Windogg]

Most heavy duty server rooms are very cold and very dry. For a home system the best thing to do is move as much room temperature air as possible through the case. It not unheard of to use mother nature to influence system temperature. Some members have reported that they lose to ability to overclock their system when the weather gets warm.

heh heh, some newbies need to lurk a little. Question, is my sig for real or a shot at Lozer?

Windogg

 

[Pretender]

REAL Girlfriend?

Down here we have inflatable women. Suck it!

 

[Fandu]

Optimum? About -40C. About -100C and you will crack the ceramic chip packages (too big of temp difference across the ceramic surface).

Realistically though, If your not overclocking, there is not much need to worry about extra case cooling as long as what you have is adequate. Mine usually runs 3-7C above room temp depending on what I'm doing. If your a fanatical overclocker, then keeping the case temp down can be critical to stability, but if you arn't having any stability problems, then there are no benefits of a cooler case (other than overclocking more ). Just for peace of mind, I run 3 80MM case fans in my larger caese, and 2 in smaller ones, plus the power supply fan of course.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Within a few degree's of ambient is all you can really ask for. My case is about 1-2C over ambient.

For most people, 5C over ambient is perfectly acceptable.



Mike

 

[RKM]

Well, the reason I asked is because I do have the ability in the room my system is set up in to duct outside air (filtered, of course) directly into the lower front fan of the case and therefore distribute through the case and exiting out the top back of the case (a little warmer which is also beneficial to me). I do overclock some but I am not one to push the limits as I don't have the extra cash to be replacing stuff I pushed too hard. It sounds as though if I do duct this outside air through the case I "should" raise the overclocking tolerences of my system... is that a fair assumption? The upside to doing this at this time of year is that in the region of Canada I live in has very dry air in the winter, so... cold and dry equals good... correct?