Will it help cool the temperature of my PC if I open the PC case?

[kwfine]

Hi all,

MY PC is running XP SP2 with a P4 3GHZ CPU and a 1GB RAM.
It is using ATI RADEON 9200 PRO (AGP 8X) which I purcahsed last year to replace my
damaged ATI RADEON 9550.

Now let's move on to what's happened to my PC:
Recently I was doing some graphics editing work in Firework CS4 when suddenly
a yellow light just flashed across the PC monitor, and then the windows freezed.
I turned off my PC and tried to turn it on but the HDD light kept flashing, and the monitor showed nothing.
Later I opened my PC case, turned on my PC,
and I could go to the Desktop successfully.

I am not sure if the yellow light is any sign showing my PC graphic card damaged?
and
WIll it help cool the temperature of my PC if I open the PC case?

Please help if you could.

[TeXaCo]

Obviously it is a heat issue and could be the video card because I had one go on me because of heat. It started to do weird stuff like freeze and put weird colors up and even sometimes shut the computer down until one day it went altogether and it froze with all kinds of weird colors across the screen. Just don't rule out the CPU might be getting too hot.

As far opening the PC case to cool it down. I do not recommend it because most towers are designed to not just push out heat but also bring in cooler air. So in order to do that you need air flow, like cool air coming in from the front of the case and hot air going out the back or something similar. Now with that said, in emergency situations, I do know a few people who have taken off the side of the case but they put a fan blowing directly into the case. That is for an emergency and I Don't recommend it.

Check to make sure if you have a graphics card with a fan attached to it that it is spinning while the computer is on.
Have you tried using heat monitoring programs for your video card?
Installing more fans?
Do you have another video card to try out in the meantime to see if it has the same problem?

[grr]

opening the case would help for a short time.

You woudl require finding the cause of the problem. For example, remove the graphics card for few days & see of the same problem appears back.

[Raymond]

If you live in Malaysia, opening the case is not really an option because of the hot weather all year round.
I've seen people doing that and it ends up the whole room became hot and stuffy unless the air conditioner is turned on.

If you think it is a overheating problem, go to BIOS and normally there is an option that displays the current temperature of the CPU.

[Ande]

Nerver run your computer with the case opened. The airflow and fans in your case were designed to keep your system as cool as possible.
If you find yourself overheating, turn up the air conditioning, or turn down the heat.
I have my system under a desk, so I have an external fan running on the case as to remove any hot air as soon as it comes out the case's fans.

[Ceyfer √]

Will it help cool the temperature of my PC if I open the PC case?

Not really a practical option unless you're in the right environment ( most cases suitable : freezing point. ). Proper cooling system and right ventilation condition of your environment ( temp controlled environ ). See BIOS option like Raymond has said - check & troubleshoot temp quota/cooling system.

Your location(s):

• Taiwan
• Australia

[hellnoire]

As has been said above by most, DON'T OPEN THE CASE. Those fans in there are what's moving the air, and they need the case to be closed to have optimal flow. My suggestion is either get a bigger fan or a better case in design.

[JayCub]

Depending on the pc your using the manual (bible) that came with it will explain why a particular Led lights up and if it was red i would be more concerned as it's yellow action needs to be taken.. im not going to add more about the casing as this has been well covered here..

[Vibhanshu]

dont open case because if u keep it like that any mouse or insect can damage your system and also drinking water may go in so keep case close and add exhaust fan and cabinet fan in it or if it is not sufficient then bring a water cooling system for pc and install in

---------- Post added at 11:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 AM ----------

some times gathered dust also increase temperature and system problem so clean your pc by a blower and clean all golden part of a card or ram with a eraser and then fit them again and check your temp by any temperature monitoring utility available on internet

[Pilgrim]

When I added a graphics card and a second internal hard drive to my PC I modified the rear panel to take an extra 80mm fan next to the MB connections, I also drilled about 30 or so 5mm holes in the base of the tower (away from any hardware), and it dropped the CPU, GPU, MB, and hard drive temperatures by about 10 degrees C, although they had never got near the maximum design settings.

My original PC had a 3.06GHZ P4 which ran a great deal hotter than my current o/clocked D945.
Apparently P4's are known for running hot anyway.

With regard to the yellow light, have you considered that it might be the monitor either over-heating or playing up.

There are plenty of freeware programs that will give you temperature readings Open Hardware Monitor is a good one if you do not already have one. Although it is still shown as BETA I have been using an earlier version for several months with no problems.