Hot electronics/computers run hotter?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pengwuino
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Hot
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
Sign up Log in
4 replies · 3K views
Pengwuino
Gold Member
Messages
5,112
Reaction score
20
My title is a bit lacking, I know! So computers and electronics are typically creating waste heat and are ventilated out, sometimes not so efficiently. However, I was wondering if a computer or router or something actually generates extra heat simply because it is running hot, all other things considered constant?
 

Discussion

Physics news on Phys.org
Yep, the hotter the electronics get, the less efficient the become, generating more heat in the process. A nice positive feedback cycle.
 
Hmm I wonder how noticeable it is for a computer.
 
Pengwuino said:
My title is a bit lacking, I know! So computers and electronics are typically creating waste heat and are ventilated out, sometimes not so efficiently. However, I was wondering if a computer or router or something actually generates extra heat simply because it is running hot, all other things considered constant?
I doubt it. If a computer or other component is running outside of its normal temperature range, it's probably because the cooling fans or heat sinks aren't working at their best or there are fur balls or other stuff blocking airflow, or similar problems. I had some problems with my home computer a couple of summers ago, and discovered that the CPU was running hot, causing a louder than usual fan noise to come on almost continuously. When I opened up the case, I found that the heat sink/CPU fan had come loose, so I took the heat sink off, cleaned the conducting gel off the CPU, put a new coat of gel back on, and put the heat sink/fan back on. The computer's been running fine since then.
 
Mark44 said:
I doubt it. If a computer or other component is running outside of its normal temperature range, it's probably because the cooling fans or heat sinks aren't working at their best or there are fur balls or other stuff blocking airflow, or similar problems. I had some problems with my home computer a couple of summers ago, and discovered that the CPU was running hot, causing a louder than usual fan noise to come on almost continuously. When I opened up the case, I found that the heat sink/CPU fan had come loose, so I took the heat sink off, cleaned the conducting gel off the CPU, put a new coat of gel back on, and put the heat sink/fan back on. The computer's been running fine since then.

My system is water-cooled so that's not really my problem. I'm just wondering if a better water cooling system would reduce the computer's waste heat. Our A/C has a tough enough problem cooling the upstairs, so I'm just wondering how to make it a little easier to cool the upstairs down.

Then again I'm wondering how much of a heat source my computer is in the first place :P