Unless your home PC happens to be in a room with a CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioner) its probably suffering like most BOINC / Gridcoin machines with issues around heat. More column inches in consumer computing articles nowdays probably go to issues around heat management than anything else, what case to get, should you air cool or water cool, TDP, airflow etc.
Those in the Northern hemisphere its winter and the heating is on, and those in the Southern hemishere its summer; doesnt matter where you are its a problem, and unless you are prepared to compute in a scarf and mittens like Bob Cratchit in Scrooge, sorting out hot components isnt a breeze.
Heat isnt just about efficiency of the rig, or component lifetime either, hotter machines typically have higher fan speeds which means more noise as well; it can make you tired having that constant noise in the background.
However one of the simplest remedies to heat, is to clean your case, more specifically the dust filters on the air intakes. If you are lucky your PC case will have removable dust filters like mine
They dont look too bad, but on closer inspection, YUK!
And after 60 seconds of work
much better!
But does this few minutes of effort really make any difference. Here are my Tthrottle temps before cleaning
And after
I can also say my machine is much quieter and more pleasant to be around.
How often you need to do this varies, unfortunately my machine is on the floor and its air intakes are on the bottom of the case so it probably needs more attention, but if you didnt do this for a while, now may be time.
Thank you for the reminder @scalextrix, this is very important indeed. It applies even more to laptops because of the limited cooling surface and small fan. Every 6 months I use high pressure air to blow the dust from the fan and cooling block after which my CPU runs 10 degrees cooler while running BOINC at 100%.
I dust it every 6 months.It's a must! :)
I can confirm. After running for two months with the PSU fan reversed I took it out to open. It looked like 10 year old.
The PC-ATX form factor is not optimized for airflow at all. All the components dumping heat all over the place.
However getting rid of dust is easy. Just open the thing and blow.
Yeah I like my case cos it has those three huge fans on the bottom, the motherboard is rotated 90 degrees do the connectors are on the top.
I've done computer tech work, and I suppose I'm just an all around geek for most things IT related.. But yes, dust is horrible for computers! It can essentially build up a layer on your mobo and other components which acts as insulation trapping in heat!
Thank you indeed for the reminder to everyone :D Currently I'm crunching on a laptop which could probably be checked for dust soon. Otherwise I'm running an Apache web server off a Raspberry Pi 3 in my bedroom hooked up to my TV.. I'm actually almost curious enough to let it get dusty for a short period of time to take before and after specs as well...
Edit.
Also don't forget to replace cpu and gpu paste before it dries out over time and extreme use, or have a tech do it if you're not confident.
Great post @scalextrix following you, please follow me back! Best Regards!
I dont do follow for follow, sorry.
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If you are using a intel cpu, go spend 13€ in a artic alpine fan .
https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/products/cooling/cpu.html?cpu_socket_intel=93
They are extremely performant (my cpu is at 32º full load in a 30º, thats impressive, and can often be found cheaper in amazon.
And remember, it isnt that their product is great, is that intel stock cooler suuuucks.
Well done! This post has received a 10.00 % upvote from @litasio thanks to: @steemstem-bot. Whoop!
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