HDD reaches 60c when gaming

anonyboy

Distinguished
Feb 8, 2010
45
0
18,530
specs:
Athlon II x4 635 2.9Ghz
AMD760 Motherboard (M4A78LT-M/LE)
4gb DDR3 1333Mhz
XFX 6950 1gb
500gb WD Caviar Blue HDD (WD5000AAKS)
Corsair 650w TX

I just upgraded my PSU and GPU a couple days ago. I've been playing Crysis with all the max settings, and while it runs completely smooth, it's been rocketing my hard drive to 60 degrees Celsius. According the the WD website, the maximum operating temperature is 60 Celsius. So now I'm not quite sure what to do.

I changed the position of my HD so it's now under the graphics card instead of above it. That might make a difference but I haven't tested it yet. The 6950 has air vents in the back, so the heat was probably coming out of there and rising up to the bottom of my hard drive?

Everything else in my case gets pretty moderate temperatures, but I don't have any case fans. My case has 3 spots for case fans, and the 80mm one above the CPU has a cone on it to direct the flow of the CPU fan out of the case. I think it's working well too because my CPU temp only reaches 40 when gaming and are usually at ~25. Other spots are 120mm, one in the back and one on the side panel near the bottom/back corner. I think I should get a case fan on the side panel spot to push the hot air from my GPU out, since my GPU gets higher temperatures than anything (~70-75 when gaming).

what's a good case fan to get? I was thinking a Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E, but I'm no expert. Keep in mind I don't really want to spend more than $20. Also, my motherboard only has 1 3pin CHA FAN connector.
 
Solution
The scythe fan looks like a good fan(I do not own that fan, but have had other scythe fans).

@ 1200 rpms most fans are acceptably quiet for most users, not silent but should be quiet enough.

If you find they are too loud, most times your motherboard can at least control one of them(side door since the rear one should be farthest from you and less noticeable). With a fan y cable, you can control both if the board supports it(see the manual to ensure qfan works on the cha_fan header)

anonyboy

Distinguished
Feb 8, 2010
45
0
18,530
is HWmonitor unreliable?

I know I need balanced airflow, that is why I'm asking about a case fan. Why does it feel like I'm being talked down to like a child? -.-
 
Can you post a link to your case.

So you have the XFX card with the center fan that blows air out the front(HDD side) and back(back case)?

You can see both cards here.
http://xfxforce.com/en-gb/products/graphiccards/hd%206000series/6950standard.aspx?lang=en-gb

The stock cooler should push all heated air out the back of the case and in fact has some vents to pull air from the front of the card

Now onto HWmon. I consider HWmon to be very good for temps. Since it is getting its HDD temps from the smart sensors that hard drive makers them self use.

60 is a bit toasty. That said, considering your case seems to have only its power supply to generate air flow, I would look into a 120mm rear fan(blowing out, negative pressure), this will force the case to pull air from vents near the front cooling the hard drive. If it still hot, maybe you can get a hard drive cooler that moves the drive up to the DVD bays with its own fan or try the side fan(i like to see the insidey parts).

If you post a pic, it will help too :)
 

anonyboy

Distinguished
Feb 8, 2010
45
0
18,530
It's a generic cheap case... I couldn't find much info about it online but here's the profile from where I bought it

hpim1735.jpg


hpim1738.jpg


the 6950 faces down towards the floor, Apart from the fan in the center of the 6950, there's also vents in the back by the drive bay. The hard drive you see in the bottom of the drive bay used to be above, and I think the heat was rising from the vents in the back of the GPU to the underside of the hard drive.

The case has no vents in the front or on the top. The only vents are the ones you see in the 2nd pic. There's a spot in the back for a 120mm fan, a spot in the bottom left corner of the side panel for a 120mm fan (it's pretty much directly over the GPU and there should be enough space for a fan. There's 5-6 cm of space between the GPU and the side panel. Then there's a 80mm vent on the side panel which is placed directly over the CPU. There's also some other small venting areas in the back on on the bottom. Hope this helps.
 
First thing I notice is that TX Power supply. Then that massive video cooler.

Corsair power supplies are quiet because they are high efficiency(run cool), this means the fan is slower and pulls less air(quiet). Your cpu does not seem to be a heat monster(like those BE chips) but the video card does dump a good bit of heat into your case.

I still recommend a 120mm rear fan just to help pull any heat rising from the video card.

So when you say there is no vent on the front, there is not even a slot on the bottom of the front panel to allow air in? Strange, but not unheard of.

You made the right move to place the hard drive on the lower bay like that.

The side fan as an intake will most likely give you better temperatures as well(it will not even need to run at full speed).
 

anonyboy

Distinguished
Feb 8, 2010
45
0
18,530
Like I said, it's a very generic cheap case.

40629.jpg


No vents at all in the front. just a panel for headphone jack and some usb ports.

Alright, I think I could afford a couple 120mm case fans. what would you recommend? Keep in mind that I do sleep about a meter from my comp and I keep it on overnight so nothing too loud. is the Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E I was considering a good choice?
 
The scythe fan looks like a good fan(I do not own that fan, but have had other scythe fans).

@ 1200 rpms most fans are acceptably quiet for most users, not silent but should be quiet enough.

If you find they are too loud, most times your motherboard can at least control one of them(side door since the rear one should be farthest from you and less noticeable). With a fan y cable, you can control both if the board supports it(see the manual to ensure qfan works on the cha_fan header)

 
Solution

CsG_kieran_2

Distinguished
Nov 17, 2010
321
0
18,790


Calm Down dood, we are all friends here lol.

----------------------------------------------------

As posted above a good scythe fan is recommended as i own a comparable model, runs nice and cool.
Oh, next time don't cheap out on the case! Its just as important as the mobo :kaola: