Right now here in the UK, we’re slap bang in the middle of the biggest heatwave since the asteroid hit the dinosaurs. The pavement on my walk home is actually melting. We’re notoriously ill-equipped to deal with it as well. Air conditioning is practically non-existent and our homes are built to keep the heat in, creating this throbbing heat effect that peaks at about 2am.
During this time, if I turn either my PC or my PS4 on, within a matter of minutes it sounds as if they’re going to explode. The PS4 is like a jet engine at the best of times, but now it looks as if it's actually going take off. It’s been enough to put me off using it until it cools down to be honest, as I’m fearing serious damage.
So here’s a question to the wider world here on GD, because I’m sure plenty of you live in places to dwarf the temperatures we get here. Just how do you go about keeping both your PC, and the room you’re gaming in, cool? Do you simply take the side of your course off or is that just inviting dust?
The obvious solution for a PC is to throw in more internal cooling solutions. Only, for every fan or liquid pipe you put in, more heat is going to be pumped out of the back of your PC and into your vicinity. Your PC’s nice and chilly while you’re sat in your pants and praying for winter.
Also, do you bother overclocking your PC when the weather’s particularly hot, or do you refrain from pushing your PC to the max during extreme temperatures? I’m sure plenty of you have some ingenious solutions like converting your freezer into a PC.
And my last question is for those who, like me, aren’t actually doing anything to combat the heat - do you find yourself gaming less in the summer due to the extreme heat indoors, or do you just grin and bear it as you fire up another game of Siege?
Over to you then, what do you do about gaming during extreme temperatures? Any tips and tricks for those of us unfamiliar with scorching heat? Let us know!
Login or Register to join the debate
PC Specs
Opening the case of the CPU. Then turn on & focus the electric fan on the CPU. This way the heat dissipates. Even if it's an old fashion way of cooling it. It's still effective!
PC Specs
i dont open it lol :D
PC Specs
I usually like to pour about a cup of water right into the case, that usually takes care of it.
PC Specs
lol, that´s what i call effectiveness xD.
PC Specs
There is this really cool invention we have in Texas called an Air Conditioner. -grin-
Combination of Noctua fans and Corsair's Hybrid AIO Water Cooling helps a lot.
PC Specs
been running 4.3Ghz the whole was through the 32c heat in the UK. my h150 triple rad and 12 fans do the job of keeping me at 37c idle and 45c under full load
PC Specs
really? that's awesome :)
my 4.3GHz 6-core idles around 40-50°C and goes up to 60°C with my silent NH-U14S air cooler, ambient temps around 40°C here
PC Specs
Ah, but you have delided :D
PC Specs
My CPU at 3.6GHz load reached over 67C during the UK heat :c
PC Specs
i bought the BEQuiet! dark base pro and corsair H150 AIO cooler. best buys ever. cooler is fantastic, case has so much air flow with 2 front, 3 top and 1 rear and even 2 behind the mobo 120mm's, and 2 bottom 140mm's. all fans at 1500rpm. today in Farnborough UK was 30c. my PC right now is at 34c, pump temp 30.1c
PC Specs
My idle temps when it's cool are high 20s-low 30s, but during the heat wave the idle temps went up to 40C
PC Specs
JUST PRAY.. Parts Live Long enough to complete all your wish-list games
PC Specs
Don't play
PC Specs
Hehe, my place is fully air conditioned . plus i don't overclock anything except the video card. How do i keep it cool? I say a prayer
PC Specs
ususly redcue overclock and i keep my side panel off besides that i have one extra fan blowing at my vrams
PC Specs
My heat sink is bigger than my case so I can never close the case anyway. Also I sleep throughout the day and game at night. About keeping my room cool, I just move my desk closer to the balcony door and place my PC outside on the balcony, it's like I don't have a PC in my room at all.
PC Specs
I built my new PC in late june, and I monitored temperatures afterwards. No problems.
I have a pretty beefy noctua air cooler though and standard set of case fans. Case has great air flow.
PC Specs
6x3000rpm 140mm fans on 80-100% and the PC is running :) recently i have 35-40 Celsius with humidity hitting 80% but we are kinda used to it here in south europe :)
PC Specs
AC + No Front Panel Should do it
PC Specs
Why would anyone want to override the factory standards on their CPU in the worst of conditions? That extra performance can't possibly be worth heat scorn hardware.
PC Specs
Here in Toronto Canada we have had a massive heat wave of high 30C most days. I have AC so it is not an issue but if I didn't I would just open my case up. I have a pretty good fan so no worries. I have been running my 4690K overclocked since day one!
PC Specs
I'm in Texas and its hot as hell but I still have my system overclocked, though here everyone has air conditioning. How hot is it over there in England at the moment?
PC Specs
I hear you, i live in texas also, we were at triple digits in F. My apartment AC is at about 77 during the day, run a corsair h60, with my cpu overclocked. gets as high as 60c when playing games, idle about 40c
PC Specs
Here in AU, even in the 40c or above, I'll generally just put the fans up and make sure my headset is nice and tight to block the sound. I generally avoid any really heavy GPU-based games, as that's what gets extremely hot most of the time. If it gets really bad, I'll just start pulling parts of the case off, like the front, sides, top, etc.
PC Specs
I have a core P3 and just to be safe, I added 2 intake and 1 exhaust fans with zipties. Now I barely notice any difference.
PC Specs
I never overclock anything. During hottest days I usually go for lighter games, since I really don't need extra heat in the room. We don't have AC where I live. But other than that, I don't give PC any extra cooling. Though hottest I got during this summer was 78C on CPU and 68C on graphic card.
PC Specs
Which granted is not great, but I don't expect everything to die on me too soon anyway. Maybe I could do with stock thermal paste replacement on Wriath Spire, to do bit better. But I am in no hurry, it mostly is lower than above. And I don't do any CPU intensive work to keep it at 100%, I am just gaming.
PC Specs
I never have a heat problem here in Ontario Canada (I dont really overclock anyway). But I have a cooling pad for both my 17" laptops.
PC Specs
What city?
PC Specs
Hey! Mississauga bud :)
See that ur Toronto..
Yeah we've had high temps this summer.. but the house stays pretty cool. Dont think the a/c works very hard to keep it in the low 20s.
PC Specs
You're not too far from me!