SATA Drives and Heat

I bought a FIC AU13 motherboard and case from Outpost.com a few months
ago. It has worked pretty well, but recently, the CPU has begun
overheating. With the case closed, the CPU reaches 130° F, though it
only runs about 120° F with the case side removed. This problem
appears to coincide roughly with the addition of another SATA hard
drive in the case.

My current computer configuration is:

120 GB SATA hard drive in removeable bay
60 GB PATA hard drive internally mounted
250 GB SATA hard drive internally mounted
CD-RW drive
DVD-ROM drive
PATA Docking drive
floppy drive
GeForce 2 MX video card
USB keyboard
PS/2 keyboard
USB externally-powered hub
USB trackball
PS/2 mouse
AMD Athlon XP 2200+
1 GB RAM

I can't tell from the markings on the power supply what it is rated,
but it may be a 300 Watt supply.

The case is mid-sized, so things are a little cramped inside. There
are also no case fans, and I'm only using the HSF that came with the
uP chip. I'm using the legacy power connectors for the SATA drives,
instead of the serial power connectors.

As I say, the overheating appears to coincide with sticking the 250 GB
hard drive in my system.

Is there something about SATA that adds unusual heat to the system?
Would an overloaded power supply produce too much heat?

you say you`ve got a cramped small case with no case fans....

hmm... doesn`t take a genius to work it out really does it.......
i got a Aopen H600A case with 5 silent case fans and the standard video card
, cpu and power fans....
i got 2 SATA seagate drives on raid0 that each has a 80mm fan....
great airflow equals cooler case...cold air in from the front and out at the
back...
the Hard drives do get warm but no more than PATA drives...
Airflow is the name of the game... i`ve never had a problem..

Brad...



"Richard Alexander" wrote in message
om...
I bought a FIC AU13 motherboard and case from Outpost.com a few months
ago. It has worked pretty well, but recently, the CPU has begun
overheating. With the case closed, the CPU reaches 130° F, though it
only runs about 120° F with the case side removed. This problem
appears to coincide roughly with the addition of another SATA hard
drive in the case.

My current computer configuration is:

120 GB SATA hard drive in removeable bay
60 GB PATA hard drive internally mounted
250 GB SATA hard drive internally mounted
CD-RW drive
DVD-ROM drive
PATA Docking drive
floppy drive
GeForce 2 MX video card
USB keyboard
PS/2 keyboard
USB externally-powered hub
USB trackball
PS/2 mouse
AMD Athlon XP 2200+
1 GB RAM

I can't tell from the markings on the power supply what it is rated,
but it may be a 300 Watt supply.

The case is mid-sized, so things are a little cramped inside. There
are also no case fans, and I'm only using the HSF that came with the
uP chip. I'm using the legacy power connectors for the SATA drives,
instead of the serial power connectors.

As I say, the overheating appears to coincide with sticking the 250 GB
hard drive in my system.

Is there something about SATA that adds unusual heat to the system?
Would an overloaded power supply produce too much heat?

That is a dangerously high temperature for your CPU.

"Richard Alexander" wrote in message
om...
I bought a FIC AU13 motherboard and case from Outpost.com a few months
ago. It has worked pretty well, but recently, the CPU has begun
overheating. With the case closed, the CPU reaches 130° F, though it
only runs about 120° F with the case side removed. This problem
appears to coincide roughly with the addition of another SATA hard
drive in the case.

My current computer configuration is:

120 GB SATA hard drive in removeable bay
60 GB PATA hard drive internally mounted
250 GB SATA hard drive internally mounted
CD-RW drive
DVD-ROM drive
PATA Docking drive
floppy drive
GeForce 2 MX video card
USB keyboard
PS/2 keyboard
USB externally-powered hub
USB trackball
PS/2 mouse
AMD Athlon XP 2200+
1 GB RAM

I can't tell from the markings on the power supply what it is rated,
but it may be a 300 Watt supply.

