Lowest Temperature a System will operate?

[mnsnota]

Hey, I live in minnesota and it routinely gets way below freezing in winter. I was wondering if I could harness this cold air by funneling it through a window and into my system. Would that be very safe? Does anyone know at what point cold air can be a problem to computers.

asus p5w deluxe
Core 2 6600
7950 GX2
2gigs Corsair
70 gb raptor
150 gb wd

 

[k2gremlin]

Humidity my friend..

 

[Nova46]

Yes in theory it's a great idea but there's humitidy, rain, snow, etc.

 

[enforcer22]

yeah its a awsome idea just take the condinsation out of the air and go for it should be easy as turning water into wine eh? Jokes anyways your problem lies in water in the air as has been stated already.

 

[advocate666]

yes, but it wont take rocket science...

 

[enforcer22]

You sure? maybe a little? just a small amount? i mean could he read the cover of a rocket science book and do it?

 

[advocate666]

some guys in norway or w/e used liquid nitrogen to overclock a p4 cpu to 8.0 ghz well thats what i heard last from a friend. anyway, in the video, they showed everything not indetail but visually showed how they overclocked and the cpu was way below freezing at -37 c

 

[advocate666]

seriously, you dont need rocket science. if you understand how a air conditioner works, and paid attention in science class then, he should be able to figure it out, but there is no point in overclocking. save your money and make due with what you have, my computer runs bf2 on 1240x1024 with max detail and 4x anti-aliasing and 100% view scale with about 40 fps.

so in my point of view i do not need to overclock my computer nor do i plan to in the future cuz i am going to upgrade my computer to a good fx cpu.s

 

[SEALBoy]

Humidity will be your bigest problem if you funnel in the cold air. Electrical hardware + water = bad bad bad.

As far as the lowest temperature for operating a computer goes, it's very very low. Only when you get down to temperatures in the vicinity of absolute zero will you start to notice problems. The metal wires will start to superconduct, and the electrons in the semiconductors of the CPU will likely lose enough kinetic energy that they won't flow well.

 

[sirheck]

i just stick my computer outside and run the cables through the window .
its getting colder where i am. and im going to do it again this winter.

 

[advocate666]

i just stick my computer outside and run the cables through the window .
its getting colder where i am. and im going to do it again this winter.

that works???

 

[sirheck]

i do on the weekends when the kids want to have a gaming session.
but yes it works for me and my brother does it too.

we have never had any problems.

 

[enforcer22]

snap crackle pop anyone? you must not live in a vary humid area or you are a vary vary lucky person. sorry if this is rude but imo not a vary smart one if you really do that.

 

[advocate666]

i wouldnt trust my beastly computer outside but only if i was taking it to a friends house to use his internet to do afew things and download afew programs that i'd need to make it threw the day with my games and music and its still wrapped in 3 large garbage bags.....

 

[enforcer22]

eh i hope you dont mean you wrap your computer in static electricity collecting garbage bags :-/ i think my brain would twitch.

 

[advocate666]

i only did it once and it was raining.. i plan to get charter internet soon so i can play bf2 on the intronet. ohh my 40 fps was with music playing threw winamp. and the audio kbps was at 320 instead of the 128kbps.. its beastly, and with a dual core cpu, like a x2 939 socket and another xfx gf 7800 gtx my fps should be pushed way over 90 fps in battlefield 2.

 

[enforcer22]

You guys are forgetting that the air outside in the winter is less humid than the air inside your house, even if it's snowing outside (unless it gets up into the 40s and starts to rain, but it's gonna be below freezing most of the time in Minnesota in winter). The problem is the air outside is so cold it might make the humidity inside your house condense on your computer equipment.

So humidity is actually your problem, but the humidity inside your house that is (I know most of you were talking about this, but I think some were thinking the outside air would contain the humidity).

I actually thought about trying something like this, but it's really not worth it in terms of performance improvement. You could overclock your CPU and GPU more with this cold air, but then you can only do it in winter. Also if you have a tube or whatever sticking through your window to funnel the air to your computer, that window is going to let a lot of cold Minnesota air in your house since your gonna need it open a crack to stick the tube through. Not good for heating bills.

Well you do realise your assuming thats true for every part of the world. Here the humidity in the air is almost all the time year yound 70% to 99% Cold air DOES freeze it however doesnt warm air collect it? say like whats coming off a heatsink? A computer outside here since it rains like 300 days a year or so is compleatly unrealistic. Putting a computer in super cooled air would be kinda like making it a condencer D: hell do it take some pictures Thats where me and my computer dont get along i love vary humid air and it likes dry air. We fight sometimes ya know but yeah........ anyways we have a humidity thingy that checks it dont know the name right now. Its almost always vary low inside.

 

[someguyy]

A dehumidifier (like what you get at home depot) works by passing air over a chilled coil. That cause the air to condense where it then collect in a pan underneath the thing. So like that other guy said he really only needs to worry about the outside air being cold enough to cause the inside air to condense.

 

[enforcer22]

for standing water yes. But the humidity (water in the air) can also mess with things thats why al hardware has a humidity lvl it can tolerate. The first has more danger to quickly fry things then the second.

 

[enforcer22]

People who live by hte rule common sense is not so common might take that differently. I know he said he was going to put it inside and someone else said he put it out side. Hell i been looking for some sort of mini AC unit to attach to me comp that just blows cold air in hte case where i chose to aim it. Not something i have to latch to my cpu and run some freeOn hose to D: Anyways putting your computer outside is insane dont do it OP D:

 

[Storm1234]

I have a small random question from reading most of this thread, I live in Florida so I probably have the werse humidity in the world heh.

But my question is when it does become winter atleast what winter we get down here, lets say on a 40-50F degree day or week I open the windows, but I dont funnel it or anything like that to my computer.

Could that cause problems?


Thanks Storm

 

[enforcer22]

only if the humidity in the case gets past tolerances. funnleing in the outside air would consintrate it in the case opening a window wont. my window is open all year round but i live in portland. Though the humidity here is almost always high i doubt its as high as there. Course in the summer i have a AC on sometimes that is good at sucking the water from the air.

 

[k2gremlin]

/agree

 

[enforcer22]

i bet the people below you loved that cold air coming down not that i find the 60's cold thats what i try and keep my place at year round.