F*ING IRRITATING!!!! (please help you video experts)

[Nelson37]

Spicuzza, this is NOT anecdotal bullshit, this is based on observed, dedicated airflow tests, using a clear lucite panel and a smoke machine. Air flow patterns were obvious, tested component temperatures were clear.

Examine your case, ask yourself how much airflow is directed around the sides of the hard drives, for instance. With case closed, air is sucked around the faceplates, cooling the drives. That's one example. Sensors indicated that temps inside the case did rise, BUT OVERALL TEMPERATURE IS NOT IMPORTANT.

Component failure temperatures are usually well over 140 degrees. It does not matter if the ambient air in the case is 60 degrees or 120. With case open, components temps will be in a widely varying range, with the hottest components possibly VERY hot.. Case on, airflow as designed, overall temp is higher but the hottest components are actually cooler.

Now, a large fan blowing directly into the case will change all this, but the related electrical interference can cause problems and you did not state that you are using this method.

If you just want to jerk someone around, you guys have at it. If you want a Professional Opinion, based on FACTS, TESTING, and CONSULTATION with those who build and design PC's, you just got one.

Drewson99 - Change capture parameters to DRAMATICALLY alter capture filesize. Speculate freezing is throughput related, should go away with small cap file. Also eliminate sound as test. Re-install latest, or next-to-latest, driver files is always a good idea.

[snowmoon]

Ok back to the original poster... what chipset/motherboard do you have as it can make a big difference. I ended up dumping my AIW128 32MB for a WinTV-GO since the ATI driver always locked up on capture because I had a VIA KA133 chipset. Also if you have a HighPoint controller make sure and get the BETA w2k drivers as the standard HP366+Maxtor will cause lockups when streaming large files (like capture or playback), talk about annoing nothing else cause the lockup. I know that specific revisions of the SB live have been known to monopolize the bus and screw with your system if you don't capture at 48k ( native rate ).

So keep trying. I hope that these suggestions give you some ideas.

[thxkid]

well I am gonna get my 5 cents worth in here, I know people that open their cases because of not having enough fans to cool down their system, good for them, I don't want my system open all the time so I intsalled enough fans that I never run any of the system above 125 degrees, no matter how many days it runs, or what intensive load its putting on the computer, but to get it that way I have one fan in the power supply, 2 exhaust fans on the rear of the case, on intake in the front of the case, of course your CPU Fan, Fans that came on the Voodoo 5500, 2 fans that came on the motherboard also, I made sure to get ball bearing fans and very quiet whisper fans also., until I got the 2nd exhaust fan in the rear of the case I did have some heating problems but just getting one more exhaust fan did the trick. I run win98SE and never lock up. Also there is so many wires and IDE cables I used Plastic wire clips to tidey up inside the case and tried to provide a good air flow wihtout the wires or IDE cables causing blockage of air.

[drewson99]

this is the first time I used the box fan, so electrical interference isn't the issue (but I know not to do that from now on...)

I am going to get a final, fourth fan (intake) and keep my box closed. School is about to start and I prolly won't have time to do this stuff anymore for a while (i am wondering what capping at a lower bitrate will accomplish if it helps, because I will always have to cap at the higher rate in the end) oh well. thanks for all the input everyone.

Andy

[levi_1]

The casing is all down to safety.No ones gonna get frazzled if the side panels are left on.Personally i always leave mine off cuz my temp monitor says its much cooler that way nuff said.

[tmcmvd]

Nice discussion...but does this solve the problem ??

Leaving the case open is more effective if the heat can go up..or in a bad system, like fans running in the wrong direction...some PSU's will blow i.o. suck out the air..make sure you get them right. The heat will do this less when a tower case is used...heat will stay put between cards, between harddrives and so on... this heat will only go away with forced air and not by it's self. Hot components heaten up other components, like memory cousing system lockups and so on.

When 2 HDD are stuck on each other...even fans won;t do the job...and keep in mind that air that get's blown out has to come in also..and preferably not thrue your cd drive, so make sure you get an airflow from lower front to upper back in case of a tower case.. your PSU will also suck away some air. Use opening with wired grills in stead of pressed (am I saying this right) grills...the latter will lower the airflow.

