Cooling Questions

Hi
I have a Dell Dimension 8300 on which I want to improve the cooling. I want
to do this because I know the PC overheats after about 1 hr and is quite
unstable. There is currently the fan in the PSU and a fan on the back which
is vented to act as the CPU fan. I also added a PCI fan to cool the VGA
card. I can't add a fan which goes into a 5.25" bay because I don't have a
spare bay, and I can't find any other pre-cut vents for fan addition. I
think a fan sucking air in would help a lot, but there isn't really anywhere
to put one. Does anybody have any ideas or advice? For example, would
changing the HS on the northbridge chip to a HS/fan be useful?
Thanks
Peter Cavan

how do you know the 'pc' overheats? do you mean you think that the
processor is overheating? what monitoring utiility are you using?
presumably there was a time when the 'pc' wasn't overheating - what changes
(software, hardware) have been made since the time when your attention was
not drawn to system instability?


"Peter Cavan" wrote in message
...
Hi
I have a Dell Dimension 8300 on which I want to improve the cooling. I
want
to do this because I know the PC overheats after about 1 hr and is quite
unstable. There is currently the fan in the PSU and a fan on the back
which
is vented to act as the CPU fan. I also added a PCI fan to cool the VGA
card. I can't add a fan which goes into a 5.25" bay because I don't have a
spare bay, and I can't find any other pre-cut vents for fan addition. I
think a fan sucking air in would help a lot, but there isn't really
anywhere
to put one. Does anybody have any ideas or advice? For example, would
changing the HS on the northbridge chip to a HS/fan be useful?
Thanks
Peter Cavan

"Peter Cavan" wrote in
:

Hi
I have a Dell Dimension 8300 on which I want to improve the cooling. I
want to do this because I know the PC overheats after about 1 hr and
is quite unstable. There is currently the fan in the PSU and a fan on
the back which is vented to act as the CPU fan. I also added a PCI fan
to cool the VGA card. I can't add a fan which goes into a 5.25" bay
because I don't have a spare bay, and I can't find any other pre-cut
vents for fan addition. I think a fan sucking air in would help a lot,
but there isn't really anywhere to put one. Does anybody have any
ideas or advice? For example, would changing the HS on the northbridge
chip to a HS/fan be useful? Thanks
Peter Cavan



A 8300 should still be under warranty barring any mods you made to the
case. It should not overheat, if it does then it sounds like an issue that
Dell needs to resolve.

failing that a decent case from www.ebuyer.com would be the best answer...
most the cases i see are far from suitable for a highish speed cpu.

"FatAntKnee" wrote in message
. 7...
"Peter Cavan" wrote in
:

Hi
I have a Dell Dimension 8300 on which I want to improve the cooling. I
want to do this because I know the PC overheats after about 1 hr and
is quite unstable. There is currently the fan in the PSU and a fan on
the back which is vented to act as the CPU fan. I also added a PCI fan
to cool the VGA card. I can't add a fan which goes into a 5.25" bay
because I don't have a spare bay, and I can't find any other pre-cut
vents for fan addition. I think a fan sucking air in would help a lot,
but there isn't really anywhere to put one. Does anybody have any
ideas or advice? For example, would changing the HS on the northbridge
chip to a HS/fan be useful? Thanks
Peter Cavan



A 8300 should still be under warranty barring any mods you made to the
case. It should not overheat, if it does then it sounds like an issue that
Dell needs to resolve.

It's 60-70 degrees Celsius. I've done too much stuff to the machine to list
all the changes. There is no easy way that I can see to add a fan to the
front or side.
I was considering a new case that would easily accomodate better cooling,
this would involve simply moving everything into a new case. Does anybody
know if there would be any problems with moving a Dell system into a
non-Dell case? I was thinking, for example, about things like PSUs, power
buttons, and front panel USB, headphone etc.
Thanks
Peter Cavan

Peter Cavan wrote:
It's 60-70 degrees Celsius. I've done too much stuff to the machine to list
all the changes. There is no easy way that I can see to add a fan to the
front or side.

