Heat concern w/ existing system...

InFix · 06-12-2004, 05:38 PM

Hello, its been awhile since Ive posted here, but I have frequented this forum for awhile now. My old setup was in my previous car, 99 Mustang GT... I had a working carputer for about a year. Now I changed cars (see sig), and wanted to design a brand new system. I currently have a working carputer in the M3. It consists of a lilliput 7", opus 150w, and a shuttle xpc w/ amd 1800+ xp. Everything was working great as I usually ran the system in the car at night time. Just recently I drove around with the system on during the day, and the computer started randomly hanging and/or rebooting, shutting off.... So I immediately knew it was an overheating issue. I ran an industrial fan on top of the computer in my driveway to verify, and all was well. Soon as I remove the fan, problems come back.

Anyways, to make a long story short, the computer would not be stable above CPU temps of around 65c. I decided that shuttles cooling design, the heatsink that is supposed to move the heat to the back, and then has a fan on it, was not sufficient. I put a standard heatsink/fan on the cpu, removed shuttle's cooling solution, and put a standard exhaust case fan in the back. Now heres where the question comes in. I drove around all day today, in 95 degree (farenheit) whether, and all was well. I live in FL btw. I had no problems at all, no reboots or anything. So when I got back home, I decided to check the CPU temp in the bios, and it was a whopping 86 degrees celius! I guess the question is, how come it runs now at a much higher temperature, and before it was dying at 65c? Also, at temps this high, do you think I will have any issues in the near future with hardware failing? Will the OPUS ps be ok? What kind of temps do you guys have? At night Im fine, just during the hot summer days of FL, has me concerned. Thanks!

no1knows · 06-12-2004, 05:44 PM

The hotter the CPU the more likely it is of shutting down. If you were running it reliably at a higher temperature then it is probably another component causing the problems such as the motherboard controller processor, ram, VGA card e.t.c. This would be more likely as the temp in yr case would be reduced with the new fans, but with the old setup it was hotter.

Sounds quite strange tho, 85C is pretty dam hot, i wouldnt recomend running it at that temperature, you may get away with it but it'll definitely reduce the life of your components.

InFix · 06-12-2004, 06:10 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by no1knows

The hotter the CPU the more likely it is of shutting down. If you were running it reliably at a higher temperature then it is probably another component causing the problems such as the motherboard controller processor, ram, VGA card e.t.c. This would be more likely as the temp in yr case would be reduced with the new fans, but with the old setup it was hotter.

Sounds quite strange tho, 85C is pretty dam hot, i wouldnt recomend running it at that temperature, you may get away with it but it'll definitely reduce the life of your components.

Thanks, so any suggestions on how to get the temp down?

no1knows · 06-12-2004, 06:35 PM

Hmm, your fairly limited due to your shuttle case, first of all put back the old ICE Cpu cooling if that kept the temperature lower. You may need to do some case modifications, it looks to be fairly sealed. Does the outside casing of the Shuttle get hot? if so the ambient temperature around it is too hot, try sticking a few fans in your parcel shelf to exchange air with the passenger compartment.
If nothing helps you may need to tie in yr cars A/C with the cooling :/

InFix · 06-12-2004, 06:48 PM

Well, Id be willing to ditch the case for another case/mobo. But Im just concerned that the new setup will still have the same problem... The ICE setup would crash at 65c, so I dont know that it kept it cooler... This setup just stays alive at 86c. Do you think Id be ok with say a micro atx board, and a mini tower?

no1knows · 06-12-2004, 06:53 PM

Shuttle cases arent really much good in the boot. You need a far airier case, one which you can add as many fans as you like. However, if you cant get the temperature in yr boot down then it doesnt matter how many fans you have, itll still be hot, you cant cool below ambient temp with fans. You could look into ducting air from A/C or from outside from under the car. Alternatively, mount the PC in the passenger compartment, itll be much cooler in there and you can control ambient temp with A/C.

If you have to keep it in the boot then you will definitely need a new case with more spaces for fans. and i suggest some fans in between the boot and passenger compartment or outside to vent hot air.