# Computer heat and energy



## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

Often on the forum, we are talking about volts, amps, temperatures. Here is why:


Captions are below links.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/magnethead/IMG_94541.jpg

This is all 6 yellow (+12) wires pulled from the loom for my 9800GX. They are registering 8 amps while running 3Dmark.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/magnethead/IMG_94491.jpg

This is the bundle of orange (+3.3V) wires on the 16 pin ATX motherboard connector, registering 5.6 amps on my mom's computer. Not sure if this was under 3D mark or not.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/magnethead/IMG_94481.jpg

This is the bundle of red (+5V) wires, again from mom's computer, showing 3.5 amps. again, not sure if 3DMark or not.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/magnethead/IMG_94471.jpg

These are the 2 yellow (+12V) wires from the CPU's 4 pin socket, again mom's computer. 6.9 Amps.

So we have 8 amps for the graphics card's 12 volt line, 5.6 for the motherboard's 3.3V line, 3.5 amps for the motherboard's 5V line, and 6.9 amps for the CPU's 12 volt line. We haven't even accounted for hard drives, fans, LIQUID COOLING SYSTEMS, TV Tuners, auxilary video cards/devices, PCI devices, ect. 

gfx: 8a x 12v = 96 watts (9800 GTX)
mobo: 5.6 x 3.3 = 18.5 watts (generic DELL mobo)
mobo: 3.5 x 5 = 17.5 watts (generic DELL mobo)
cpu: 6.9 x 12 = 82.8 watts (DELL cpu, hyperthreading 2.8GHz)

These aren't even for a gaming system, except the graphics. everything else is a standard ordinary computer.

From the side of my generic AOPEN power supply:
+3.3V: 14 amps
+5V: 22 amps
+12V: 8 amps
+5Vsb: .1 amp
-5V: .5 amp
-12V: 1 amp

From the side of my DELL power supply: 

+3.3V: 18 amps
+5V: 22 amps
+12V: 14 amps
+5Vfp: 2 amps
-12V: 1 amps

From the side of my Cooler Master Real Power Pro 750W power supply:

+3.3V: 25 amps
+5V: 25 amps
+12V1: 19 amps
+12V2: 19 amps
+12V3: 19 amps
+12V4: 19 amps
-12V: 0.8 amp
+5Vsb: 3.5 amps

What about temperatures?

Case: Antec 900 (All fans off except the top fan)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R
CPU: Q8200 overclocked to 2.8GHz quad core
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooler Pro 7
Thermal Paste: Silver 5 or w/e number they were on at the time (5 or 7)
RAM: 2x2GB OCZ SLI DDR2-800 PC2-6400
GPU1: 9800GTX
TV Tuner Card: Haupauge 1800 FM/CATV/ANT
GPU2: 9400GT PCI
PSU: Cooler Master Real Power Pro 750
HDD1: Seatgate ST31000528AS
HDD2: Western Digital WDC WD3200AAKS-00V6A0
HDD3: Western Digital WDC WD3200AAKS-22SBA0
HDD4: Western Digital WDC WD6401AALS-00L3B2

The SouthBridge and GPU tied for 116 degrees. The GPU was from the backside of the PCB, the southbridge was from it's heatsink. The harddrives and most of the metal items in the case were around 90 degrees. The power supply casing was around 94 degrees, with 100 degree internal heatsinks. The TV card was around 112 (I didn't even pull up a TV feed), I never got a good read on the second GPU since it was hard to aim at, the northbridge was around 102.

Maybe that puts things in perspective.

YouTube - computer temperatures


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

good post, you could also if you want see what happens to the temps if you try a bit of cable management and try and hide your cables a bit (I know its hard on a 900) but I bet you see drop especially on the graphics cards abd cpu.


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

greenbrucelee said:


> good post, you could also if you want see what happens to the temps if you try a bit of cable management and try and hide your cables a bit (I know its hard on a 900) but I bet you see drop especially on the graphics cards abd cpu.


I've got my cables about as stashed as it gets. It's hard with 4 SATA hard drives and 2 graphics cards with so many power cords. Note that all case fans were off for that test, except the top fan. I actually have the 4/8 pin CPU cable interesingly routed like a snake, between the PCI cards and the mobo. But a majority of the cables are as tidy as they get.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

yep I saw, its pretty difficult to hide everything in a 900 thats why I went for the antec 1200.

You posted good info maybe the mods should make it into a sticky.


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

greenbrucelee said:


> yep I saw, its pretty difficult to hide everything in a 900 thats why I went for the antec 1200.
> 
> You posted good info maybe the mods should make it into a sticky.


I'm getting the HAF-X when $$$ allows.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

If you are pretty handy with a dremel, you can make your own cable management holes


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

What I will do, Give me some time to prepare everything, but at some point, I'll do like a 15 minute video, Stress the MFS out of my computer, and take amperage and thermal recordings then, running live TV (TV tuner), an HD youtube video (GPU), an HD video from hard drive (GPU + CPU), encoding an HD video (CPU), have Pro-E open (CPU). See if I can use up all 4 GB of RAM, and peg all 4 cores at 100%.

I'll have to buy 8 pin and 24 pin mobo cable extentions so I can do it without cutting the loom, but i'll need them for the HAF-X anyways, so won't hurt anything to get them sooner.


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