Contrary to the knee jerk reaction of those who think anything different than
what they're used to is a 'bad design', the Dell design, in general, is quite
good but knowing what you've changed is precisely what's needed because, odds
are, that's where something is sufficiently different, vs what the system was
originally designed for, to be causing higher temperatures.

I can certainly see why Dell doesn't want to warrantee cover it if there are a
ton of changes but did they tell you what the temperature should be? Is the
temperature reading you have from the CPU thermal diode or an under socket
thermistor? Do you have a case temperature reading?

When did it start being 'hot'? After one, or more, of your additions/mods or did
it work fine for a while and then suddenly get 'hot', or did it gradually get
warmer over time? Do you have it shoved into a closed desk bay so it can't
circulate air or is it in the open? Did you move, alter, or remove any internal
ducting/air guides?

Is that the original CPU?

I missed your original post so could you repost the model number so I can check
the Dell site for the mechanical layout docs?

I was considering a new case that would easily accomodate better cooling,
this would involve simply moving everything into a new case. Does anybody
know if there would be any problems with moving a Dell system into a
non-Dell case? I was thinking, for example, about things like PSUs, power
buttons, and front panel USB, headphone etc.
Thanks
Peter Cavan

I agree. Why do people pay good money for an expensive product, then allow
an in-warranty defect to befuddle them. I assume this is a new box (the 8300
hasn't been around long). So if it's in warranty, let Dell sort it out (or
take it back!).

Anyway, 60-70 C is frying hot. (That's 140-158 F for us Americans). Normal
temps run in the mid- to high-30s. Something is very wrong.

"FatAntKnee" wrote in message
. 7...
A 8300 should still be under warranty barring any mods you made to the
case. It should not overheat, if it does then it sounds like an issue that
Dell needs to resolve.

"lhorwinkle" wrote in message
...
I agree. Why do people pay good money for an expensive product, then allow
an in-warranty defect to befuddle them. I assume this is a new box (the
8300
hasn't been around long). So if it's in warranty, let Dell sort it out (or
take it back!).

Anyway, 60-70 C is frying hot. (That's 140-158 F for us Americans). Normal
temps run in the mid- to high-30s. Something is very wrong.

"FatAntKnee" wrote in message
. 7...
A 8300 should still be under warranty barring any mods you made to the
case. It should not overheat, if it does then it sounds like an issue
that
Dell needs to resolve.

A word of warning, if you do decide to rehouse your system in a new case I
think that you will need to maintain the old PSU. I think (probably wrong!)
that the mobos Dell use are matched to the PSU, so if you change the PSU it
may fry your chipset and board. I think i remember someone saying that they
had replaced the PSU on theirs with another and it knackered their system.

"James Lincoln" wrote in message
...
A word of warning, if you do decide to rehouse your system in a new case I
think that you will need to maintain the old PSU. I think (probably
wrong!)
that the mobos Dell use are matched to the PSU, so if you change the PSU
it
may fry your chipset and board. I think i remember someone saying that
they
had replaced the PSU on theirs with another and it knackered their system.

That is also my understanding. Dell use a standard ATX mobo connector but
with non-standard wiring.
--
~misfit~



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On Mon, 1 Sep 2003 23:47:57 +1200, "~misfit~"
wrote:


"James Lincoln" wrote in message
...
A word of warning, if you do decide to rehouse your system in a new case I
think that you will need to maintain the old PSU. I think (probably
wrong!)
that the mobos Dell use are matched to the PSU, so if you change the PSU
it
may fry your chipset and board. I think i remember someone saying that
they
had replaced the PSU on theirs with another and it knackered their system.

That is also my understanding. Dell use a standard ATX mobo connector but
with non-standard wiring.

I can confirm that they did do this, but I also recall hearing that
the current systems were using a standard connector, standard wiring.
I suppose to be on the safe side a careful comparision of the OEM PSU
would be needed, though if his current PSU is working and of standard
form-factor there isn't any need to change power supplies.


Dave