overheating problem...need help

[gorath]

About 4 or 5 months ago my Athlon XP 2000+ was running a little hot (about 60 Celsius) so I decided to replace the fan. I put in a Volcano 7.0, and used that coolant goop stuff that everyone recommends - that really good stuff. I forget what it's called.

But now the computer is running hotter than ever, regularly going up to 68 celcius, even before I run anything graphics-intensive. The overall case temp is 50 celcisu, the CPU is 68. It goes up higher than that (to around 74) when I run anything like Warcraft 3.

Later my PC has been doing things such as freezing and rebooting for no reason. I suspect it's because of the overheating.

What should I do? I must have done a bad job of installing the fan. Should I bring it into a shop and have the cpu fan replaced, and put in another case fan as well? When kind of fan should I use.

And will I need to replace the processor? I bet I've been wearing it down big-time.

Thanks people.

[Gouki]

Damn......that's hot!!!

Where to start...ummm...how hot is it in the room where you keep the computer? Do you have any case fans going besides the one on the heatsink?

I would take off the side panels and cool it off that way...least until you figure out what the real problem is.

[originel]

hmmm...first of all gouki is right. that case is way to hot, you should add case fans and try routing the wires and such so they don't constrict air flow. also i would recommend getting some artic silver 3 and applying that. i re-read your post and i an imclined to think that you put too much as3 on your proc and also that your case is too hot.

[Redwolf]

Okay, I assume you put on Artic Silver paste. Did you put on a thin, credit-card thick layer of the stuff or empty the whole bottle on the heatsink? Did you apply it like said to at www.articsilver.com ? Is the fan running at all? Does the side of the case feel quite hot?

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm

[gorath]

I'll try to answer those questions

- Yes, I used arctic silver 3. I tried to follow the instruction on the artic silver website, but there's always the chance I did a bad job. It was a very thin layer that i used. I think it was much thinner than a credit card. Maybe I didn't use enough? I was trying very hard not to use too much.

-I have at least one case fan in addition to the processor fan. I can feel air blowing out of the back of the case in two places. One of them I'm sure is a fan. The other might be just air expelled out of the case by the force of the CPU fan.

-The side of the case (plastic) doesn't feel hot at all. Just slightly warm. The back of the case feels warmer, but still not hot.

Question: can I run the computer teporarily with the side panel off?

[Gouki]

Originally posted by gorath
Question: can I run the computer teporarily with the side panel off?

Most definitely! In fact I would recommend this since your system is running so hot. Taking off the panels will make it a little nosier...but it's only until we figure out what's going on and how to fix it. And a little noise is much better then a fried system.

[gorath]

Okay, I'll clarify a couple things now that I have the side panel off and I've had a look inside.

-There's a case fan about halfway down the back of the case, blowing air out. There's another fan blowing air out of the back that seems to be built into the power supply.

-There doesn't seem to be any mass of wire or anything like that which might block the air flow. There are few individual wires wires hanging down. The big clumps of wires are fastened with plastic bands and kept out of the way. There's a group of 3 wires that are in contact with the top of the heatseak, if that makes any difference.

-Barely any dust. Looks fine in that regard.

-The temperature in the room is moderate right now - probably about 75 farenheit.

-now that the side panel is off, the core temperature has gone down to 58 celcius.

[zidane182]

what is the case temperature with the side panel off?

[gorath]

42-43 celcius

[Gouki]

Wow. Quite a big difference there.

You didn't mention this...so I'll ask: You don't have any fans in the front of the case? If you don't...you might think about putting one in the front, to pull air in.