Climate change is affecting the planet with every passing day and as we see the saying “the weather is crazy” is true. The problem is that when summer comes in some parts of the country you see the mark of the thermometer 50º C in the sun and almost 45º C in the shadetherefore, it does not only affect us, but also our computerbut how does it affect them? high summer temperatures?
When you have a PC you want several things: good performance, low price, low noise and low temperature. Some of these points are exclusive due to the market and others due to thermodynamics, especially as they say in the summer. Are there significant changes in your PC between the cold phase of winter and the extreme heat of the season that we are going to face? Yes, and a lot.
High summer temperatures affect your PC’s health
This time the answer is obvious, but we are going to study it a lot more. A PC is tied to temperature just as transistors are tied to performance. In fact, the second most limiting factor in any PC’s performance is the temperature of key components.
With high temperatures our PC begins to degrade its transistors faster, this is not something to worry about since we are talking about the atomic level, the atoms that move from the bridges and gates of each transistor to areas where they s oxidize or obstruct current flow, typically at the junction between masks within the matrix.
Temperature has a trigger in the voltage, it’s not physically a problem in itself, but the extra millivolts needed for any electronic component at a higher temperature produces what is described and therefore shortens its life.
It depends on the frequency and voltage and a lot less than we think in the node that the silicon chip is made in, but that has an influence except that we as users won’t see it as a problem unless we step out of the CPU temperatures Tjmaxwhere everything will go much faster.
Lack of ambient humidity and air density
Greater heat in the environment unequivocally implies a lower air density, which is good for our PC, but also a lack of environmental humidity that does not help some rooms.
Less dense air means that fans will move it more easily and with less noise because the gas we depend on does not contain as many water particles, so the shock of the blades, edges and air vortices that are created will be acoustically quieter.
The counterpart comes from the relative humidity, because it not only implies that the temperature is higher and that the feeling is drier by lowering it, but it also dries out any thermal material that our PC has. From thermal pastes, TIMs, thermal pads, to electrical protection solutions such as certain fluxes or sealants in the coils to avoid Coil Whine.
The high temperature and low humidity dry out the materials, allowing worse heat transfer or preventing their proper functioning, so it is practical to check them and see if they are really lubricated or dry and if it is necessary to change them.
Everything said so far is amplified in a laptop, no matter how good and optimized its cooling system is with simple ventilation and internal space for heat dissipation. Here it would be advisable to consider a routine of cleaning and lubricating key parts every 6 monthsfor example, as long as we do not lose the guarantee by opening it of course.
