Heat Issue Update

[Vigo]

I posted some time ago on the rising temperature of my pc case since I built the machine and thout'd I do an update with some new insight and discoveries.

I recieved a lot of suggestions to bring the temps down and suggestions as to why it started to overheat (I thought it was either the VC or the ambient room temperature). Well... so I installed a window ac unit in the room and found some interesting results.

First Discovery:

With the AC running for about 20 minutes (highest setting) the CPU temperature according to ASUS probe drops from 55 degrees celcius to 50 degrees celcius. (Just came back after 20 minutes- no other changes made). The motherboard drops from 45 to 41. (This is with F@H running to the cpu is under full load but the Video Card isn't. Now- the temperature led is right now telling me the CPU 50.5 degrees celcius... this will play in later.

Second Discovery:

This is what I find the most interesting. The AC managed to drop my cpu temperature by 5 degrees by itself. But it only dropped the room temperature 5-6 degrees FARENHEIT in the room. Maybe you guys dont find that interesting but I sure as hell do. This leads me to believe that teh room temperature although a factor isn't nearly as important as air circulation. Ive been worried about air circulation inside the pc but apparently I should have worried more about the circulation outside. The box is under a desk in the corner of the room which according to my portable thermometer gets a few degrees hotter than the rest of the room. So my desk is acting like an oven.

Third discovery:

By comparing the temps with F@H running to the temps with a game running I discovered that my cpu according to the LED on the case gets up to 8 degrees higher when running a game. I mentioned it usually sits at 50 degrees with F@H running (along witha few other programs). When gaming it gets atleast a few degrees hotter and gets sometimes close to 60. Seems a lot considering the cpu is working at 100% in both cases. So I still believe the VC (9600 pro from POwercolor) is causing the box to really heat up. The VC is not overclocked- was, but I stopped bothering since I couldnt push it past 5% on the core anyway (and keep it stable for gaming). Is this normal for a Video Card? I'd expect the thing to get a little hotter when its stressed but should it raise my cpu temp 8 degrees celcius?

Anyway; aside from that- Im purchasing some artic silver and I'm thinking of rearranging the room layout so the psu fan isn't blowing heat directly at a wall. I just thought the difference with the AC unit was very interesting. I'll remention that the cpu used to run about 6 degrees celcius less when I first built it.. and that was in winter.

[Designer]

If the video card is getting hot then the air inside the case will become hotter (this same air is whats cooling the CPU) so the heatsink will become less efficient if case temp is higher. Probably worth adding an extra fan or two. Powercolor cards do run hot, as i've noticed.