Re: Cooling a HP desktop

On 5/31/2026 10:19 PM, Paul wrote:
> On Sun, 5/31/2026 9:31 PM, sticks wrote:
>> On 5/31/2026 7:07 PM, sticks wrote:
>>> The video below is the exact model of one I have.  I am worried about overheating in the summer as this is out in my garage.  At the 9:05 mark the vid talks about adding a second fan, an exhaust fan.  There does seem to be the power hookup on the board right there.  Am I correct that just having the fan on the processor now and adding this exhaust fan should really help keeping the temps down on this machine?
>>>
>>> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N82dHQJ8TXg>
>>>
>>> Any remarks appreciated!
>>
>> I want to add one thing.  The reason I am looking into this again is because I've been monitoring the temps with Core Temp, and even though it is still not as hot outside as it will get this summer, I have noticed the temps higher than during the winter in the heated garage. Where it used to idle at about 90-95F, it now runs at about 105-110F, and if I idle for a little when I come back I've seen it as high as the low 130's.  I am guessing this is because the fan on the processor isn't running as high since the processor is not working hard?  I go back to using it and it drops back down, which would seem counterintuitive. Anyway, I need to see if I can get these temps down a bit.
>>
> 
> I recognize the aluminum heatsink as a 65W one. The processor is 6 P cores and 4 E cores.
> It has a 13 TOPS NPU on it, which is not the 50 TOPS that Microsoft is looking for,
> but any NPU is better than nothing. You should have an extra section in Task Manager,
> a GPU performance graph and near that should be one for the NPU.
> 
> https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/241070/intel-core-ultra-5-processor-225-20m-cache-up-to-4-90-ghz/specifications.html
> 
> Processor Base Power    65 W
> Maximum Turbo Power    121 W
> 
> Like a lot of OEM computers, the cooling solution is a disgrace :-/
> 
> As you note, the exhaust fan location on the back, is not populated
> but there is a fan header. The problem I see, is I am not locating
> the "square hole pattern" for an industry standard square fan! You'll
> have to check this for me, and see if one of the three hole patterns,
> the holes happen to be a subset of the four holes on a case cooling fan.
> 
> The airflow may start at the top of the CPU, flow through the fins,
> then the cowling redirects the air from the bottom of the heatsink,
> towards the exhaust vent. That is a right-angle turn.
> 
> The front cooling vent, the fake woodgrain panel on the front seems
> to block air movement there. Perhaps there is some secret ventilation path
> that makes the vent a usable one. The available pictures do not allow
> me to figure this out.
> 
> You could cut a circle in the sliding side panel, and fit an external
> intake fan and "pressurize the case". Remove the cowling for the rear
> hole, so that the air will be in a rush to escape when pressurized by the side
> intake, Instead of ruining the side panel, you may be able to
> make a metal plate to take its place, and mount your external
> square fan on the metal plate.
> 
> You can cut away the cheese grater ventilation covers, and
> go with something that allows more airflow. On my large (EATX) case
> computer, I stared longingly at my nibbling tool and the cheese
> grater vent, trying to figure out a way to cut the vent out of the
> way and increase room for airflow.
> 
> A larger fan, with lower RPMs, helps with noise. When a machine is
> a bit smaller like that, any provided fans have to run at higher RPMs
> because their diameter isn't all that great.
> 
> The way I see it, you have next to no airflow as it is, and unless you
> can find a way to pressurize the case (the side area may be sufficient
> for a large fan), messing with the tiny fan holes will likely leave
> a bit of a noisy situation.
> 
> Now, you'll have to get out your metric "ruler", and see if
> any hole pattern is there for 60mm, 80mm, 92mm, 120mm, 140mm and so on
> in the series of standard fans. There are a few other sizes which are not
> common. The 40mm ones are virtually useless... unless they run at 6000RPM
> and are 1" thick or thicker.
> 
> When I pressurized my EATX case, I was dismayed to find that the PSU did not
> pass a lot of air from inside the case and through the vent in the back.
> The PSU was quite resistant to being helped (the PSU sits in the bottom
> of the case, and the intake on the PSU is down low). That machine has three intakes on
> the roof of the case, a large fan on the front of the case as an
> intake, and a number of other vents are taped off to encourage
> the air to leave only via back-vents.
> 
> So part of your problem then, is the air is stale inside the case,
> the case air is heating up, and there is no movement to bring it
> back down to about 35C or so.
> 
> While you could change the computer case, all those holes for I/O would be
> a pain in the ass to create to finish the job. It would be an endless nightmare,
> to change cases. I like the idea a bit better, of replacing the side plate,
> with your own side plate, with an intake fan mounted on the outside of it.
> My daily driver used to have an external intake, the fan being mounted on
> pieces of aluminum angle iron. I've since removed that when the latest
> motherboard was fitted to the case.

I had a Foxconn model PV902512L which runs at 0.16 A and has the 92x25 
hole pattern.

<https://www.amazon.com/PV902512L-DC12V-0-16A-3-WIRE-92x25mm/dp/B00B877C50

I removed the two shrouds as the video shows and this fan did fit in 
this location perfectly and the power plug in was where it showed in the 
video.  Once I placed the fan in there, the shroud I took off that was 
either directing air to or away from the CPU didn't fit.  I could try 
and trim it a bit to get it back, but I am leaning to thinking it is not 
necessary now that there is a case exhaust fan installed, so I put the 
covers back on and fired it up.

Wow, what a difference that makes!  Where before it would spike up every 
time I asked it to do something, it just hovers now at 97F which is 
almost exactly that 35C you mentioned.  It is still very quiet, can't 
really hear either fan at all.

So, unless you have any words of wisdom, I'm gonna just monitor it for 
awhile and make sure it keeps working.  This fan is out of a 20 year old 
box so I probably should get a spare just in case it pukes.  Would the 
same thing be OK, or should I look for something that spins faster to 
get even more air flowing?






-- 
Science Doesn’t Support Darwin. Scientists Do