HP Z556 Digital Entertainment Center - so much HEAT

Ok, i got dang good deal (paid less than $110) on a HP Z556 DEC with
MCE 2005 and i absolutely love it. For those not familiar with this
line from HP, here's a link
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1930237,00.asp

One thing though, the system though very quiet, gives off so much
heat. When i put my hand on the top vent out of curiosity, man, the air
is so hot. I finally realized that the system was the cause of my small
room being so hot. I resorted to putting it in standby when i leave the
house because otherwise when i get home, my room is stiffling hot.

Obviously, this puts a cramp in scheduling recordings when not at home.
I'm thinking of buying a couple of those USB fans so that it can at
least keep cool if left on all day.
Will they be enough, or does anyone have any better suggestions on what
to get to keep it cool? Does something like a mini-AC exist for PC's?

 

Wow, less than a buck ten is an amazing deal.

The box is quiet because the fan(s) are not moving a lot of air at a high
speed. The thing is that if you add extra fans you will move more air but
your box will still be putting the same amount of heat into the room. Sure,
it's no fun now but you'll dig it in the winter.

 

So basically, not much i can do about it? Guess its time to stop being
a grinch and buy a room AC then.

 

Can the sytem be put into standby? If the processor aint computin a lot it
should run cooler but scheduled recording should still fire. Other than that
I don't know. I do know the room I took over here at home is hotter than the
rest of the house. This is the first year for an LCD monitor which helps a
bit but I still need to run an oscillating fan to push the heat out on those
90 deg + days like today.

 

I put it on standby when i leave the house. So scheduled recordings
should still kick in even in standby? That solves half of the problem
then.

 

One thing though, the system though very quiet, gives off so much heat.

If the room is getting hot, adding fans to the PC won't help at all. You
need to vent the room.

If it's the PC you're worried about, you'll need to add some fans to the
case IF there are places to add them.

USB fans, etc. won't help at all. You want large, slower fans (120mm) that
pull air into or push air out of the case. PCI slot fans and 5.25" dry bay
fans won't help.

The PC should wake up to record your shows. If the screen saver is set to go
back to sleep after 5 minutes, it should sleep once the recording is
finished.

You could try to underclock your PC to lower the CPU temps. You might take a
look at what hardware you have to determine where most of the heat is coming
from.

 

Thanks a lot.