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Ambient air temp (system) measurement

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Hi,

I have a year-old computer setup, and want to monitor the ambient air temperature inside my case (I believe some call this the "system" temp).

I have a GigaByte GA-K8NS-939 imotherboard nside an Antec Sonata case. The mobo has a CPU temperature sensor and BIOS alarm, but does not seem to have another temp sensor measuring the air in the case. (I have been told that keeping it below 80F (about 27C) is very important, cause in summers here (Eastern WA) things tend to fail -- caps get fried etc too easily.)

I actually asked GigaByte tech support, and they claimed that the BIOS' PC Health screen handled ambient temp along with CPU, but triple checking shows that it only measures CPU temp. (At least they replied fast -- about 2 hours.)

Is there any way that I can add such a temp sensor? I am assuming that since the mobo BIOS does not know about it, it can't be something that plugs into the mobo. I have seen some USB temp sensors that do shutdown, but USB plugs into the outside of the case, so its awkward to get inside (and probably not meant for that).

Please give me any suggestions on how to handle this. Am I simply out of luck since my mobo does not measure this? Thanks in advance for any help here.

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Thanks much for the info, mpilchfamily!

FrozenCpu has good stuff, the Logisys 5.25" multi purpose unit seems particularly good. link

I will call them Saturday when they open, but hopefully I could put the temp sensor anywhere I wanted. (Are there any particularly good or bad places to measure ambient temp from on the inside of a case? Is it a bad idea to attach the sensor to the metal case?)

Given that the mobo does not know about the sensor, I would not expect there to be any way to either display on the computer's monitor.

Monitoring (and maybe an alarm sound) the case air temp is much, much better than nothing. But ts there any way to do a shutdown with such a sensor? (Like one could presumably with one that was built into the mobo and BIOS.) Do some mobos support this? (If so, I will have to get it on my spec list next time I buy a mobo.)

Thanks again for any info here.

Quote:
But you should have very few worries about overheating the system as long as you have decent airflow through it.
Thanks again for the info! My CPU is in a computer desk case drawer with a door, so the airflow isn't great. (It is in a family room, and its much better if its out of the way there.) But its reassuring that for a similar mobo, the CPU temp is good enough. (What cutoff would you or others recommend? I think the BIOS defaults to about 70C.) If it becomes a problem, I can put some (non-case, Wal Mart type) small fans pumping in more air into the vertical "drawer" its in.
 
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