General Discussions

[cpurpe91]

I have a problem. My room is not well ventilated by any means. My PC thermals are fine but this room gets hot. I have a window that opens in, tilting inward at the top. I have one AC out vent in my ceiling. My room is 12' to 14' by 12' to 14'. My PC can change the ambient temp from 24°C to 30°C in less than an hour of playing demanding games. 

I cannot really use a window mounted AC unit because the window isn't the standard window you would see on the side of a house, as it opens by tilting the top inward into the room. Are the standalone AC units worth the price? It is 30°C+ outside so a fan propped up in the window simply will not cool the room. 

Currently I have a shop fan in my doorway blowing air out of the room. This helps slightly when the AC is on but the sensor is in a different part of the house so it is not built to cool this room specifically. I don't have the kind of finances to move the thermostat and fix the work that the original installer did. It's not terrible but it is not great work. So I am thinking the standalone units might be a better option.

What do you think? I know fixing the AC duct work would be the solution however with my current financial situation I would need to save to have it done as I have little to no money after bills. What have you all done to cool down your computer rooms? Does the bucket of ice really work? Can I just put water in a bucket and freeze it and put it behind my fan? 

[johnnyenglish]

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@cpurpe91 wrote:

What do you think? I know fixing the AC duct work would be the solution however with my current financial situation I would need to save to have it done as I have little to no money after bills. What have you all done to cool down your computer rooms? Does the bucket of ice really work? Can I just put water in a bucket and freeze it and put it behind my fan? 

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Do it right first time, better to save some money and fix the AC or duct if that's the case.

Don't put the bucket there, the water will evaporate with that extra heat and the air humidity will raise, that's not good for electronics.

Just get a big jumbo cheap fan, crack the door open and make it suck the air out of the room till you fix the problem. 

Undervolt CPU/GPU it will at least mitigate the problem a bit.

[cpurpe91]

@johnnyenglish that's fair. I will be saving to fix the AC. I already have my shop fan blowing air out of the room so I will keep it that way while gaming. It's just crappy sitting in 85°F for hours.

I won't be undervolting as there just isn't a reason to do so. My temps are reasonable even at 30°C ambient. Max is 90°C hotspot temp on GPU and CPU rarely exceeds 60°C even with ambient around 30°C. 

I don't play many games that push my hardware at 1080p. 

Thanks for the input. Do the minifridge sized AC units work well? I have a feeling the unit we have isn't capable of keeping this part of the house cool even if the duct work were to be redone properly.

[johnnyenglish · Accepted solution]

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@cpurpe91 wrote:

Do the minifridge sized AC units work well? I have a feeling the unit we have isn't capable of keeping this part of the house cool even if the duct work were to be redone properly.

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They'll work ok. Haver a look on this chart.

[cpurpe91]

Thank you I will look into those. What the seller did to this house is ridiculous. They didn't bother to properly seal the ductwork and they literally cut into the existing duct work and put a vent plate on the ceiling. Some parts of the house don't even have proper boots to ensure air is pumped out of the wall into the rooms. In my drop ceiling they cut a hole in the duct and put a vent plate on the ceiling. This means that the space between the ceiling and the duct is cool but there is nothing directing the air out of the ceiling into the room.

[tredeuce]

I am not sure about your exact situation, so I hesitate on making any recommendations, but if you feel a bucket of ice and fan would work, I would suggest using bottles (or other suitable containers) of water instead of ice that way you would not be dumping out water and you could just refreeze the bottles.  I also think you would put it in front of the fan, but reliable searching might be a better source of information.