Temps: Removing hard drives from your case.

slipd · 15 Nov 2007 at 21:03

Hey guys,

Would taking my 'backup' hard drives out of my case greatly reduce my case temps do you think?

I've currently got 4 (2x RAID, 2x IDE) drives in use within my system and my case temps are, at present, around the 36 degree mark. That doesn't really concern me, but I was just wondering if going over to external HD enclosures when I change my IDE drives over to SATA would make much of a difference with the two extra drives outside of the system – I know hard drives can get reasonably warm sometimes

The drives are positioned in the lower chamber inside an Antec P180 case.

SW.

Skeeter · 15 Nov 2007 at 23:48

It depends, does sticking them outside cost less than inproving internal cooling by even a little bit? Maybe another 1 or 2 120mm fans would be better money spent? I dont honestly think removing 2 drives will make much difference

bum · 16 Nov 2007 at 00:53

Isn't 36 degrees very low for case temperature?

If you've decided to take it outside of the system do you mean by unplug it? If so, expect around 5C temp drop at the best I'd say

Werewolf · 16 Nov 2007 at 01:13

bun said:
Isn't 36 degrees very low for case temperature?

If you've decided to take it outside of the system do you mean by unplug it? If so, expect around 5C temp drop at the best I'd say

That depends on the room temperature, i would say 36 is possibly high for a case temp if the room temp is say 22c (I used to find the average case temp for my machines was about 5-6c above room temp).

slipd · 16 Nov 2007 at 13:12

bun said:
Isn't 36 degrees very low for case temperature?

I'm more than happy with my case temp considering the room usually has the heating on at the same time the machine is in use. My cpu, a currently stock speed E2160, sits at around 32 degrees under extreme load

I was just wondering if external enclosures would be worth it for the reduction in temps? If it won't make too much differences I'll probably leave my new SATA's installed internally

Thanks everyone,

SW.

DavidB · 16 Nov 2007 at 13:15

Not worth it, youve no advantage of having lower temps anyway as the CPU is way lower than the level youd be worried about.

Not worth considering imo.

Darthe · 16 Nov 2007 at 16:22

Part of the theory behind the design of the P180 case was chambering off the drives and PSU from the rest of the system (I'm guessing thats why your CPU temps are so much lower then your case temp :confused:

).

Removing drives might not do anything except keep your PSU a little cooler, but it really depends on the location of that temperature sensor and which airflow its reading. Im guessing with your current 4-drive setup you've got the two SATA drives in one bay and the two IDE drives in another, so when you switch the two IDE's over to SATA theres no reason why you can't shift an extra drive into the lower bay to move a bit more temperature away from the motherboard.

Skeeter is right to recommend fitting more fans; you should have extra mountings for a 120mm and a 80mm to help temps so theres no reason not to get them.

If your still worried about HD temps, download HD Tune 2.54 and see what each drive is throwing out. You can also adjust the speed of antec tricool fans (assuming they're not all on 'high' already).