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Hot CPU and GPU =(

TehGuy

Active Member
I'm trying to fix an older computer (not even mine, it's my mom's) that was recently slightly upgraded (only went from 512mb ram to 1gb and something like an athlon 2400 to 3200). The computer itself is probably 3 or 4 years old. It has an Athlon 3200+ XP, NVidia 6600GT (128MB), and the motherboard is this K7N2 Delta2-LSR thing. Basically, she was complaining of World of Warcraft crashing or the computer restarting, or the graphics going crazy. So I updated the drivers to everything (sound, video, mobo, bios), and checked the computer temperatures, which were really high.

So I reapplied some thermal paste to the CPU and GPU heatsinks (I put on the normal amount of paste, Arctic Silver 5, and the temperatures went up slightly, put on even more and it went down), added another fan to the case, and moved around the fans to improve the airflow in the case. The air coming out of the PC is cool enough. This reduced the temperature some, but it still seems really high.

On the bios itself, it says the CPU is sitting at about 70c. Using SpeedFan, it says GPU is at 55-60c idling, while the CPU is at 50-55c idling. When I open World of Warcraft up in windowed mode, the CPU jumps up to 80-85c, and the graphics card
goes up to about 70c, maybe 75c. It says the same for the MSI mobo utility program thing (Core Center). They also say the system temperature is 30c. Here's a screencap of both while idling and while under stress:

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w314/p4x-650/idle.png - Idle
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w314/p4x-650/stressed.png - Stressed

The CPU and GPU are not overclocked.

I can't figure out why this stuff is overheating, any help or ideas would be appreciated.
 
First, id be doing some testing.
The fact the GPU and CPU are both having this heat issue makes me think its all to do with the case setup. Too much heat is probably building up in the center of the case and not being removed by the cooling system.

Redo all the cabeling to make sure there is enough airflow inside the case and the cabels arent blocking too much.
Id run the PC with the case open, see what difference it makes. Point a household fan in there, check it out again. If it helps, maybe add a 12v Fan to the case.
A lot of power supplies put out a hell of a lot of heat. Make sure this hear build up isnt caused by that. If it is, run it outside the case or get a new1.

Hopefully, thats all it is :)
 
Well, I changed up the fans' direction due to advice from my brother, and it didn't do anything. I decided to trash the heatsink, and put a new one (well, one I had lying around from another computer), and it's staying steady at 40 idling and a max of 50 at full stress, so I'm happy. I found out from another forum that the 6-series and higher GeForce cards actually do just run that hot, or at least close to it. They're supposed to shut down at 100c, and it's not even getting close to that.
 
Well, I changed up the fans' direction due to advice from my brother, and it didn't do anything. I decided to trash the heatsink, and put a new one (well, one I had lying around from another computer), and it's staying steady at 40 idling and a max of 50 at full stress, so I'm happy. I found out from another forum that the 6-series and higher GeForce cards actually do just run that hot, or at least close to it. They're supposed to shut down at 100c, and it's not even getting close to that.

Good thermal paste also helps. Get faster fans if possible. As for the GeForce 6 Series, not all do. My 6800GS runs about that idle, until I turn on my overclock software, and it pitches the fan to max and cools down to about 30C. I do not recommend overclocking anything of your own, unless you get maximum cooling and knowledge of what to do.
 
My 8600GT Nvidia is running at 60 at idle...playing Grid will get the temp to as high as 78...which I think is hot but kinda norm for these cards. My AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200 on the other hand goes 45 at idle and 55 max when busy.
 
I've mentioned my big fat fingers before ... when I was building this desktop they clumsily broke the chipset fan, its' never ever worked, I can make it work by poking it in the right direction ... this chipset/cpu gets incredibly hot, turns out silicon doesn't feel heat like we do ... thank god ...
 
You should get one of those fans that you can plug into your PCI port and have it lying under your video card. That way, your video card can get some direct cooling. Also, you should buy a can of compressed air and clean out any dust that's in the case. Constant buildup of dust could eventually slow down your fan and block ventilation.
 
I have had experiences where dust building up in the CPU cooling fan prevented it from doing its job. I have also founded that smaller cases where hardware is tightly packed together also have heat problems. I did a test before and found that placing a shroud on the case fan to direct the air to the heatsink over the CPU (instead of a CPU fan clipped onto the heatsink) actually dropped the temp. of a HP computer by 20 degrees. Also, that GPU probably draws a lot of power from the PSU. This also causes heat and can raise the temperature inside the case.
 
I have had experiences where dust building up in the CPU cooling fan prevented it from doing its job. I have also founded that smaller cases where hardware is tightly packed together also have heat problems. I did a test before and found that placing a shroud on the case fan to direct the air to the heatsink over the CPU (instead of a CPU fan clipped onto the heatsink) actually dropped the temp. of a HP computer by 20 degrees. Also, that GPU probably draws a lot of power from the PSU. This also causes heat and can raise the temperature inside the case.

Yeah you will be amazed how dust gets accumulated so fast so I do dusting (by using USB vacuum) every month. By the way, when you say shroud its like Ducting mod right? ->
thermaltake-a1442.jpg
 
I'm trying to fix an older computer (not even mine, it's my mom's) that was recently slightly upgraded (only went from 512mb ram to 1gb and something like an athlon 2400 to 3200). The computer itself is probably 3 or 4 years old. It has an Athlon 3200+ XP, NVidia 6600GT (128MB), and the motherboard is this K7N2 Delta2-LSR thing. Basically, she was complaining of World of Warcraft crashing or the computer restarting, or the graphics going crazy. So I updated the drivers to everything (sound, video, mobo, bios), and checked the computer temperatures, which were really high.

I can't think of anything witty to say to that, but your mom plays WoW?

Anyways, You could try ghetto-rigging your computer Like I did a few years ago. I lived in an apartment where the air vents were towards the bottom of the wall, so I took the side of the case off and used it to direct the air into the case when the AC was on. Closed it when the heat was on.
 
i just noticed something, your able to run your computer at 70-80 degrees...Celsius!? Dear god...my computer would've fried within minutes. That's near 200 degrees Fahrenheit! I would recommend a new computer! :p
 
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