View Single Post
Unread 04-18-2003, 12:47 AM   #30
murray13
Cooling Savant
 
murray13's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Omaha, NE USA
Posts: 216
Default

The reason behind why increasing flow in an automobile can cause it to overheat is this. First when you increase flow you transfer more of the engine's heat to the water. Since you haven't changed the radiator or the air flow over it, the radiator can't handle the extra heat being transfered. It's size and the airflow limit how much heat it can remove from the water. When you excede the limit of the radiator the water just continues to heat up until it's boiling point is reached. Overheating.

I think it's a bad analogy because of this:

Car: 125,000 Watt heat source --> 900 cubic inch radiator

PC: 70 Watt heat source --> 70 cubic inch radiator

AND

A car has a different design goal for the cooling system.

Ever had a car that didn't run right until it warmed up?
murray13 is offline   Reply With Quote