PC overheating???
By
Call Me Awesome,
Posted on: 2010-08-19 24:53 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
sounds like the computer is very dusty inside. the side of the case should come off so you can take a can of compressed air and blow out the dust. DO NOT use a vaccuum.
LOL My vacuum would totally pull pieces off the boards.
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GPU - your video card. The fan on your card and the heat sink it blows air through can build up enough dust bunnies to drastically reduce it's cooling ability. A can of compressed air ($4 at most office supply houses) can be used to blow the crud out of the fan/heat sink. Turn off the machine and DON'T let the fan spin freely while you blow it out... you should see a pretty dust cloud come out the back of the machine.|
Originally Posted by KaraK_NA
I've had a computer for well over 20 years. I'm not afraid of them, but I am not the most savvy by any stretch of my imagination. I can at least swap out a card or something. What is the proper way to clean the computer's insides. My machine does get very dusty. What are GPU and heatsink? What do you mean buy airflow layout? My pc sits on a desk next to the monitor and there is a wall behind it. Or do you mean inside the box?
Any other tips? Thanks Kara |
CPU - the processor of your machine, it'll be on the motherboard not far from your video card; it also has a heat sink with a fan... your chipset (also on the motherboard) may well have a small heatsink and fan as well. Following the same advise (don't let the fan spin while you're blowing it out) clean the gunk out of both heat sinks with your can of air.
After you've cleaned the heat sinks look around and blow out dust bunnies lurking elsewhere in your machine.
A good layout for airflow will have an intake fan at the front of your case (this also will attract dust!) and an exhaust fan in the back. Air goes from the front of the case to the back... the video card should suck in (relatively) cool air from the lower part of the case while the CPU gets the air above the video card and the exhaust fan should be located behind the CPU to pull hot air away. The video card has it's own exhaust (assuming it's a modern card that takes two slots) and it's fan will suck air in and blow it out the back of the computer.
It's always a good idea to periodically evict the dust bunnies before they start to reproduce... I typically do it annually with my machine. Of course I usually end up making SOME hardware change about annually so the cleaning happens when I have the machine open anyway... I tend to forget between upgrades.
If you have a dust problem you may have to do it more often... foam filters for your intake fan may not be a bad investment either.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
Also, absolutely do not make the mistake of flipping the compressed air upside down (or even sideways to be careful), or it will spew icy fluid on your components.
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Oops, yes that's frequently A Bad Thing... particularly if the computer was just turned off and things are still warm! Thermal shock can equal broken solder joints and a sudden malfunction. That fluid will coat things with ice on contact. It's a great way to cool down a warm can of beer though.|
Originally Posted by Khiva
Also, absolutely do not make the mistake of flipping the compressed air upside down (or even sideways to be careful), or it will spew icy fluid on your components.
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If you haven't used canned air before as you spray the can will get cold and the pressure will drop. When this happens you can shake the can to get pressure back... when it gets really cold just put it down for a couple of minutes to let the ice melt off the can (no joke this).
You're safe as long as you hold the can within 45 degrees of level... and I've never gotten fluid unless I turn it upside down. I suppose turning the can on it's side may get the squirt gun but if it's somewhat upright there shouldn't be a problem.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
Also when using compressed air or really any type of air to blow parts clean make absolutely sure that the fans don't spin. The easiest way to do this is hold them in place with a pencil eraser. A fan when spun becomes an inefficient but functional generator. The small electrical current it creates probably shouldn't damage anything but with computers probably and shouldn't are like looking in a mirror and chanting Biggie Smalls three times.
Don't count your weasels before they pop dink!
This game runs REALLY FREAKING HOT. Has for a long time on all my systems I've had. Poor lappy GPU can reach over 100C at stock settings. Try using /maxfps 30 so your GPU doesn't work so hard and /maxinactivefps 1 so you only do 1 FPS when alt-tabbed out.
Thank you so much! You guys rock!! I'm off to buy a couple cans of compressed air (One for the computer and one to "play" with). I can't blow it up or anything right?
Last night when I played in Praetoria, I kept the the cover off. Sure enough when I was lagging the air in the pc was warmer.
Recently, my power supply died and a friend swapped it out for one she had laying around. Naturally, whatever identifying information that might be printed on the thing is on the side I can't see. Could that be causing my over heating problem?
I don't think I have an intake fan. There is a door on the front. I don't know what it is for. This pc wasn't built for gaming. I got it from a friend who had closed his computer business. I had to replace the video card when I got this machine. All I could afford at the time was an nvida geforce fx 5500
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How do I do that? I have my settings at recommended I think. I have labeled the settings as ghetto, slightly better then ghetto, good enough. I keep mine at good enough.
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Originally Posted by The_Coming_Storm
This game runs REALLY FREAKING HOT. Has for a long time on all my systems I've had. Poor lappy GPU can reach over 100C at stock settings. Try using /maxfps 30 so your GPU doesn't work so hard and /maxinactivefps 1 so you only do 1 FPS when alt-tabbed out.
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I wouldn't suggest reducing your framerate... what that does is put a cap on the maximum fps you can get. Personally it bothers me to play much below 30fps as the motion looks choppy... I can easily see the difference between 30 & 40fps and 40 & 60fps, an occupational hazard of working in video production|
Originally Posted by KaraK_NA
How do I do that? I have my settings at recommended I think. I have labeled the settings as ghetto, slightly better then ghetto, good enough. I keep mine at good enough.
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Also, if you have adequate cooling then there's no excuse for the game to run hot. Yes, a graphically intensive application like COH does force your video card to work harder, but a well designed card in a halfway decent airflow case shouldn't have any issue. If you're still running that FX5500 then it's verging on rock bottom minimum specs for the game today; it was a low to mid range card from something like 5-6 years ago.
Is your case really small and cramped? That could be an issue; computer components like some elbow room around them to allow for airflow.
If the rest of your machine is of comparable vintage to your video card it may be time to consider retiring it for a newer machine. Not what you really want to hear I know. Of course evicting the dust bunnies will never hurt anything.
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Ah, I see your picture now; your case is big enough to allow for airflow. From that angle I can't tell about the CPU and the rest of the components but judging from the look of the exhaust fan you certainly have a dust bunny infestation.
If your video card is getting hot you could buy a slot cooler (a fan that fits into the slot below the card and sucks air from around the card and spits it out the back). I don't think the card itself has a fan... many video cards of that generation got by with just passive cooling since they didn't eat anything like the power a modern one does.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
Another cheap alternative if you are still overheating after cleaning it out is to get a desk fan. Leave the case open and aim the fan inside when playing.
Don't count your weasels before they pop dink!
As a rusult of my post here which mentioned my intermittent lag, Miuramir wrote,
Carefully check your intake screens, fans, and heat sinks for clogging and clean them; graphics cards with plastic covers are notorious for building up gunk under the cover where you can't see it that drastically reduces their cooling capability. Make sure wires haven't gotten in the way of your fans, and that they can turn freely. Look at your airflow layout; is your GPU sucking already hot air from after the CPU heatsink, or vice versa?
Reducing your graphics settings (particularly the demanding shadow settings) and cleaning up other things that may be running in the background may help. You can try temporary over-cooling measures (opening the side of the case and pointing a box fan at it, etc.) to see if that helps the situation.
Any other tips?
Thanks
Kara