Keeping cool

[blueonblack]

I'm going to be using my main PC as data storage for our home network, storing pictures, MP3 files, PDFs, video, etc. That works fine, but this machine is HOT. If I leave it on all the time it will heat up the office it's in to an uncomfortable level.

What can I do to make it run cooler when it's not being actively used? If I set up the power options to turn off the display after 20 minutes (for example) that should bring down my video card temps, right? What about the CPU? I enabled Cool-n-Quiet, is there anything else I can do to throttle it down during those periods when all I need it to do is feed data to the other computers on the network, so it doesn't heat up my work area?

[OvRiDe]

I ran into this same problem, unfortunately my only real solution was this...

http://paylessminisplit.com/products/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/8000_everstar.209115306_std.jpg

:(

I have a plug server that uses less then 10W that I have been meaning to migrate all my storage needs to, I just haven't figured out exactly how and what I want to setup. It might be worth looking into a much lower power dedicated system to use as a file server. A cheap atom board would probably make a considerable difference.

[x88x]

One thing you could do, retaining the same hardware and everything, would be to underclock/volt the CPU. Fileservers don't really need much in the way of performance, so you could drop the power consumption (and thus, the heat dissipation) a good bit by cutting the clock speed and voltage.

[blueonblack]

It might be worth looking into a much lower power dedicated system to use as a file server. A cheap atom board would probably make a considerable difference.

I actually built a complete separate system to use as a file server. Had an MSI board with an Athlon CPU and 2GB of RAM. I hooked it directly to my router so the wife and I could read off of it with our machines but the transfer rate was abysmal to say the least. 4GB of music was slated to take over four hours to transfer. I can't handle that, so I decided to make my primary system the server so I can access the data instantly. Transfer will still be slow to the wife's laptop and our HTPC but I honestly don't know what to do about it.



One thing you could do, retaining the same hardware and everything, would be to underclock/volt the CPU. Fileservers don't really need much in the way of performance, so you could drop the power consumption (and thus, the heat dissipation) a good bit by cutting the clock speed and voltage.

I don't think this is an option, as this is also my primary machine that I do everything computer-related on. I need to be able to throttle it down when I'm not using it, but have all the throttle I want when I am.

[x88x]

Ah, ok. So it's not just a fileserver.

OOC, when you had a dedicated system for that, why were you copying files off it anyway? Even 802.11g has plenty of bandwidth to stream content to multiple systems at once. Just leave the data on the server and access it as a network drive.

[blueonblack]

Ah, ok. So it's not just a fileserver.

OOC, when you had a dedicated system for that, why were you copying files off it anyway? Even 802.11g has plenty of bandwidth to stream content to multiple systems at once. Just leave the data on the server and access it as a network drive.

Because the data I wanted to stream was on the OS drive on my primary system. I was just moving the files we wanted to stream to the server. Needless to say at that speed it never happened.

[x88x]

You could have just let it run while you slept.. :whistler:

[diluzio91]

or plug the data drive into your rig and copy it all over?

[mDust]

1) Turning off your monitor will not do anything to make your graphics card run any cooler. It will eliminate the heat your monitor produces, but your graphics card is still idling in 2d mode no matter what. It honestly shouldn't be producing much heat at all if it's not rendering 3d. Return clocks to stock if they aren't already.

2) Please tell me those portable A/C units vent outside. If they don't, they are a waste of electricity due to how A/C units work. Like a TEC, they just pump heat from one place to another while adding a bit of their own to the mix.

3) You need to get a gigabit ethernet router and mobos. You'll then be able to transfer at a theoretical 125MB/s in a perfect world. A bit slower in reality. I don't recommend streaming HD video over wireless of any flavor unless there is no other concurrent traffic. Wires win hands down.

4) What brand cpu and mobo in the main PC/server? Some companies have fun little utilities that allow you to underclock/overclock right in the OS. I know Gigabyte and ASUS for sure do this.

5) You could also accept the heat and vent the room somehow. Enterprise server rooms usually have disgusting amounts of ventilation and cooling.

