What can take the heat?? (excess of 120F) ambient

Hello again. I've come up with an idea for my newly aquired wagoneer There's a big empty space that needs a console and I figure why not build one and put a PC inside it and an LCD and hook it to the cd player and play mp3s and dvds/movies off it. Only problem is that I know during the summer hear it get over 120F (approx. 50C) in a car in the summer so I need something that can withstand that kind of ambient heat and survive. This basically pushes AMD out the window so I was thinking celeron/P3 would do the trick. Either would be around the 1-1.5 ghz range. As I understand it these procs put out the least amount of heat taking into consideration their speed. The console would have two 120 min fans to circulate the air. One intake and one exhaust. I will also have the biggest heatsink I can find on the proc and of course an 80mm on it and probly another for the HDD and RAM. I want to know if the processors mentioned above will survive that kind of heat and if not if there are any recommendations for one. all this machine has to do is play back mp3s and videos, no gaming at all. It would most likely use onboard video unless I find a good deal on a board and proc without onboard video. Thank you for any input and if you need better descriptions of anything I will gladly comply. thank you.

I need something that can withstand that kind of ambient heat and survive. This basically pushes AMD out the window

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amds max rated temp is 90-95 degrees celsius... and make sure the whole unit is encased in your console and if possible have a heat reflective surface because it does no good for you air cooling to circulate 120 degree ambient temps... if you could rig up a chilled water setup youd be made but thatd be tough.

90-95C is their rated FALURE temp. I haven't used a system that was stable much past 57C.

I have a P3 600 running outside in the garage in the Nevada summer's heat right now. Runs almost 24/7 at about 60-62C with ambient temps getting up to about 47C. Besides the power supply exhaust fan, it only has one 80mm fan for exhaust right now, and no intakes. I plan on giving it more fans once my water cooling stuff shows up, but it's been running like a champ for about a month now.

kaltag said:

90-95C is their rated FALURE temp. I haven't used a system that was stable much past 57C.

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lol that is true, but explain this a sec the wagoneer is the old jeep right? well when the car is parked, won't the car get extremely hot, hot enough to damage some components?

im runnin my 2500+ right now at 58 C and its been at 67 C before and perfectly stable.

When it is parked yes it will get hot but the system won't be running when parked. It will only be on when the car is running and me in it. When I'm driving around the windows would be down. I don't think that it gets hot enough to damage components when they're off but that's the risk I'll have to take but also why I've started this thread, to find out what can withstand that kind of heat.

well regardless which proc u use the system will be fine if its enclosed with some ventaliation while parked and temps stay below 130 F cause my system runs at that right now and its fine... but tw0 120 mm fans should be fine and id make the case plastic (white preferabbly) (plastric conducts less heat) and make sure you dont route A/C to it or very near it. or else youll screw yourslef with condensation. good luck... and you should call it the kaltag brothers edition...

If only I had AC in it right now. The compressor for the AC went out so i'm without for atleast a few months but it will be winter by then.

I dont know why this wasnt suggested, but if I were you I would put the celeron in it, then you get a P4 board, which will allow you to put a large hsf on it no problem.(I recommend the slk800-900U with an adjustable 80mm or 92mm fan, thermalright says they havent found a P4 board it wont fit on.)

1.7ghz celly $60

schismspeak, I assume you mean get a socket 478 board and likewise celeron. Unfortunately the board I was lookling at for about 20 bux was socket370. If the socket 478 HSFs can be modded to fit all the better though!! And thank you schismspeak for a HELPFUL post.

