If you want to stay cool, turn off the computer!

[Guy Fawkes]

Computers put out a lot of heat. Don't believe me? Turn off your computer for a few days, and I bet the room will get a lot cooler. Of course, you could invest in a water cooling system http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2000110062+1294418558&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=62">Courtesy of Newegg.

Important Note: Use distilled water, it doesn't conduct electricity!

[Xithras]

1. Very true.

When we were baking in 113 degree heat here a week ago, I shut down all of my computers and kept the TV off after a couple of days. CRT monitors and televisions tend to generate quite a bit of heat. My kids weren't happy, but it DID lower the temperature noticeably.

By the way, water cooling your computer will only help if you put the radiator outside. If you use an internal cooler you will keep the PC cooler, but you'll actually increase the temp of the room (by improving the computers cooling efficiency, you're increasing the amount of heat that the cooler is removing). The only way to remove computer heat would be to place the radiator side outside of your home so the heat is vented outdoors.

Oh, and distilled water will eventually pick up ions from the metals in the cooling system, allowing it to conduct electricity just fine. You should always start with distilled water to protect you against immediate leaks, but the water will not remain ion free unless you change it regularly.

[Guy Fawkes]

2. A fanless water cooling system...

should slow down transfer of heat outwards from the computer- it just collects a bunch of warm water. As for the water collecting ions- most people do have to change and refill a water cooling system often enough it shouldn't matter too much. (The water does get dirty)

[Xithras]

10. Not really. Remember thermodynamics.

That energy doesn't just vanish. What you are saying about a fanless system is true in the short term. Since water can hold more thermal energy than air, it will absorb a great deal of heat and will slow down the transfer as it reaches its maximum heat potential. Once that potential is reached, however, it will release heat at the same rate it is absorbing it, and there will be little difference between it and an air powered cooling system. Over the long run, however, there will be no difference in the room temp if you are not venting outside. Fanless water coolers may take longer to start radiating heat, but they also take longer to STOP radiating heat. Some setups can remain warm for hours after the PC is turned off, and that heat acts to warm the air in the room.

The only way to run a heat generating device like a computer without warming your home is to vent the heat outside.

[Jamastiene]

3. I'm studying Computer Engineering in college and what you say

here is a fact. The fans inside the computer must keep the processor cool. They blow hot air outside of the computer in the process. There have been times in class when the computers were the only heat we have had in the room in the winter months and they work as a heater like you wouldn't believe. So, in summer, turn 'em off when you aren't using them to save money on your cooling bill and to save your processor. And in winter, leave them on to warm up the room. They use very little electricity, but they do heat a room up.

[dubeskin]

4. I know. Seriously

In a room with windows which back up next to another house, so no air comes through, with two computers, three lamps, a fax machine, a paper shredder, an answering machine/phone, and three digital clocks with other gadgets, it gets pretty warm in this room. And there is no ceiling fan, and my parents refuse to turn on the air conditioning considering last month's got up to $850!:wtf:

:argh::argh: There, one less electronic producing heat!

[billyskank]

5. I think my PC uses over 300W even when idling

which is just INSANE :o

[ps1074]

6. mine has 450W power supply

:banghead:

[billyskank]

7. I had to get a 600W PSU when I upgraded my graphics card

the 450W one I had before wasn't good enough. I don't think the computer really does suck 600 watts, but it's still ridiculous.

[Neoma]

8. No!

It's cold in this house enough as it is! :scared:

[mike_c]

9. water cooling-- the heat still has to go somewhere, and the room...

...is where it goes first. Making the cooling system more effective doesn't cheat physics in the least-- heat will always transfer from warmer to cooler parts of the system-- the exchange that works inside the computer only continues to work because of the exchange that moves heat from the water to the room air. That also works quite efficiently in water cooled systems.

The only way to get around that issue is to generate less heat by using cooler, more energy efficient components in your computer.

edit-- even fanless cooling systems have to move the heat out of the water and into the air, otherwise the water would accumulate heat, and that would either slow heat trasfer (less efficient cooling) or eventually stop it altogether when the water temp = the CPU temp.