Interesting fan cycling going on...

sundevil_1997 · Post by **sundevil_1997** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:29 pm

So, after reading the fantastic writeup above on HD suspending, I went and did it. I'm very pleased with the results. I also was warned about the problem of heat dissipation, so I bought some aluminum u-channel, cut it and drilled it, and attached it to them. (one WD 40 MB, and one Seagate 160 MB). Appearantly just u-channel wasn't enough, because after about an hour, D-Temp warned me about high drive temp. It was at 45 and going up. so, I had to jimmy a fan in there. It draws in air from the front of the case and blows it past the two drives. Works great.

however....

After running for a couple hours, I decided to pull the Speedfan log and view it. And in there is a rather interesting pattern. You see, I have the fan that blows over the hard-drives connected to the motherboard, and controlled by speedfan. I have it come on if the hard drive shows a temp of 37 or higher, and go off if it drops below that.

Well, appearantly, the heat just naturally builds up in the hard drives at a rate of 1 deg / min....because the log shows the fan coming on every 3 and a half minutes...staying on for 3 1/2 min, off for 3 1/2....etc. So, the hard drive temp is being bounced between 39 and 35 deg, constantly, over 3 minute periods.

Now...I'm just GUESSING, but this is probably bad somehow, right? There's no particular reason for me not keeping the fan on at all times...I max it out at 30% through speedfan, so it's completely silent. I just figured why wear it out if it wasn't needed. However, since this is happening when the PC is idling, I guess it always WILL be needed. And probably those temp fluctuations aren't good for the HD's either, right? Just found it interesting, though.

sandos · Post by **sandos** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 12:48 am

Fluctuating temperatures like that could mean a premature death for any delicate mechanics, I would think.

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 1:47 am

Those fluctuating temperatures are generally bad, especially for something with moving parts like an HD.

I'd recommend trying out different fan speeds and finding out at what point the drive levels off at a decent temp.

sundevil_1997 · Post by **sundevil_1997** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 6:53 am

Splinter wrote:Those fluctuating temperatures are generally bad, especially for something with moving parts like an HD.

I'd recommend trying out different fan speeds and finding out at what point the drive levels off at a decent temp.

Well, after I posted, I went in and just set the min speed of the fan to the same as max...so it stays on at 30% the whole time. Checking the HD temps this morning, they were almost completely steady all night...right between 33 and 31. So, I guess I'll just leave it on then. No harm, it's quiet enough.

Ya know what's really annoying, though? I SWEAR that after all this work, the PC is beginning to be louder than it used to be.

I wish I had some kind of sound dB measuring device so I'd know for sure my efforts were paying off. Ah well. It's fun just to try.