Tips on making sure a PC stays cool over summertime?

[Amarok]

The weather's heating up, folks, and I had a power outage today which caused my PC to turn off (obviously). Now this was just a power outage but all the paranoid fantasies of the apocalyptic scenarios that could occur if my hard drive were to burn itself to pieces or something. I don't have enough money to just go around getting new ones!

So, my PC is currently sitting a few inches away from the desk, with space around it on every side, though it is sitting directly on a carpeted floor. Air flow is usually good though one has to wonder on still, hot days like this.

In addition to keeping it well-dusted, maybe buying a fan to get the air in the room itself moving about (and to cool myself off too) and keeping the area around it good and clean, is there anything ELSE you fellows and fellettes could recommend to keep this bad boy ALIVE 'til the next glorious winter?

 

[mad825]

You might want to use S.M.A.R.T (software), realtemp and Nvida inspector (or equivalent) or just simply view your BIOs to get an idea of your temperature levels.

Mine doesn't really jump above +15c during the summer which are all still within safety parameters. You may want to tell us on what tower case you have as well.

Have you added any new hardware before this hot weather? Or overclocked?

 

[Freechoice]

You might want to use S.M.A.R.T (software), realtemp and Nvida inspector (or equivalent) or just simply view your BIOs to get an idea of your temperature levels.

Mine doesn't really jump above +15c during the summer which are all still within safety parameters. You may want to tell us on what tower case you have as well.

Have you added any new hardware before this hot weather? Or overclocked?

Overclocking is the only thing I can think of other than improper maintenance that would cause a PC to overheat.

Really, if you have frequent black/brownouts, you need to get an uninterruptible power supply. I've had two PC's fried via immediate loss of power. A UPS will give you the time to do a proper shutdown without risking the hard drive or motherboard.

Here's a tutorial.

 

[kannibus]

Well it depends.

When I was a poor university student I inhabited a student ghetto with zilch AC. As such I simply took off the entire side panel and put an oscillating fan beside it.

 

[Amarok]

Snip

That was the only blackout/brownout I've ever experienced. And indeed when I was checking everything out (took me a few seconds to realise everything in the house had turned off, not just my PC) my PC case did feel quite hot. whereas it normally feels cool.

I must confess I didn't realise a blackout could fry a PC :O I'm now feeling retroactive horror, like the kind you feel when you realise the guy you shared a taxi with was an ax murderer.