Turning off a Hot PC

PiKe

PiKe

PiKe

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Just wondering what goes on when you turn off a PC thats quite warm and if it can do any damage?

When you powerdown the fans stop instantly but the heat remains and has to passively dissipate, is this bad for the cpu or gpu? Will the heat just stay constant for a moment then go down?
 
The heat will slowly dissipate since there won't be anything producing heat.

I don't know if it will damage anything but some companies, like Enermax for example, make their PSU fans stay on two minutes after the computer has been turned off to remove excess heat.

MC_Bob
 
Assuming you have even a half decent heatsink, the heat should dissipate quite quickly. I seriously doubt there would be any damage as the remaining heat is likely to be cooler than when the CPU was running.

If you are worried that you will cause damage, you could let your PC idle for a few minutes before switching off. This should let it cool off.

SiriusB
 
Think of it from this direction:

If a CPU overheats to the point where its approaching critical (like back in the ol' Athlon XP days) the system will shutdown. Yes the fans stop, but there's no voltage supply to the chip anymore so no heat generation. The HS will then deal with the remaining heat left on the CPU.

So there shouldn't be any problem with shutdown and CPU heat.

PSUs are a different ball game - I know my Hiper Power 580Watt fan stays on for upto 2 mins after shutdown.
 
PSUs can hold a charge for a long time so output heat a for a little while after shutting off, although it isnt exactly needed.
 
PiKe said:
Ok what about GPU's?
Click to expand...
they will be the same as cpus as the heatsinks will remove any excess heat, if you are that concerned there is a device that plugs into the power supply that runs the case fans for a while after shutdown like previously mentioned in the enermax power supply

google 'Ioss RD7 System' and click the top result
 
bbreezeuk said:
they will be the same as cpus as the heatsinks will remove any excess heat, if you are that concerned there is a device that plugs into the power supply that runs the case fans for a while after shutdown like previously mentioned in the enermax power supply

google 'Ioss RD7 System' and click the top result
Click to expand...

what about our trusty harddrives? How do they dissipate heat? There are no fans no nothing. Does the remaining heat couse wear and tear?? :confused:
 
The more you turn the pc off and on the more wear there is but I dont think thats avoidable.

I have wondered (when upgrading) how long I have to leave the heatsink connected before I can take it off and swap the cpu, etc

I have immediately, after a full shutdown, taken the heatsink off a hot cpu and theres been no damage, I usually leave it less then a minute even now.

The core and body of the cpu usually dont accumulate heat that I have felt, ie they felt bodytemp, 30c or so
 
Iceberg2 said:
what about our trusty harddrives? How do they dissipate heat? There are no fans no nothing. Does the remaining heat couse wear and tear?? :confused:
Click to expand...

If the hard-drives are off, they can only get cooler than when they were on.
 
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