[x88x]

I don't recommend streaming HD video over wireless of any flavor unless there is no other concurrent traffic.
I've actually had good results with at least 720p content over wireless...even 802.11g. Also, I know from experience that 100T wired can handle 20+ streams of standard-def content and at least one 1080p stream perfectly fine. Judging from that, 802.11n should do fine with HD streams in addition to other traffic.

[OvRiDe]

Please tell me those portable A/C units vent outside. If they don't, they are a waste of electricity due to how A/C units work. Like a TEC, they just pump heat from one place to another while adding a bit of their own to the mix.

Of course! That's pretty much how every air conditioner works. Here is what they come with...

http://images1.backpage.com/imager/u/large/28020998/AC_Pic.jpg

If you ever read the comments on these from buyers at Home Depot or Lowes.. apparently there are a lot of people that don't realize this.. LOL

I insulated the hose for a while, but quit messing with it for the time being because it didn't make that much of a difference. Then again at 117 outside, the heat coming off the vent tube was minimal in comparison. The real pain is emptying the water collection container. It gets pretty humid here and sometimes it has to be dumped every hour or so.



4GB of music was slated to take over four hours to transfer.

Something seems a bit off there. First never believe what Windows estimates.. heh Not sure what is going on with that router but you should get better throughput then that. Are you using that Trendnet that we had in Vegas?

The other thing you could do is use the dock to copy the data to the drive and then put it back in the "server".

I dunno that's just oddly slow IMO.

[Twigsoffury]

you don't have a device functioning at 802.11b throttling everything down to those speeds do you?

[blueonblack]

or plug the data drive into your rig and copy it all over?

I could get the data there like that initially but there will be continual data additions to the server and we don't want to have to go into the closet to do it. I'd also rather not keep a monitor and peripherals connected to it if at all possible. With this transfer rate it's simply not going to work. By making my desktop the server we eliminate one of those anyway.



1) Turning off your monitor will not do anything to make your graphics card run any cooler. It will eliminate the heat your monitor produces, but your graphics card is still idling in 2d mode no matter what. It honestly shouldn't be producing much heat at all if it's not rendering 3d. Return clocks to stock if they aren't already.

Good to know, I hate powering down my monitor anyway, thanks.



3) You need to get a gigabit ethernet router and mobos. You'll then be able to transfer at a theoretical 125MB/s in a perfect world. A bit slower in reality. I don't recommend streaming HD video over wireless of any flavor unless there is no other concurrent traffic. Wires win hands down.

I have those I believe, except for the laptop. My knowledge of networking (wireless or otherwise) is obviously limited. See hardware list at the end of the post.


4) What brand cpu and mobo in the main PC/server? Some companies have fun little utilities that allow you to underclock/overclock right in the OS. I know Gigabyte and ASUS for sure do this.

Hardware list at bottom of this post.


5) You could also accept the heat and vent the room somehow. Enterprise server rooms usually have disgusting amounts of ventilation and cooling.

Not possible, for various logistical and aesthetic reasons.


Something seems a bit off there. First never believe what Windows estimates.. heh Not sure what is going on with that router but you should get better throughput then that. Are you using that Trendnet that we had in Vegas?

Yes, same router, never had any trouble with it until I tried to set up this sharing network.


I dunno that's just oddly slow IMO.

Tell me about it!


you don't have a device functioning at 802.11b throttling everything down to those speeds do you?

I don't think so, no, but I honestly don't know how to check.

Hardware:

Primary system uses MSI 890FXA-GD70 with dual 10/100/1000Mbps LAN and Phenom II 965 at stock speed

Server system uses MSI 785GTM-E45 with 10/100/1000Mbps LAN and Athlon 64 3800+ at stock speed

Laptop is a Compaq CQ61 with 10/100Mbps LAN, b/g/n wireless and dual-core Athlon II 2.1GHz

Router is a Trendnet TEW-673GRU 300Mbps concurrent dual-band reviewed here (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frontpage/?q=trendnet-tew-673gru-review).

At the time of the test the server system was connected directly to the router (wired). My desktop uses an Asus PCIe b/g/n 150/300Mbps wireless adapter.

I started this thread to ask how to cool down this primary system, but obviously I'd much rather get this network functioning at the speed it's supposed to function at.

The only possible hardware issue I see with my limited network knowledge is the laptop's 100Mbps limit, but it functions on wireless n as well.