Yeah that is what I meant, I wasnt thinking straight at first. I didnt edit it before you saw it I guess. Cheap socket 478 board a celeron and an slk.
Also an LCD monitor should be fine, as long as you cover it with something(not black ofcourse) so it isnt directly in the sun while parked. The heat shouldnt damage it. (Game boy advanced in a 130 degree car for weeks(not mine), lcd still works fine.)

what you guys arn't realizing is that that isnt the cpu temp (120*) that is the ambient

the cpu will get much hotter than that. probably 150-180*

the c/w for a heatsink changes based on ambient at the time since the air is more dense at lower temps. the hotter the ambient, the less effective a cooling method becomed

anyways, just duct some ac into the compartment and dont run the pc until the car has cooled down.

at that temp though, it would be hard to keep anything stable

I should also check with you intel guys to see if the calerons/P3s support throttling so that the proc won't destroy itself. will it?

big_bertha said:

what you guys arn't realizing is that that isnt the cpu temp (120*) that is the ambient

the cpu will get much hotter than that. probably 150-180*

the c/w for a heatsink changes based on ambient at the time since the air is more dense at lower temps. the hotter the ambient, the less effective a cooling method becomed

anyways, just duct some ac into the compartment and dont run the pc until the car has cooled down.

at that temp though, it would be hard to keep anything stable

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What you dont realize is the car wont be 120degrees with the windows rolled down, it will only be that hot for a few min. Then once it is around the temps outside(say 90-100 or whatever) the slk with the fan on full blast, it should cool it efficiently, besides, if he got the slk8-900 on that celeron it would be at most 10°C above case temp which would only be few degrees above ambient. That celly with an slk will stay in spec even in 100° temps.(definately)
One thing kaltag, to keep it in spec you will probably need a high rpm fan (tornado) put it on a fanbus or something, so when you first get in your car, it will need to be on high, then once it cools down a little it might be safe to turn it down some(maybe) if not that fan shouldnt be any louder than road noise which in a new car is usually 65dba or more with the windows down so noise probably wont be much of an issue.

The heat spec on the 1.7 I showed you is 76°C, in otherwords 60°C stable most likely. So, say the car is hundred degrees after driving few min(38°C), turn the pc on, play music or video, it will most likely never get above 55°C, because music will be like idle, and video will be an average of 60-70% cpu usage or less. It wont ever be under full load.

Also, have you thought of the big name pc manufacturers, no intake, their case temps hover around 100+ degrees and they still cool OK, and they have pretty cruddy coolers.

And kaltag, I would really go with the 1.7 celeron, it has the highest heat spec, higher than the P3's by 7°C, also because you can get a bolt on slk which is much better then than the clip on, especially in a car.

*RAISES HANDS WILDLY!*

Have you considered a VIA solution? They make some compact mobos and processors that don't put out much heat at all (definitely less than a P3).

Here's a Link to VIA's Official Website

They make them up to 1ghz at the moment, which is great for running DVDs and Misc Videos.. In fact, many people have integrated them into their cars, as shown by these devoted guys.

I hope that may bring a better option to the table! And quite a cheap one I may add!

Ffats said:

Have you considered a VIA solution? They make some compact mobos and processors that don't put out much heat at all (definitely less than a P3).

Here's a Link to VIA's Official Website

They make them up to 1ghz at the moment, which is great for running DVDs and Misc Videos

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Another good idea.

I've been looking at the C3s for a possible solution but they seem to cost MORE than the celeron combos I can find, at least in the 1 ghz range. Perhaps you know of a place that has a good deal on one? cheapest one I can find on pricewatch is 168 dollars.

Those Via boards and CPUs interest me. I took a quick look around, but I'm not familiar with their products, so I'm having a hard time matching things up. Newegg has the Via Epia 800 Ezra. It says it takes either the Via Eden 5000, or the Via C3 E-Series processors. First off, can I assume C3 is short for Cyrix III ? Secondly what is the E-Series? I took a look at pricewatch and don't see any mention of E-Series or anything relating to it. Here's an entry I found for one: VIA:CYRIX III 800, 800MHZ, CPGA, 100/133MHZ FSB, SOCKET 370, RETAIL BOX, 3 YEAR WARRANTY - Is this an E-Series? Or what do I need to look for for it to be an E-Series?

I'm looking to put together a car 'puter in the near future, and might as well start collecting info now.

- Thanks