The case is mid-sized, so things are a little cramped inside. There
are also no case fans, and I'm only using the HSF that came with the
uP chip. I'm using the legacy power connectors for the SATA drives,
instead of the serial power connectors.

As I say, the overheating appears to coincide with sticking the 250 GB
hard drive in my system.

Is there something about SATA that adds unusual heat to the system?
Would an overloaded power supply produce too much heat?

On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 09:46:16 +0100, "Bobby" wrote:

snip

"Richard Alexander" wrote:
With the case closed, the CPU reaches 130° F, though it
only runs about 120° F with the case side removed.

That is a dangerously high temperature for your CPU.


130F = 54C
Not an ideal temp but low enough to be stable and not anywhere near a
danger level... that is, if we could assume the ambient room temp will
stay low in summer, the CPU was put under a fair load instead of just
idling, and that the motherboard's temp report is accurate, or at least
that motherboard reading isn't less than the actual temp.

Richard Alexander wrote:
My current computer configuration is:

120 GB SATA hard drive in removeable bay
60 GB PATA hard drive internally mounted
250 GB SATA hard drive internally mounted
CD-RW drive
DVD-ROM drive
PATA Docking drive
AMD Athlon XP 2200+

I can't tell from the markings on the power supply what it is rated,
but it may be a 300 Watt supply.

The case is mid-sized, so things are a little cramped inside. There
are also no case fans, and I'm only using the HSF that came with the
uP chip. I'm using the legacy power connectors for the SATA drives,
instead of the serial power connectors.

You need at least two 80mm cases fans. One intake in the lower front and one
exhaust in mid-back of the case.

Is there something about SATA that adds unusual heat to the system?
Would an overloaded power supply produce too much heat?

7200 RPM hard drives get warm. With little or no case airflow, the internal
case temperature just keeps rising.

You should also look at a good quality 400W PSU. A 300W unit is OK for a
minimal amount of hardware.

kony wrote in message . ..
On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 09:46:16 +0100, "Bobby" wrote:

"Richard Alexander" wrote:
With the case closed, the CPU reaches 130° F, though it
only runs about 120° F with the case side removed.

That is a dangerously high temperature for your CPU.

130F = 54C
Not an ideal temp but low enough to be stable and not anywhere near a
danger level...

I believe the temperature is a big part of the reason my computer has
been operating oddly, including the generation of many Windows
critical errors ("caused" by a driver, Windows XP Home says) and
subsequent reboots. It may not be the entire reason, though.

that is, if we could assume the ambient room temp will
stay low in summer,

The room should not rise about 85 ° F while I am running the computer.

the CPU was put under a fair load instead of just idling,

Most of the time, I'm just posting my insights to Web and Usenet
forums on static HTML pages. In the near future, though, I plan to put
the $600-worth of video and graphics editing software I just purchased
to good use.

The temperatures I reported are after an hour or two of normal Web
surfing. I notice that when I turn on my computer, the BIOS reports a
temperature of 90° F, which rises about one degree every 20 seconds.

and that the motherboard's temp report is accurate, or at least
that motherboard reading isn't less than the actual temp.

Oddly, the HSF does not seem all that warm when I touch it. I have no
other way to confirm CPU temperature.

On 3 Apr 2004 15:43:02 -0800, (Richard Alexander) wrote:


130F = 54C
Not an ideal temp but low enough to be stable and not anywhere near a
danger level...

I believe the temperature is a big part of the reason my computer has
been operating oddly, including the generation of many Windows
critical errors ("caused" by a driver, Windows XP Home says) and
subsequent reboots. It may not be the entire reason, though.

At 54C the CPU should still be stable at stock speed, but if the system
had a weakness anyway it might be more subject to instability with higher
CPU temp. "Usually" the CPU temp is the only issue, but combinations of
questionable parts or configurations can compound the problem.

that is, if we could assume the ambient room temp will
stay low in summer,

The room should not rise about 85 ° F while I am running the computer.

