Planetarion Forums - [1] Case & [2] Back-up Fan query

Androme · 23 Jan 2003, 23:27

[1] Is it dangerous to leave my PC running on all night (monitor button turned off so it doesn't heat-up) BUT with the side of my case left off? I'm just worried as I usually come home, eat, wash etc. then leave the pc on from 19:00 til 3/4/5/6 am, when I set the poweroff proggie to poweroff the pc and then when I wake up @ 7am ish I check the d/l status etc. and turn it off @ the plug (I leave it on to d/l proggies & 2 save boot-ups)

Quote:

If it's any relevance I have a P4 running between 1760-1803 (diff. prog results) (not overclocked), 230W PSU I think, GF2 MX400 64mb, 256mb ram, hardware ports (only including modem, mice & keyboard which are on), hdd, dvd drive, floppy drive, mobo, h/s/f, cpu chip and ethernet card

[2] I know overheating can occur, and if the power supply fan or the cpu fan dies then trouble will rise as it tries to reboot etc. but is it possible to install an extra PSU & CPU fan so that incase either/both fail, there's a back-up one there ready to cover the job so that no problems occur ?

Thanks.

meglamaniac · 24 Jan 2003, 00:15

It should run cooler with the side off.
If you have a remotely modern motherboard it will almost certainly shut the machine down if it overheats.

Luckeh!!!! · 24 Jan 2003, 01:00

P4 has internal heat logic thingy anyway, even if your HSF was to fall off, the CPU automatically throttles down to the speed of a P200 or lower and the heatspreader would be adequate to cool the CPU at that speed until you get back and realise what happens when you abandon your computer hehe

as a rule, I never leave my computer unattended for long periods of time, about 30mins the longest, just in case it needs my attention... \o/

meglamaniac · 24 Jan 2003, 01:08

I once left mine on unattended (in an empty house) for a week by accident.
When I came back it was better than when I left (the weekly scheduled defrag had taken place).

Luckeh!!!! · 24 Jan 2003, 01:16

Quote:

Originally posted by meglamaniac
I once left mine on unattended (in an empty house) for a week by accident.
When I came back it was better than when I left (the weekly scheduled defrag had taken place).

You evil computer neglect0r you

Gayle29uk · 24 Jan 2003, 01:26

My linux box has been running with the side off for about 3 weeks now. Maybe I should dust it

pablissimo · 24 Jan 2003, 01:58

I've a vent directly above the HSF, and the box is at floor level, so the amount of dust that gets inside there is incroyable.

Fortnightly hoovering should do it. Leaving the side off is fine, if things overheat the BIOS will just cut the power, you'll lose whatevers in RAM but if you're leaving your PC unattended it shouldn't affect anything anyway.

Luckeh!!!! · 24 Jan 2003, 02:08

Doesn't a hoover produce alot of static?

JammyJim · 24 Jan 2003, 02:43

my pc is left on for huge amounts of time. altho ive restarted a couple of times its been running now for 5 days downloading various stuff or just doing nothing cept playing music whilst i sleep.

not intensive but the temp doesnt really move.

Androme · 24 Jan 2003, 20:21

thanks every1 - yeah it does run cooler megla

now I just need to worry about my hot 56k modem :[

Vanilla · 26 Jan 2003, 04:00

You should be able to leave them on forever.

My system last year was on practically all year (internet host) and only got rebooted when totally necessary.

PS - That guy's PSU isn't 230W, or I certainly hope not.

Luckeh!!!! · 26 Jan 2003, 12:09

Quote:

Originally posted by Vanilla
You should be able to leave them on forever.

My system last year was on practically all year (internet host) and only got rebooted when totally necessary.

PS - That guy's PSU isn't 230W, or I certainly hope not.

You should go check the standard PSU Dell ships with ALL their PCs even the 3GHz machines... 250W \o/ lol

Androme · 26 Jan 2003, 12:17

it's MY PSU btw

I dunno - there's this lil red switch thing and it's slid to the left and it says "230V" on the right

Flavius · 26 Jan 2003, 12:47

open your case

there will be a sticker on the actual PSU saying how many W it has

meglamaniac · 26 Jan 2003, 13:57

For the love of god don't flick that red switch unless you like getting the smell of smoke around the house.

Gayle29uk · 26 Jan 2003, 16:14

Quote:

Originally posted by Androme2
it's MY PSU btw

I dunno - there's this lil red switch thing and it's slid to the left and it says "230V" on the right

Thank you for that, you just made my day

Luckeh!!!! · 26 Jan 2003, 20:06

ROFLMAO mine too \o/

Androme · 26 Jan 2003, 20:32

I thogot mi fizzicks - soree evryone#

on my PSU there's only 1 sticker by the border and that says

Quote:

"QC Pass"

A'ticked' out of A B C D
2002 'ticked' out of 2001 2002 2003
4 'ticked' out of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

but nothing stating the W's

Luckeh!!!! · 27 Jan 2003, 00:26

Quote:

Originally posted by Androme2
I thogot mi fizzicks - soree evryone#

on my PSU there's only 1 sticker by the border and that says

but nothing stating the W's

Don't ya just hate generic PSUs

Androme · 27 Jan 2003, 22:21

Quote:

Originally posted by Luckeh!!!!
Don't ya just hate generic PSUs

what does that mean? oh - the only other info I have on my PSU is that when I turned the PC off and slide the 230V red slide to the opposite side it said 115V on the other side - if that's of any relevance, act on it otherwise heh ... : (

Luckeh!!!! · 27 Jan 2003, 23:26

Quote:

Originally posted by Androme2
what does that mean? oh - the only other info I have on my PSU is that when I turned the PC off and slide the 230V red slide to the opposite side it said 115V on the other side - if that's of any relevance, act on it otherwise heh ... : (

The switch has nothing to do with the wattage of the PSU.

What I mean by generic, is that most branded or PSUs made by some sort of company has a sticker on the side with make, model and lots of other info, generic ones don't usually have any info, hence your situation.

Androme · 27 Jan 2003, 23:39

you're so unhelpful.

Luckeh!!!! · 27 Jan 2003, 23:44

seriously though, there isn't really a way to determine wattage for you unless you contact the people you got the PSU from.

pablissimo · 28 Jan 2003, 00:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Luckeh!!!!
seriously though, there isn't really a way to determine wattage for you unless you contact the people you got the PSU from.

The actual wattage isn't the thing I'd normally be worried about, more the current per line that it can produce (and if it can sustain the correct voltages, like my last PSU couldn't. Lo random crashes and bios beeps).

But as you say, the only way to check that would be to 'hotwire' the PSU into turning on without being connected to a mobo and getting the voltage reader-me-bob onto it, 'guessing' that it's producing proper.

Bit unfeasible.

Androme · 28 Jan 2003, 18:14

well my pc doesn't crash so I'm guessing my PSU is running ok, even if it is inefficient (I'm guessing)