Anyone have any ideas on the network problems?

Thanks for everyone who's bothered to look!

[x88x]

OOC, how long did you let the transfer run before giving up on it? It's not unusual for Windows to randomly decide that ti thinks it will take forever, then it ends up taking a very short time. With the server hooked up wired, the bottleneck should be the wireless connection to the desktop you were using. Something definitely went weird though. Do you still have the hardware easily available? Maybe try hooking it up and running some tests?

[mDust]

If you have a network icon down by the clock, you can right click that and choose 'Network Connections' or 'Network and Sharing Center' depending on your flavor of Windows. From there either right click on your connection and select 'Status' (XP) or click 'Local Area Connection' under the correct network (7) (usually you'll only be connected to one). That should give you details such as IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity, current state, uptime, and speed. Each of your gigabit machines should say '1Gbps' or '1000Mbps' or 'Gigabit' or something along those lines. Your wireless N should say '150Mbps' or similar.

Make sure all your machines are running in IPv4 as IPv6 is wasted on home networks and will slow things down...it'll slow down even more if some machines are using 4 and others 6. Picture how a post office environment would slow down if the workers had to look up a forwarding address for every single piece of hate mail sent to Justin Bieber.

[diluzio91]

Um... i know this is a really... really dumb question, but... Did you check the device manager to make sure that the ethernet port is using the driver for your device, and not just using a generic windows driver? Because I've had a similar issue in the past, and installing the driver for the gigabit port fixed it. Also, look into terracopy for large transfers

[Twigsoffury]

[quote]http://images1.backpage.com/imager/u/large/28020998/AC_Pic.jpg[/url]

Got to love devices with a high current draw, create water and have no ground.

[OvRiDe]

Got to love devices with a high current draw, create water and have no ground.

It does have a ground and the plug is a GFI. You can see it if you look closely.

[msmrx57]

http://images1.backpage.com/imager/u/large/28020998/AC_Pic.jpg

So how good does that thing work? And how much juice does it use? :think: Not computer related, but I might have a use for one next summer.

[Twigsoffury]

It does have a ground and the plug is a GFI. You can see it if you look closely.

oh so it does.


I'm suprised it doesn't trip the GFI outlets.

[OvRiDe]

So how good does that thing work? And how much juice does it use? :think: Not computer related, but I might have a use for one next summer.

It keeps my room comfortable, but this is also just supplementing our regular A/C which isn't doing so well. This is an older house that is not really insulated in the walls, and with the temps hitting up to 118, its done a pretty good job. At one point we did lose the main A/C and this thing did a lot better then I thought it would, as long as it was pointed in your direction. With all the heat boiling in all around it was more the bearable, but as soon as it shut off because the reservoir was full, it got hot in the room FAST! I have it set around 75 so that it mainly runs as a fan to circulate air, once the temps get above that it kicks the compressor in and starts cooling.

As for the juice, I really don't know. With the regular A/C running, this portable, and 2 window units, well its hard to tell. Lets just say its been expensive.

[Twigsoffury]

It keeps my room comfortable, but this is also just supplementing our regular A/C which isn't doing so well. This is an older house that is not really insulated in the walls, and with the temps hitting up to 118, its done a pretty good job. At one point we did lose the main A/C and this thing did a lot better then I thought it would, as long as it was pointed in your direction. With all the heat boiling in all around it was more the bearable, but as soon as it shut off because the reservoir was full, it got hot in the room FAST! I have it set around 75 so that it mainly runs as a fan to circulate air, once the temps get above that it kicks the compressor in and starts cooling.

As for the juice, I really don't know. With the regular A/C running, this portable, and 2 window units, well its hard to tell. Lets just say its been expensive.

A/C systems are pretty easy to work on. lol more then half the time i've ever messed with old A/C systems. it turned out to be a bad ground (corroded)

[Fuganater]

So how good does that thing work? And how much juice does it use? :think: Not computer related, but I might have a use for one next summer.

You should put an A/C unit on its own 15 or 20 AMP breaker. I had to do this at my parents house because it is old and multiple rooms are sharing 20-25AMP breakers. The A/C would trip them instantaneously.

[msmrx57]

I'm looking for something that can run off a dc inverter.