My computer has this issue where it tends to overheat. A lot. This seems to happen mostly when using my video card (a Radeon All-In-Wonder 8500DV) for watching DVD’s or playing 3D-accelerated games. My solution has been to open the case, lay the tower on its side, and then rest a huge, powerful-enough-to-fill-my-room-with-wind fan directly on the case and turn int on full. This is very loud, and windy, and even then it will allow me to play DVD’s or Counter-Strike, but I can’t play “007: Nightfire” or Max Payne for very long without it getting too hot and locking up. If I try to do any of it for more than a minute or two without the fan, it will lock up for sure.
In other words, I’m sure this is an overheating thing, because the functioning of my computer is directly related to whether the fan is blowing and how hard. Still, this is not enough. How can I possibly get MORE cool air through there, or make it stop getting so damned HOT? I really doubt that adding more little computer fans will do much good, seeing as how my giant fan is only sort of working. Some kind of like, water cooling system? What does one do?
Any help you guys can offer as to causes for this problem, or even better, solutions, would be greatly appreciated.
I’d install a secondary case fan. Most CPU cases have a spot for either a three-inch or a four-inch fan, and you just plug it into the drive power cable. Makes a world of difference in most cases.
It sounds like something is faulty. Make sure the CPU fan is working correctly. Sometimes it appears to be spinning but at a very reduced speed. If that’s OK, another possibility is that the heat sink is not making good contact with the CPU. Remove the heat sink, clean the surfaces and reinstall using a fresh thermal paste (or tape, which seems to be more common now - you can get either one at any computer shop).
If it’s always been like this, I’d try a larger CPU heatsink and more powerful CPU fan.
Actually the first thing to do may be to clean off the dust from the CPU heatsink. Not terribly likely to be a cause, but always try the easiest fix first.
It could be possible that there’s something up with your video card. The heat may be affecting it as opposed to the CPU, if you had a different video card you could tell immediately if it makes a difference.
I have the same issue and I have worked with quite a few cases of this - mostly with AMD processors, top of the line video cards, bad fans, etc. I had the same case open fan on its side.
Here are some things you can try:
Check to make sure all fans in the case are working - dust and grime can clog the bearings - fan power lines can be frayed - most motherboards/video cards come with monitoring software that alert you when a certain temp is reached and/or if the rpms of the fan(s) drop below a certain level.
Does the card have a fan and a heatsink or just a heatsink? If your card doesn’t have a fan - get one. If it does have a fan, you can get additional fans as suggested or there are fans that fit in card slots that rest right below the card you want to cool. You can pick them up for about $15.00
Make sure there is a fan on the front of the case - to draw air in, and a fan on the back to draw air out. Seems simple, but homebuilt (whitebox) systems seem to chintz on fans.
Some cards/processors just run hotter than others. You can kick down the performance settings to keep it cooler - but you don’t want that - you want max FPS, as does any sane man. Good luck and this should be cheap to fix!
My guess would be that your heatsinks on your CPU or GPU may be improperly attached. The thermal compound may have been improperly applied at the factory (either too much or not enough) or your heatsink may be slightly warped/pitted and all the thermal compound in the world won’t help.
There is plenty of pages out there on using 3rd party heatsinks and how to properly install them.
or what scr4 said! Thermal tape eh? Neat.
While volume of airflow (by pointing a big-assed fan at an open case) can provide some cooling, direction and location of the airflow is more important. Most motherboards are designed such that optimum airflow goes from the bottom front of the case to the top of the back. Adding another fan in the back will help draw more hot air out of the case, while your “fan into the side” only attempts to push more room-temp air in.
Also, there are a couple of hot spots inside your computer that need special cooling consideration. One is the CPU, for obvious reasons. Another is the GPU on the video card. To provide extra cooling at these trouble spots, small fans pointed away from the chips are sometimes added to heat sinks that are placed directly on these hot spots. If the heat sink is faulty, then you should replace it as others have said.
If your GPU is overheating, then you should direct more airflow at it directly, either by adding a bigger fan to point away from it, or, if there’s a card installed next to it, remove it so the hot air generated by the GPU has more volume in which to dissipate. If it’s a simple heat-sink on the GPU, then arrange a fan to blow more air over it.
I’ve also seen exhaust fans that were designed to fit in a PCI slot, you can try putting one of them next to the video card.
I have a Radeon card which generates a lot of heat. I bought a nice cheap little system blower. Put it in the slot next to your graphics card, centered over the gpu. It’ll suck the hot air off and blow it out the back.
Cost of system blower: $11
Installation: 1 minute
Not having your computer shut down right when you are about to frag someone at CS: Priceless
I have a Radeon card which generates a lot of heat. I bought a nice cheap little system blower. Put it in the slot next to your graphics card, centered over the gpu. It’ll suck the hot air off and blow it out the back.
Cost of system blower: $11
Installation: 1 minute
Not having your computer shut down right when you are about to frag someone at CS: Priceless
Thermal tape eh? Neat.