Don't put HDD's on top of eachother... use HDD coolers..like shown above or use the ones you can put beneath a HDD..

Make sure your CPU makes good contact with the cooler...maybe lower the Frequency by lowering the FSB is possible..all components will run under spec so will get less hot. Feel at your chipset rib..it may get hot also..

Making a large fan blow into the open case may help, but won't cool 2 hdd's sitting on eachother... and also won't cool a chipset without a rib or a CPU which doesn't have good contact to the coolingrib..(use thermal paste) and so on...It will remove some general heat, but may also put a brake on other fans if the airflow is too hard.

If this doesn;t work...try your card in a different PC...(Cheaper then buying another one)..

ATI's drivers aren't too good overall and support it bad also...you just may have bad luck. Also look at DMA drivers for the chipset en hdd controller (VIA ??) Maybe your memory is little defective....try removing one of the modules and then the other...

Reinstalling the OS..may help, but is a lot of work..

If you say goodbuy to ATI...buy a Canopus HDVC-100 analogue to firewire convertor...works great without any hassle...just needs a firewire card.

Just some ideas..

Greetz.

Mike.

[patrickm]

kinneera, that does make some sense, but I gotta ask this: What is better, the fans I have with the case off, or the case open with a box fan pointing at the open machine?

Andy

hey, if you're going to do that, do it right. go out and get one of those thin blue fiberglass filters for a/c systems (maybe even the one w/ the wire backing) and cut it up and use it to cover all the intake areas/holes on the front, back, and other side of the case. then have the box fan blow OUT of the case. this way you can get tons of airflow and stay clean. (i don't do this, but i have done it as an experiment and it works well, though it's real loud. it's better to give up a couple degrees and use an 8" DC vent fan and the rest of the side of the case and keep it sealed. alternatively, you can filter the back of the fan and blow in, but it never quite seals correctly and you still get a decent amount of dust)

[patrickm]

another thing that does help is to cut a small hole in the top of the case and exhaust upward with a standard case fan. also filter the top of this one so stuff can't fall in. heat wants to rise, so take advantage of that.

[kayfam]

I've been following this thread for a couple of days now with some amusment. I found an article at Tom's Hardware Guide on how to really cool things down.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/02q3/020701/index.html









Don't shoot me I'm just the messenger!

[Nelson37]

Drewson99 - The reason for the lo-bitrate cap is to see if you can first control and then determine a threshold for the problem, and/or eliminate some possible causes. Suppose the problem happens in 60 to 90 minutes whether the cap file is 30 GIG or 3 GIG. This would tend to indicate the problem lies somewhere other than HD, such as card overheating.

Finding a "magic bullet" answer for hardware problems is nice, but rarely happens.

Try also disabling sound card, if it sometimes locks up after 1 minute it may well be a problem with the audio not synching up.

[drewson99]

i do have 2 stacked HDDs, what is a HDD cooler? also, i like the idea of mounting a fan on the top - i have a dremel that could make it easy.

water system, ha! too scary!

Oh yeah - the canopus analog to firwire - does it have s-video in?

[rsuave5]

well hate to get into the debate but when i told support i had my sony vaio open they flipped and said it would void the warranty and said almost exsactly what was said before the case is designed for max air flow and provides proper temps for various areas that need them.

my opinion is you should try another card or upgrade your system.ie ram and cpu.uninstall everything then reinstall or leave your computer off for a while. turn on defrag then capture with no other programs running. did you look threw manuals and learn how to turn off applications that are non essential.

spicuzza seems nice but the non sensical,stereotype,sexist talk really showed his ignorance and therefore i cannot rationalize any of his ramblings

[drewson99]

i think I have plenty of ram, and the cpu seems okay for this task, so I guess reinstalling my OS and software is all that's left.

Andy

[tmcmvd]

The canopus device has s-video and cvbs video in and out, as well as firewire/dv in and out. It solves almost all issues like audiocards.

For the extra hole on top you would have to dismantle the whole system...one splinter of metal is enough for a ride to the hardware store.


reinstalling the os...is never a bad idea...

and a hdd cooler is a cooler designed for cooling hdd's... you screw them under or in front the hdd.


greetz.

mike.