Why is my computer so hot?

[Addikt]

So, I have a little dilemma here. I upgraded my computer a couple of months ago. I put in a new video card, added a 1 TB hard drive and removed 3 old HDDs. I also purchased a new case, I want from an Ultra Dragon (garbage) to a Thermaltake Element S (sturdy and looks nice). Finally, I added a large HSF for my CPU replacing the stock intel one. After running the thing a few months, the room that it's in is boiling hot. I mean it's just short of a sauna in my computer room, and this never happened before I did these upgrades.

I went from an ATI X1900 XT to an Asus ENGTS250 DK and so this card should run cooler than the ATI furnace I had in there. Also, I removed 3 hard drives and replaced them with one bigger one, this too should me less heat overall. Finally I put in a nice large HSF for my CPU which I thought would cause a little higher ambient temps but save a lot of wear and tear on the CPU. Finally the case that I replaced the old one with has a few more fans.

With these changes is there a reason that the room the computer sits in should be A LOT hotter than it used to be? I mean, spending 10 to 15 minutes in here ends up in me sweating and I have to I have to retreat to cool down before I resume my work.

Insight would be appreciated.

Also: I think that one of my HDDs may have kicked the bucket due to the heat, I'm not 100% though.

EDIT: Got my system back up and running, installed Core Temp and I've got an Intel C2D E6600 with core temps hovering just below 50C with TJmax at 85C when the computer is idling. If memory serves this is ridiculously high. Any thoughts?

 

[Zap]

If your room gets really hot, perhaps your new case is just doing a better job of exhausting the air out of itself?

 

[yh125d]

That doesn't really make sense Zap. A computer with better cooling may spit out more heat through the exhaust fans, but it's not going to create more or less heat. The total amount of heat it generates is not going to be affected by the cooling system.

OP, there must be some external stimulus for your problem

 

[Eureka]

Actually, it does make a bit of a sense. With bad airflow the heat pools inside that case. If you have better case, then it will dump more heat out, and you're sitting directly next to the computer so its being dumped to you. But it depends on how much hotter it is. If your area raises by a couple of degrees that sounds like the issue.

However, that core temp seems high (no clue what the new intels run at). My Athlon runs at 25C idle, with a good case and Xigmatek cooler. Did you overclock the system, make any voltage changes? Replacing the cooler should lower your temperatures. I remember when I bumped my core voltage past 1.6v, the core temp jumped about 30C. And switching the HSF should not raise the ambient temperature of the room, since the heat still gets dissipated into the environment at the same rate.

Also, just to put things in perspective, 50C is 122F, 85C is 185F. So your box right there is generating at least 122F at all times.

 

[Addikt]

Thanks for the responses guys. I too thought that it might just be my case/coolers doing a better job of exhausting the heat. Every time I put my hand over the back fan of the case the air it blows out is actually quite cool.

I will have to look up later what Core2s are supposed to idle at, but at this point I'm still shocked at just how much hotter the room is.

I have bumped up voltages but only the RAM because I set it to the OCZ specs to get adequate performance. With default voltages my computer wasn't running stable until I made the change. Other than that, considering how massive the new cooler is I would have thought that it would do a better job of cooling my CPU, but it seems that it's running hotter than it used to. I'm pretty sure with the stock HSF my cores were temping mid 40s or just slightly over 50. So it's made only a little bit of difference if any.

 

[Modelworks]

What is the temp of the room where the pc is located without the pc running ?

 

[Candymancan21]

Most C2D's iv seen Idle at around 30-40c. Water or Air cooling, overclocked anyway, not overclocked my E8400 usually idles around 26-35c. I think you mounted that heatsink on wrong if your idle temps are 50c touch the heatsink 50-60c is hot enough for you to actually feal it. It will be very warm/hot, if it feals like that then the heatsnk is working at capturing the heat but the fan isnt doing very good at disapating it

It also plays a factor if the room is hot or not. Are you sure its the computer? Is your troom hot with the computer off ?

My room after awhile gets pretty hot also, im upstairs and after about 2-3 hours of gaming or something my rooms gets really warm, my brothers room is even worse and he has a older computer 8800GTS/Opteron 165 and his room gets unbearably hot IMO. You open the door and you can feal the heat comming out lol.

My suggestion is to get a ceiling fan and open your door or something.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Eureka
Actually, it does make a bit of a sense. With bad airflow the heat pools inside that case. If you have better case, then it will dump more heat out, and you're sitting directly next to the computer so its being dumped to you. But it depends on how much hotter it is. If your area raises by a couple of degrees that sounds like the issue.

However, that core temp seems high (no clue what the new intels run at). My Athlon runs at 25C idle, with a good case and Xigmatek cooler. Did you overclock the system, make any voltage changes? Replacing the cooler should lower your temperatures. I remember when I bumped my core voltage past 1.6v, the core temp jumped about 30C. And switching the HSF should not raise the ambient temperature of the room, since the heat still gets dissipated into the environment at the same rate.

Also, just to put things in perspective, 50C is 122F, 85C is 185F. So your box right there is generating at least 122F at all times.

It doesn't make sense.

Case cooling is all about how quickly/efficiently you can move the heat out of the case and into the surrounding area (the computer room). Good case cooling with exhaust the heat quicker than poor cooling but the heat gets expelled into the room eventually. If it didn't the temp would just endlessly increase until your hardware melted.

To measure how much heat your computer is generating measure the power input at the wall with a AC meter.

 

[Eureka]

Originally posted by: Operandi
If it didn't the temp would just endlessly increase until your hardware melted.

And that's exactly what happens unless you have sufficient cooling. You're right, cooling is about how fast you move heat out of the system. What I'm (and the above) are saying that because his older system has insufficient cooling, more heat stayed inside the case and thus the ambient temperature of the room stayed lower. Now that there is better cooling, the ambient temperature rises faster, the computer stays cooler.

The key word is also eventually. How fast did the old case dump heat into the environment? It could've been that it wasn't enough for him to notice it before, but it is enough now.

Not that its the reason why its getting hotter. Of course you can't make any assumptions without knowing how much the room is heating up. Its also summer now, so it could be that the room is just warmer.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Eureka

Originally posted by: Operandi
If it didn't the temp would just endlessly increase until your hardware melted.

And that's exactly what happens unless you have sufficient cooling. You're right, cooling is about how fast you move heat out of the system. What I'm (and the above) are saying that because his older system has insufficient cooling, more heat stayed inside the case and thus the ambient temperature of the room stayed lower. Now that there is better cooling, the ambient temperature rises faster, the computer stays cooler.

The key word is also eventually. How fast did the old case dump heat into the environment? It could've been that it wasn't enough for him to notice it before, but it is enough now.

Not that its the reason why its getting hotter. Of course you can't make any assumptions without knowing how much the room is heating up. Its also summer now, so it could be that the room is just warmer.

Better cooling isn't going to heat the room more than poor cooling. Good case cooling moves more air in and out of the case than poor case cooling, but the amount of heat/energy being dumped out is the same in the end. Better cooling will give you a lower internal case temp over ambient but thats it.