Cooling your PVR 350

[mikejaner]

I had a major battle with my system last night. My machine kept locking up the 350 output, and killing my recordings. I was getting ready to throw it across the room, cause the Wife was glaring at me saying how much better Tivo was. :-(
After two hours of frustration, I decided to rip out all of my encoders, xcard, and reseat everything. I noticed my 350 and 250 were both running kind of hot. This is normal in most conditions, but because of summer, and heat going up in the house in general, I think they were getting too hot.
Anyways, I took a blower fan and put it directly facing my 350 heatsink. Since then the heatsink has not gotten above room temperature, and the 350 cannot be locked up. I have had about 12 hours of playback, including REW and FF, and trying to lock it up.

I just wanted to pass this info along to people haveing lockups with their 350 output. I know it's kind of obvious, but sometimes I just ignore basics looking for these answers.

[chako]

You may have solved my WAF (wife approval factor) problem! I'll give that a try. Mine has been locking up as well, but only when I'm heavily using it. It can record for days without trouble. I haven't seen any ideas about how to fix it and I've tried it in two completely different computers and it's the same problem. I'll bet it's just heat. I'll update you with my findings. Thanks for the idea. Obvious, yes, but elusive nonetheless.

[boomstick]

Has anyone had a PVR-350 lockup problem using an Antec Overture case?

HTPCNews.com www.htpcnews.com has an article about cooling issues when using this case.

[Karen0302]

boomstick,

The article about the Antec Overture case was very interesting. Thanks for posting it. At first I couldn't believe those temp numbers!! That is one HOT case! Mine runs CPU 51 degrees and case 36 degrees under sustained full load.

Karen

[plawlor]

I have 2 350s in my system. I put 2 high-powered slot fans in between them. Seems to be working great so far.

[mikejaner]

Glad to hear it. I have had no issues with output since my heat problems went away too... ;-)

[Crowdx42]

Heat is always our enemy with computers and the catch22 is fans are noisey. Leaving use trying to get the best heat vs noise compromise. What the more adventurous could try is something like this Zalman Cooler instead of the stock heatsink. Ideally a large cutout of the side of a case with 120mm fan blowing air on the PRV 250 and 350 cards, this would be a quiet solution also. With 3 PVR 250s in a single case it needs a lot fo airflow to keep things cool.
Get out your hole saws and Dremmels
Patrick

[Karen0302]

Crowdx42,

Strange that you should mention cutting holes into the casing <g>. That is exactly what I had my husband do (after the obligatory argument concerning WHY I wanted the holes cut and EXACTLY WHERE the holes would be cut etc). I didn't use 120mm fans, rather I used 2 80mm Delta fans which seem to do an very good if very noisy job.

I wouldn't recommend this technique for a system that is near your TV as it is way too noisy. My HTPC is one of the systems in my computer room and it connects to the TV with a 50' sheilded S-VHS/RCA cable I got on the net. I also had to "extend" this length the little IR detector that came with my Haupauge PVR-350 to around 50' but one that was done everything works just fine and the noise is confined to the computer room where it belongs.

Karen

[Crowdx42]

120mm fans are much quieter with better airflow, that is why I recommend them over 80mm fans. 120mm fan is in the back of an Antec Sonata case and that case has nice airflow.
Patrick

[spacegoat]

I'm Running 2 250s in my overture case with a ATI 9200. I'm running at 53 and 34. A little on the high side, but it has been very stable. I added two 80mm fans just sitting inside the case. one is resting on top of the power supply blowing up and the other is pointed at my PVR cards. I also have a slot blower stuck between the PVR cards. I put the heat senser for the stock chassis fan right in the CPU heat sink to ensure the RPM stays up.

[Narflex]

Thanks for letting me know this fixed some problems. I still got a lockup in RC3 testing which pissed me off to all hell, because it was right in an area I knew I had already fixed. This happened when I was doing some major stress testing on it and was subjecting it to channel changes 4 times a second in repeated tests for a whole afternoon. During the end of testing it had a lockup which I couldn't understand.....I know for sure that box gets pretty hot sometimes. This could explain that anomally.

