Totally opposite- Can Computers get too cold??

[Jesta]

Don't think it's the power supply not being sufficent enough, but rather some component in the power supply that is being affected by the cold. Perhaps that's why you don't see this problem with the extreme overclockers as they are not extremely cooling the power supply. The only I have problems with is only a P4 1.6 running off an Enermax 350.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: Nab


dust free you say.....it definetly has dust in it....how much of a problem can that cause? is the best way to get rid of that with blow air through it? compressed air or something of that sort?


I have a 300W Enermax Power supply running a 1.6a on P4S533. I have 4 fans runnins (2 exhaust 2 intake).

Dust isn't usually a problem, but sometimes it can be. Not all dust is equal, most is organic matter and won't conduct electrity, some dust is metalic or can conduct enough to bridge the gaps between close exposed wires or traces on a motherboard. Heavy dust can trap mosture and promote oxidation. When moving things the dust can work it's way down between connections, or can get trapped if you need to replace plugs or get smashed down into slots when you replace vid cards or something. (which makes it more likely to conduct electricity.

It can ruin fans, plug up vents and overheat componates. (especially power supplies). I can work into the cdrom and cloud up the lens and stuff like that.


Usually the easiest way to clean out a computer case is compressed air. It's the quickest, but the most dangerous (for the computer) and most messiest. If it's from a compressor the air can have mosture in it, so use it from a bottle designed for cleaning electronic equipment. Another bad thing is if you blow the dust DEEPER into the computer componates, you can blow the dust down into the plugs/slots/connections. Also you have high voltage on exposed metal bits inside the PSU, (the transistor switching stuff) that can get very hot. Don't want to cause a fire.

Also you can overspin fans easily and hurt them, (especially on very old computers),

So sometimes you can be helping by cleaning out the dust, sometimes you can make it much worse. Usually I just make sure the vents on stuff is clean. Usually use a cloth if I can reach it, I'll blow it out if I can't. Check the heatsink for the CPU, too. I've had a mat of dust get stuck under the fan and on top of the tight mesh of my copper heatsink, totally blocking off air flow and causing the CPU to overheat. I try to make sure that all the dust puppies are out, I'll only do a thurough cleaning if I am going to completely disassemble the computer, though. Makes it much more pleasent. I try to avoid blowing stuff out to much, but I am lazy and will do a quick spray every once and a while.

Usually 5 minutes of work a couple times a month is more then enough to keep things relatively clean in a computer that runs 24/7. Much less for a computer that's kept off most of the time. The most important part is just keeping good airflow thru vents in the case.

 

[Big Lar]

Just an add in to all the other help you received here. 60 degrees is not even cold, and you can run your computer down to 40f without any worries/( I've done it), Where the Problem begins, is if you shut the computer down, Thats when Condensation becomes an issue. Hot parts, in a cold enviroment=Problems. Condensation will form at approx. 21 degrees F in difference from 1 object to another, hence... if the vid card lets say, is 115F at shutdown, and the room,ie; ambient air is say 50f, what do you have, a perfect enviroment for condesation. Solution= when you are going to shut down, for repairs, and or whatever, turn the heat up, to 65 to 70, and then turn it off or lower the heat, at shut down. This way, everything cools down at almost the same rate, hence no more condesation.

 

[everman]

60F is perfectly fine. Certain parts, such as cpu can be cooled with liquid nitrogen and operate great (with the proper setup obviously).

If it takes several presses for anything to happen, you may have a problem with your PSU, or simply a bad switch.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: drag
computers generally can't get to cold. The colder the better the solid state stuff runs.

Not true. What you are saying is true for electronic components, i.e., chips. But mechanical devices like HDDs, CD/RWs, and things of that nature can indeed get too cold. Read the specs of your hardware components. They do have lower limits.