The issue isn't necessarily what the temp will be, but if it will rise
over it's current temp... a room temp rise of 5C (in Summer or Winter near
a heat vent, when sun is in a room or whatever the reason) can be expected
to make CPU temp rise similarly, 5C.


the CPU was put under a fair load instead of just idling,

Most of the time, I'm just posting my insights to Web and Usenet
forums on static HTML pages. In the near future, though, I plan to put
the $600-worth of video and graphics editing software I just purchased
to good use.

Likely you'll see at least another 5C temp rise when compressing the
video, but far lesser contiunous load from image editing.

The temperatures I reported are after an hour or two of normal Web
surfing. I notice that when I turn on my computer, the BIOS reports a
temperature of 90° F, which rises about one degree every 20 seconds.

and that the motherboard's temp report is accurate, or at least
that motherboard reading isn't less than the actual temp.

Oddly, the HSF does not seem all that warm when I touch it. I have no
other way to confirm CPU temperature.

As others have suggested you need to consider more case cooling. If your
drives are blocking the case air intake vents then there's a potential for
an added drive to so significantly increase temps. Add a fan(s) if
possible, or at least drill some holes in the front of the case to allow
more air intake, around those hard drives if possible. Also check the
case's front bezel, it too much have even more air intake openings.

You'll have to test at full load to know what your peak temp is, then add
any ambient room temp rise that you anticipate as I mentioned above.
Popular programs to crease a full load include "CPUBurn", or one better to
test CPU stability is "Prime95", in stress test mode... either should run
without crash or error for several hours. Both are easily found with a
Google search.

You need a larger output GOOD QUALITY power supply, and a case with built in
multiple cooling fans.

--
DaveW



"Richard Alexander" wrote in message
om...
I bought a FIC AU13 motherboard and case from Outpost.com a few months
ago. It has worked pretty well, but recently, the CPU has begun
overheating. With the case closed, the CPU reaches 130° F, though it
only runs about 120° F with the case side removed. This problem
appears to coincide roughly with the addition of another SATA hard
drive in the case.

My current computer configuration is:

120 GB SATA hard drive in removeable bay
60 GB PATA hard drive internally mounted
250 GB SATA hard drive internally mounted
CD-RW drive
DVD-ROM drive
PATA Docking drive
floppy drive
GeForce 2 MX video card
USB keyboard
PS/2 keyboard
USB externally-powered hub
USB trackball
PS/2 mouse
AMD Athlon XP 2200+
1 GB RAM

I can't tell from the markings on the power supply what it is rated,
but it may be a 300 Watt supply.

The case is mid-sized, so things are a little cramped inside. There
are also no case fans, and I'm only using the HSF that came with the
uP chip. I'm using the legacy power connectors for the SATA drives,
instead of the serial power connectors.

As I say, the overheating appears to coincide with sticking the 250 GB
hard drive in my system.

Is there something about SATA that adds unusual heat to the system?
Would an overloaded power supply produce too much heat?

Richard Alexander wrote:

Oddly, the HSF does not seem all that warm when I touch it. I have no
other way to confirm CPU temperature.

That could be a bad sign (I've haven't been following this thread), it could
mean that the thermal interface between your CPU and HS isn't as good as it
could be.

Just a thought (that has nothing to do with SATA drives). :-)
--
~misfit~

On Sat, 03 Apr 2004 09:52:58 GMT, kony wrote:

On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 09:46:16 +0100, "Bobby" wrote:

"Richard Alexander" wrote:
With the case closed, the CPU reaches 130° F, though it
only runs about 120° F with the case side removed.

That is a dangerously high temperature for your CPU.

130F = 54C
Not an ideal temp but low enough to be stable and not anywhere near a
danger level...

Right, totally normal for that CPU if read from onDie diode; Bobby
should visit my site & read a bit stuff with temps how they stay ...
:-)

-- Regards, SPAJKY ®
& visit my site @ http://www.spajky.vze.com
"Tualatin OC-ed / BX-Slot1 / inaudible setup!"
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