That same stress testing was done in client/server, network encoder, 350OSD (about a half dozen different setups, and combinations of them). And they all passed that stress testing for RC3, with that one anomally mentioned.

[ckron]

Originally posted by Crowdx42
120mm fans are much quieter with better airflow, that is why I recommend them over 80mm fans. 120mm fan is in the back of an Antec Sonata case and that case has nice airflow.
Patrick

I have 2 Sonata cases and I think they are the best. Rubber grommets for the HDDs, what a great idea!!

[ToxMox]

I use something called the Card Cooler which actually attaches to the screws on the slots you are trying to cool the cards of and sits perpendicular to the pci cards. I have a 350 and two 250s and my cards always feel just luke warm to the touch even under high stress. I got the Stealth version of it and I love it.

Link : http://www.thecardcooler.com/shopcar...ard_cooler.htm

[Alex0230]

Originally posted by ToxMox
I use something called the Card Cooler which actually attaches to the screws on the slots you are trying to cool the cards of and sits perpendicular to the pci cards. I have a 350 and two 250s and my cards always feel just luke warm to the touch even under high stress. I got the Stealth version of it and I love it.

Link : http://www.thecardcooler.com/shopcar...ard_cooler.htm

I just bought one of these things....I'm seeing more and more that problems with the lockups are heat related. I'm starting to have the same lockups people are having and are saying are due to heat. Since it is getting to be that time of year and out here it gets to be upwards of 120, it was probably a smart move. We'll see how it goes...it is a clever device that doesn't require modification to the case to get direct air to the cards.

EDIT:
I just pulled off my case to touch my 350 card....yeah, wow...that this is hot. I'm gonna rearrange my fans and drop one done just so it is blowing on it....

[Karen0302]

ToxMox,

Thanks very much for the post about The Card Cooler. I popped over to their site and it looks like just what I needed. I really like the way they use the card mounting screws to hold the fans. I ordered one for me. Thanks again for the great tip!!!

Karen

[ToxMox]

Karen,
No problem. I'm glad I could help some people. It should be noted that some cases may have problems fitting this device if there isn't enough space between the pci slots and the side panel of the case.

[Crowdx42]

I would assume the system needs to run without the side panel? Where would it get airflow to cool the cards?
As stated earlier, perspex and some tools and one can mount mulitple fans wherever they are needed on the side of the case.
Patrick

[mikejaner]

I would assume the system needs to run without the side panel?

Actually, I have found as long as you have air coming to your box, you should be fine. The heating problem comes when you have no air moving over the heatsink. You could have air in the box at 90 degrees, and as long as you blow that air over the heatsink of the 350, you will cool it down to around 95 or so from 140 degrees, for example.

[ToxMox]

Originally posted by Crowdx42
I would assume the system needs to run without the side panel? Where would it get airflow to cool the cards?
As stated earlier, perspex and some tools and one can mount mulitple fans wherever they are needed on the side of the case.
Patrick

I would say that you would only need to keep the side panel off if it lays flush against the Card Cooler's fans. As long as there is some space between the side panel and the fans of the card cooler then the fans should be able to blow on the cards. Just make sure you have enough air intake and exhaust fan(s) in the case I guess. I happen to keep the side off of my case but that is just because I am lazy.

[Saiboogu]

Maybe this is why I have been blessed with so few of the SageTV 2.0 problems others complain of. I've gone the same route as Karen, with the tuners in a very noise box relegated to another room. My 350 actually lives in my primary PC, which runs at a cool (and loud) 30 CPU / 34 case at the moment. Peaks to around 37 / 38 during the warmer spells. That is, of course, with four Vantec Tornadoes (85 CFM, 55 (!) db / each), so its a bit like sitting next to a vacuum cleaner. Two of them are in the side panel, one pushing air to, and the other removing air from my 350 and my graphics card. So both remain quite cool -- barely warm to the touch. Am planning on going to a water cooled system very soon to cut back on noise severely -- if the 350 doesn't get a dedicated system by then, I'll certainly report back on my experiences water cooling my 350 (Since I plan to go with a single fan to cool the radiator and slowly circulate air, I'm sure the 350 will need to be in the cooling loop to compensate for the reduced airflow).

Ben