ambient air -- too cold?
21 Nov 2014 12:50:22 UTC
Topic 197814
(moderation:
Lately at night it has been getting cold and I leave the window open right near (3 feet) my main cruncher.
Sometimes that air might be 32F. What would be the danger point for a rig to operate error-free at those kind of temperatures? Thanks
merle
What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.
— Salman Rushdie
ambient air -- too cold?
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Probably not a lot unless it had too much moisture in it, I have seen rigs run inside freezers with no problems. I guess a hard drive could stick, but I wouldn't think that would be a big concern as it's sealed.
I'd watch for condensation on
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I'd watch for condensation on the case or anywhere it could form and drip on the board/gpu/disk/psu. The air in your house will have more moisture in it. If the case gets cold, then you close the window, the warm moist air of your house could make it sweat too.
Sometimes I move my "mobile"
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Sometimes I move my "mobile" box with Core Duo Q8300 and couple of same age videocards 4850 outside my house and it survives on temperature about 0F. Working fine on fresh air and all temperature sensors inside box show me temperature not less then 50F.
Moving outside is not dangerous but it is not true for moving inside.
thanks guys, looks like
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thanks guys,
looks like moisture is the main concern.
merle
What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.
— Salman Rushdie
The chips themselves are
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The chips themselves are happy at ~77 K during OC competitions with liquid nitrogen. Problems would be expected below ~30 K, where the dopants "freeze out". So don't overclock with liquid helium ;)
But cooling entire boxes you're far more likely to get mechanical or moisture problems before reaching those points.
MrS
Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002
I am now more concerned about
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I am now more concerned about moisture at night with the window opened. I can understand about not quickly shutting the window. Perhaps do it in gradual steps but I don't want to take any chances. I moved the box to about 4 or 5 feet away from the window. The bottom of the case can get really cold when it's about 39 F. out there. It seems like at those low outside temps the humidity is always about 100% too. We don't have that many nights down here where the temp gets below freezing. Any other things to look out for. I don't need nightmares keeping me awake. :-)
merle
What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.
— Salman Rushdie
The way you get moisture in
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The way you get moisture in cold equipment is to expose it to warmer air, which cools on contact, thus lowering the air temperature at the point of contact below the ambient air's dew point--and thus making condensation (which we call dew when we see it on the grass on the lawn). This is a real concern when one brings something like a tape recorder indoors after prolonged cold-soaking outside in the winter. Dry as our houses seem in winter, the dew point indoors is much higher than outdoors--water from human exhalation and perspiration, plus some other sources moves things up.
But under normal conditions (for those of us not using active chillers), EVERYTHING in your PC is warmer than room ambient, so incoming air is singularly unlikely to get chilled by contact with PC parts and thus be persuaded to leave behind a gift of liquid water.
Remember: dew point is a measure of absolute (not relative) humidity, and thus does not change just because a parcel of air gets heated or cooled.
RE: The way you get
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That was very informative. Thank you very much.
merle
What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.
— Salman Rushdie