Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

my desktop computer at home overheats sometimes and lags a lot, so i was thinking of improving the cooling system to improve perfomance. while i was researching what kinds of cooling i should get, i remembered that cars have small computers in them too. theoretically cooling the ECU should improve vehicle performance. i dont think it would improve engine power much - if at all, but perhaps it could aid in accuracy and responsiveness of other ECU controlled devices such as ABS, traction control, electronic 4-wheel-steer etc...

but then again, do ECU's heat up at all???

i guess im looking for feedback from somebody who knows a bit about ECU's - aftermarket or not, skyline or otherwise. but everybody's opinion is welcome ;)

im not taking this seriously, im just bored and have money to blow :Pliquid-cooling-pc.jpg

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/339754-ecu-perfomance/
Share on other sites

Electronics whether they be car or home computer will happily operate within a certain thermal envelope. The more processing you do the more heat is generated, but modern manufacturing processes means this heat output is reduced compared with older technologies (for the same amount of processing power).

Car ECUs are not a particularly stressful thing these days. Therefore they will happily be passively heatsinked by their own metal enclosure and no additional cooling is required (and there will be no benefit either). Earlier ECUs were pushing the envelope, I believe the R32 GTR that won bathurst had an ECU cooled by the car's fuel (!!!) because they were obviously trying to make it do a lot of clever work with the technology available in the day. These days heat output is a non-issue.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/339754-ecu-perfomance/#findComment-5488823
Share on other sites

Car ECUs belongs to embedded computer system while the CPU in your desktop falls under platform system, one of the main considerations when designing an embedded system is the heat output & power consumption as most embedded systems are designed to work in restricted areas (with little air flow) & sometimes on battery power. Hence most embedded processor have very low clock frequency (most are under 500Mhz compared to your Gigahertz+ desktop CPUs) & therefore would not get very hot during normal operating conditions since the heat generated is directly related to the operating frequency.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/339754-ecu-perfomance/#findComment-5495715
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • This looks great! Awesome to have the 5 speed with an LSD in this. The Recaro's look like SR2's or SR3's. It's a shame they've been retrimmed as they would have looked sweet in their original colours. I think I'd want my agent to be a little more up front and informative too. I've never imported but I reckon it would make me a little nervous, so the more info the better.
    • Thanks for doing that Duncan! Makes you a good person in my books. We don't get kangaroos or wombats here. But we have bats and it's similar. AFAIK it's often the mums with a baby attached that get hit because they drop lower when starting from a tree. If you hit an animal, check on it. https://www.ifaw.org/au/resources/wildlife-rescue-app An app to get the closest wildlife rescue contact.
    • My dream is also to have a proper hoist, but I don't think it will ever happen. My quickjack is probably as close as I'll ever get, it really is very good though. 
    • Yeah we keep on in the dailies, it is pretty poor how many animals get hit and the driver leaves without checking....have saved a couple of little ones over the years. Bit of a gruesome job though, pouches generally need to be cut open because they are so tight and often the joey doesn't realise mum is gone so they are still locked onto the teat. I checked the modules in front of the DS wheel where an oil cooler should go.... There is the radar unit - that can go for race use) One of the 2 HX water pumps, the silver cylinder. That needs to be kept but might be able to be relocated But the bad news, the big computer mounted vertically in front of the wheel (blocking any potential air exit) is the electric steering computer. That is required until/unless i do a hydraulic steering conversion, and in CAD based modern car design it is not like I can just pop a big unit like that somewhere else (plus the loom would be too short anywhere else too). So, the passenger side is OK to clear out (just use a smaller washer reservoir, potentially elsewhere), but the DS no beuno
    • Well, all the best with the new camry It was interesting to hear about the UK process, it is generally a lot more streamlined here with a shipping agent looking after all the import side (noting the exact final price can still be a surprise.....) and I've used a few different brokers on the japan (or US) side, and never had any trouble with any of them....luck of the draw I guess. You mentioned you didn't get the auction sheet (understandable since you bought it from a dealer, not auction), but I always try and get hold of that because they are pretty thorough. I've imported 2x R grade vehicles over the years and both were fine, repairs in Japan are pretty thorough compared to here in Oz.
×
×
  • Create New...