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Thread: How hot can games safely get?

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    Insert Coin (Level 0) Bubble_Man's Avatar
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    Default How hot can games safely get?

    On Christmas eve, I shut and locked the door to my game collection because the relatives were coming over and bringing their kids (one of which is known to have sticky fingers). I put a space heater in the room to prevent a quick temperature drop and condensation. When I opened it again 5 hours later, the room felt like it was at about 80 or 85 degrees F. I'm guessing that temperature for that length of time wouldn't be enough to damage game discs or cartridges, but it still left me feeling uncomfortable (yup, I'm OCD). The incident got me wondering, how hot can games realistically get before there is a real possibility of damage? I typically try to keep the game room between 50 and 70 degrees F.

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    Kirby (Level 13) Leo_A's Avatar
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    Have you always lived somewhere with air conditioning?

    Those temperatures aren't terribly unusual inside of a house at times during the summer months even up here in upstate NY. I'd say we average a good week or so of such weather each summer where inside the house it reaches those temperatures during the height of the day (Thankfully the rest of it is much more comfortable up here during the summer months and one can live fairly comfortably most of it without AC).

    There's certainly nothing dangerous for your electronics to be in a room that reached the low 80's (And I'm at a loss to think why you would even be concerned). I'm also confused on why you would would be keeping your game room as low as 50 degrees for?

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    Insert Coin (Level 0) Bazoo's Avatar
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    How hot can games safely get?
    Well I think showing anything harder than softcore gets a little to risque even for the older crowd, even the new Mortal Kombat female costumes are just about pushing it. Custer's Revenge is just in bad taste, so I think the line is at skimpy outfits.

    /badjokes

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    Quote Originally Posted by Leo_A View Post
    Have you always lived somewhere with air conditioning?

    Those temperatures aren't terribly unusual inside of a house at times during the summer months even up here in upstate NY. I'd say we average a good week or so of such weather each summer where inside the house it reaches those temperatures during the height of the day (Thankfully the rest of it is much more comfortable up here during the summer months and one can live fairly comfortably most of it without AC).

    There's certainly nothing dangerous for your electronics to be in a room that reached the low 80's (And I'm at a loss to think why you would even be concerned). I'm also confused on why you would would be keeping your game room as low as 50 degrees for?
    We used to have central heat that kept the entire house at a set temperature, but it kicked the bucket and now I'm getting used to other heating/cooling methods. I've been reading about how to make discs last as long as possible and have consisently read that sixty-something degrees is the ideal for longevity. I don't keep the room at 50 degrees, but see that as the absolute lowest it should be allowed to drop.

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    While it doesn't seem like anything in your collection would be at risk based on those temperatures, while we're touching on this topic I would advise against long-term storage of game systems/games in an non-temperature controlled attic.

    My parents put my C64 collection in the attic of my childhood home when I moved out. After several summers and winters of extreme temperatures that probably were over 100 degrees and below 30 some of the 5 1/2 inch floppy discs physically warped and practically all were unreadable.

    I would imagine that prolonged EXTREME temperature exposure/swings like that might have an affect on bit-rot for CD/DVD materials, systems with rubber belt-driven motors might have belts dry, become brittle or break, capacitors might have a higher propensity to dry up or leak, and cartridge based stuff with glue-backed labels might exhibit signs of staining, sweating, or drying up/peeling/falling off.
    Last edited by Frankie_Says_Relax; 12-27-2012 at 03:14 PM.
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    80 degrees F? Come on. That's nothing. My games experience that and higher every summer.

    You'd need to get more like 80 degrees Celsius to really worry, and if your room got that hot, you'd have bigger problems than your games.

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    Great Puma (Level 12) jb143's Avatar
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    Higher temps can also shorten the lifespan of caps and batteries but I wouldn't worry too much about 80 degrees though. The typical operating temperature for commercial electronic components is 0°C-70°C, which translates to 32°F-158°F.
    "Game programmers are generally lazy individuals. That's right. It's true. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Since the dawn of computer games, game programmers have looked for shortcuts to coolness." Kurt Arnlund - Game programmer for Activision, Accolade...

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    I've had my collection since I was four years old and every year in Texas my room gets up to 82 on average, 85 to 90 this past summer when the freon was gone from the A/C. In the winter it's 65 to 70 in my room, spring and fall average 76 to 82 and this is all in 40 to 50% humidity. I wouldn't worry about it too much since everything I have still works.

    Most electronics are rated to operate in temperatures that should never be felt in the house like freezing 32°F to Fire 158°F+. Ask for media it ranges to the type of media but most common numbers for storage are between 65°F to 85°F.

    Trust me I'm OCD myself when it comes to important stuff like family VHS tapes and my anime collection, those are in my closet away from UV and regular light and the temperature in there ranges from 62°F to 78°F even in the hot of summer, the insulation must be great in there.

    Do be sure to make sure your consoles and electronics have proper ventilation and if possible switch them off on a surge protector, especially when it's summer time if you want to help them stay cooler.
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