PCH too hot

pcostanza · 2011-09-29, 09:01 PM

My hard drive appears to have died in the PCH and I think it's due to the heat. I've kept it ventilated and away from other hot devices but it still gets too hot. I'm not likely to put another drive in it and can survive without one but I've wondered if anyone has any ideas on how to keep this thing cooler. Even without a drive in it, it's just too hot.

Elmo Putney · 2011-09-29, 09:25 PM

Ive got an IDE >>> compact flash adapter in mine and an 8gb CF card. Its all the storage I need, no noise, no additional heat and has been going for a couple of years now.

mvallevand · 2011-09-29, 09:58 PM

Most extenders run pretty hot. The A200 is worse. If you feel that it runs too hot, I'd consider not running with an IDE drive, the internal drive doesn't buy a lot (except a bit of swap space) and I personally am slightly worried about what that heat does to the PCH motherboard. Most drives can go to 50-55 C and I suspect the other component will fail at that heat.

To reduce heat, make sure you have good airflow on all the grills and low RPM drivers are going to be better. Also exit to the NMT software, when you aren't running NPVR, mvpmcx2 doesn't do anything to control spinning down the disk etc and its always being accessed for swap space while communicating even with a screen saver.

Martin

aardwolf2 · 2011-11-15, 09:21 PM

Leave the top cover off, just make sure it's in a place that nothing can fall in (i.e. it's got a shelf above it.) Ignore the light bleed from the LEDs.

pcostanza · 2011-11-15, 09:34 PM

I never did post back but it started working again a few days later and I did nothing. It is a bit cooler in the house now that fall is here but there is adequate air flow
Knock on wood......it's fine now.

wtg · 2011-11-17, 06:11 PM

I have one of the original PCH A100's which I believe ran hotter than they should. Unaltered, the graphics start screwing up under much use and eventually it hangs.

To fix this, I connected a small case fan to the 4-prong power supply, in-line to the hard drive, something kind of like this, and simply sat it on top of the CPU heat sink. (Did I install the heat sink too ? I can't recall). In any event, even in it's tight confines and flush up against the top of the case, it moves enough air around and out through the PCH's side vents to keep everything cooler. Of course, now it runs with the slight whir of a fan.