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Keeping your "computer room" cool?

Obsidian6

Obsidian6

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 29, 2006
683
3
Laguna Niguel, CA
Hey guys,

I've clearly noticed that anytime I have my G5 on for more than 5 minutes my room gets swealteringly hot.

Hot to the point that I'm considering downgrading to an iMac because its making me miserable.

what do you guys that have towers ( be it G4 / G5 / or mac pro ) do to keep your rooms cool?
 
both of the above are great suggestions, that's abot all you can do. besides downgrading
 
Celing fan helps quite a bit.

The new Macs run much cooler than the old PC towers, so it hasn't been a problem for me lately. (iMac/mini)
 
At work my G4 sits on floor next to the cold return so I never feel heat and we keep the thermostat at 70F. At home I have my setup in the lower level of the house where the temp is constant 68F. Neither unit runs hot, the G4 runs around 93F and the G3 at 104F. I also use a Ti G4/667 PowerBook, I bought a table clamp 5" fan to blow across it, it sits on those pink school erasers so air flows under it, the internal rarely kicks in.
 
I have my windows open a little bit all the time, and my radiator hasn't been switched on for about 5 years now. On really warm days, I usually sleep with the door ajar to introduce a throughflow of air through the room. Those G5s do spit out the heat, although my Xbox 360 and LCD TV fairly know how to heat a room too :rolleyes:
 
If you don't have a window you can open, a desk fan makes a big difference if it's blowing on you. Even if it's warm air, the fact that it's moving air (even better if you can open the door to your room) it'll make a big difference.

I know how you feel though. Our arse of a landlord put the smoke detector just outside our (tiny) kitchen, and so I have to keep the door shut when cooking volatile stuff. The other day, when cooking home-made burgers it went up to 45°C (113°C). :eek: The relief when I emerged with two nice burgers to a seemingly cool breeze was huge...
 
My Dual 500 G4 tower sits about 8 ft from my door, and I usually dont have any heat problems. The fan is kinda noisy though....

If it has ever been hot in my room, I usualy dont associate it with my PowerMac, seeing as it runs at about 98*-103*F
 
hahahah...I actually have to agree and both disagree with you...

If you room is considerably small...it might make a problem, but in the winters in New Hampshire...I can run a few 3D graphs in Grapher and it actually acts as a swell room heater!
 
What I did was I bought a little fan and placed it behind my iMac and workstation, as those buggers can get hot too. Real hot. Worked. :)
 
This is my set up...!!!

HPIM0638.jpg



I'm in the Basement, we have the A/C running and it's warn in my room...I have to keep my door open...what's worst I don't have anymore room to buy/put a fan...!!! LOL
 
well here's the deal.

my room is a west-facing room meaning it gets sun ALL day. i do have a good sized window right behind my dual displays. but right now in the summer it is miserably hot so i dont open it during the day. I do also have a desk fan, and yes that helps keep me cool, but the G5 creates a load of ambient heat.

my processors are usually running around 145F-165F and the ambient heatsink usually sees 170F+

it was a lot worse before i got my processors and powersupply replaced ( i was seeing tempertures equivalent to the sun. ) but i still wonder why it runs so hot.

i've heard from some that my particular model runs particularly hot. ( the dual processor 2.7GHz )

I imagine once we start getting some cooler weather it wont be so bad. and once i move ( we are building a home right now,) I will have a much bigger room which will help immensely.
 
well, up here we're getting some cold weather...

its freaking september and its been mid 60's all week!!
 
If your really concerned, head down to Sears and take a look at the portable AC (heat pumps) units. The roll around and allow you to vent the heat outside. Note, that any AC will send your electric bill through the roof!

I know where your comming from, though really the computer is safe. The server room where I work didn't have any AC this week. This meant huricane fans were needed to blow air out room.
 
1. Tuck your shirt in your shorts/pants
2. Fill shirt with ice
3. Shiver
 
monke said:
1. Tuck your shirt in your shorts/pants
2. Fill shirt with ice
3. Shiver
Click to expand...


best advice so far ;)

haha thanks guys. I just have to be sparing with my g5 until the weather cools down. I'm very intolerant of the heat. sorry for whining ;)
 
Obsidian6 said:
well here's the deal.

my room is a west-facing room meaning it gets sun ALL day. i do have a good sized window right behind my dual displays. but right now in the summer it is miserably hot so i dont open it during the day. I do also have a desk fan, and yes that helps keep me cool, but the G5 creates a load of ambient heat.

my processors are usually running around 145F-165F and the ambient heatsink usually sees 170F+

it was a lot worse before i got my processors and powersupply replaced ( i was seeing tempertures equivalent to the sun. ) but i still wonder why it runs so hot.

i've heard from some that my particular model runs particularly hot. ( the dual processor 2.7GHz )

I imagine once we start getting some cooler weather it wont be so bad. and once i move ( we are building a home right now,) I will have a much bigger room which will help immensely.
Click to expand...
It's time to get out the liquid nitrogen :D. On a more serious note, I also live in southern California and have been seeing 100F+ all week and my windows desktop keeps my room a bit too toasty for my taste so I got a 20" box fan and have it running when it gets too hot.
 
I don't know what it is but the fan on my Tibook 667 runs all the time. ON my Tibook 400, in the exact same room exact same set up, it was never on.

Wondering if latest Tiger revs have anything to do with the fan issue.

I have the laptop on a Macally ice pad but I've been forced to put it on a blue ice pad once a day when in heavy use. I'm thinking about getting one of those laptop fan stands.
 
Well, my "computer room" is also my kitchen and living room so I'm no help on that front.

Up at my parents' place the study is on the southern side of the house so it doesn't get much sun, it has big windows and an external door that allows for a good cross-breeze. That and the combination that both computers run very cool anyway because one's an old Celeron and the other is an Athlon 1800+ keeps the room cool.
 
If you only have one point where air exchanges between the room and outside, then you should set up a fan to move the air around the room.

Having air flow through your room would be good too. LIke from the door to a window or something.

Make sure your computer's vents aren't covered up. Strangely, it feels hotter when you cover them up than when you don't.
 
Lau said:
If you don't have a window you can open, a desk fan makes a big difference if it's blowing on you. Even if it's warm air, the fact that it's moving air (even better if you can open the door to your room) it'll make a big difference.

I know how you feel though. Our arse of a landlord put the smoke detector just outside our (tiny) kitchen, and so I have to keep the door shut when cooking volatile stuff. The other day, when cooking home-made burgers it went up to 45°C (113°C). :eek: The relief when I emerged with two nice burgers to a seemingly cool breeze was huge...
Click to expand...
OMG, lol, This has nothing to do with the forums, but I was just listening to "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban when I read the end of your thread, "The relief when I emerged with two nice burgers to a seemingly cool breeze was huge". sorry, but that is funny.

As far as heat goes, I use my Macbook, PC (AMD Dual Core with four fans) and my old OS/9 iMac and I have no heat issues, but during winter, that is another thing, I have to rearrange my room becuase my comp sits next to the vent, good during summer A/C, but you can see why bad in winter, the heat from the vent. You could try rearranging things in ur room a bit, put ur pc higher up in the room (heat rises), and things like that, I like to rearrange my room about every 3-6 months or so, I dunno why, it's just me, a good clean sweep every once in a while is a coo thing.
 
:) I like shifting around the furniture at night cuz I found a way to make it more efficient. But rigth niw it's pretty much perfect :(
 
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