High temperature

Question

I added a second drive to my 4700 and after a recent crash on an earlier Dell I decided top add SMART monitoring software. Turns out to be a good move the primary drive temperature was much too high and the added drive was also on the high side. Looking inside the case it is obvious that the drive closest to the front of the case is in some airflow and the second drive (primary) airflow is being totally blocked by the first drive. I have a small house fan sitting in front of the front intake and I can keep the max temp. around 52 to 55 degrees. This is a fault of the design and I'm looking for a better solution. If you have added a second drive to the 4700 I suggest you set up to monitor temperature as it can shorten hard drive life.   John

ofelas · Answer

I concur; the smaller cases seem to have restricted space/air flow.

If possible, install a card fan - available for the Dimension 8400 for "additional video card cooling" from Dell Spare Parts at ~$15.

I use one, as it brought case temperatures down in my 370 (similar to the Dimension 8400) by a few degrees & therefore reduces ambient heat around the hard drives; it's pretty quiet as well.

sillygates · Answer

I just bought 2 8400's and have noticed that the HD temperature on both systems (single HD, unmodified) run outside of Maxtor's maximum operating temperature guideline. I looked at the case and saw that there is almost no way to mount a fan in front of the hds making cooling a little bit harder.

From the way the rear fan is hooked up I can see that it should be possible to change the fan speed through BIOS, but there is no option. I see a need for a new BIOS revision/software control to aid in correcting this.

johnt650 · Answer

I have just ordered the following cooling device to try and I will post the results:http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ULT31050&cat=FAN     John

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High temperature

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