Overheating - Advice Needed

[oceanclub]

Here's some specs for my machine, upgraded over a number of years:

* 430W Antec PSU (no internal fan)
* A7N8X-N Deluxe motherboard
* Athlon 2600 266Mhz CPU with Tornado cooler
* 1.5GB Memory
* nVidia 6800 GS card (AGP)
Overheating advice needed

It's packed into a 2001-era Mesh case with a single 80mm fan. Normally
I have the Tornado cooler on low (it's adjustable via a knob on the
outside of the case).

Now it's the summer, and my CPU is reaching 55C (131F) when playing
games, and I'm noticing a lot of crashes. I'm presuming it's
overheating; although 55C isn't anywhere near the danger limit
indicated by ASUS's "Probe" utility, I presume it is quite high.

Turning the Tornado up a few notches does lower the CPU temperature,
but not by much, and the racket it produces is terrible.

Now, without replacing the case (I intend to buy a new machine next
year), does anyone know of any short-term fix? There are coolers that
fit into spare drive bays and spare PCI card slots - would one of these
work? I'm thinking the best solution might be to have a drive bay fan
blowing _into_ the case, while the existing fan (situated above the PCI
slots) blows _out_. Is this correct, or does anyone have a better idea?

Thanks,

P.

 

[JS]

What about the case and Power Supply temperature and not just the CPU fan?

JS

 

[Ghostrider]

oceanclub wrote:

Now, without replacing the case (I intend to buy a new machine next
year), does anyone know of any short-term fix? There are coolers that
fit into spare drive bays and spare PCI card slots - would one of these
work? I'm thinking the best solution might be to have a drive bay fan
blowing _into_ the case, while the existing fan (situated above the PCI
slots) blows _out_. Is this correct, or does anyone have a better idea?

Thanks,

P.

By all means add more fans for more airflow through the case.
Moreover, do some maintenance such as making sure that cables
do not block the airflow to the CPU area. And while doing this,
remove the accumulated dust from the fins of the heatsink and
restore the lost surface area for cooling. When installing fans,
make sure they blow in the direction of the desired airflow in
the case.

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

Here's some specs for my machine, upgraded over a number of years:

* 430W Antec PSU (no internal fan)
* A7N8X-N Deluxe motherboard
* Athlon 2600 266Mhz CPU with Tornado cooler
* 1.5GB Memory
* nVidia 6800 GS card (AGP)
Overheating advice needed

It's packed into a 2001-era Mesh case with a single 80mm fan. Normally
I have the Tornado cooler on low (it's adjustable via a knob on the
outside of the case).

Now it's the summer, and my CPU is reaching 55C (131F) when playing
games, and I'm noticing a lot of crashes. I'm presuming it's
overheating; although 55C isn't anywhere near the danger limit
indicated by ASUS's "Probe" utility, I presume it is quite high.

Turning the Tornado up a few notches does lower the CPU temperature,
but not by much, and the racket it produces is terrible.

Now, without replacing the case (I intend to buy a new machine next
year), does anyone know of any short-term fix? There are coolers that
fit into spare drive bays and spare PCI card slots - would one of these
work? I'm thinking the best solution might be to have a drive bay fan
blowing _into_ the case, while the existing fan (situated above the PCI
slots) blows _out_. Is this correct, or does anyone have a better idea?

Thanks,

P.

It sounds as maybe the video card is over heating. You can check this
by feeling the card after one of the crashes. If it is overheating you
can install a PCI slot fan below it to remove enough of the heat to keep
it working.
You might also want to check the temperature of the power supply and
make sure that the fan is working properly.

 

[antioch]

I may just have a bad disk or two, but I do not trust Probe to give true and
accurate readings - I have disabled it.
I have changed disks, downloaded Pobe twice.
None have seemed to work properly.
It shows a case fan as not running but at a constant 34-37c - a gpu running
anything from 38c to 67c whilst computer at idle. If the fan speed increase
on the cpu the temp climbs - so work that one out.
Asus in their wisdom suggested that I change all the thresholds to a figure
two or three degrees higher then I get the warnings. That's what I call
responsible advice.
Its the last Asus Mobo I get - back to MSI and Core Centre.
I am fed up with the constant siren.
What is the threshold setting for the CPU in Probe?

Antioch

 

[Paul]

Here's some specs for my machine, upgraded over a number of years:

* 430W Antec PSU (no internal fan)
* A7N8X-N Deluxe motherboard
* Athlon 2600 266Mhz CPU with Tornado cooler
* 1.5GB Memory
* nVidia 6800 GS card (AGP)
Overheating advice needed

It's packed into a 2001-era Mesh case with a single 80mm fan. Normally
I have the Tornado cooler on low (it's adjustable via a knob on the
outside of the case).

Now it's the summer, and my CPU is reaching 55C (131F) when playing
games, and I'm noticing a lot of crashes. I'm presuming it's
overheating; although 55C isn't anywhere near the danger limit
indicated by ASUS's "Probe" utility, I presume it is quite high.

Turning the Tornado up a few notches does lower the CPU temperature,
but not by much, and the racket it produces is terrible.

Now, without replacing the case (I intend to buy a new machine next
year), does anyone know of any short-term fix? There are coolers that
fit into spare drive bays and spare PCI card slots - would one of these
work? I'm thinking the best solution might be to have a drive bay fan
blowing _into_ the case, while the existing fan (situated above the PCI
slots) blows _out_. Is this correct, or does anyone have a better idea?

Thanks,

P.

The cheapest fix, is to remove some disk drive bay covers
from the front of the computer. That will reduce the resistance
to air flow, so that the rear exhaust fan on your case can
work more efficiently.

If that is not enough of an improvement, find an 80mm fan with
a higher CFM (cubic feet per minute) rating. If the current fan
does not have a CFM rating, you can get a rough idea of performance
by looking at the current draw rating of the fan. It might say
0.080A or 80mA (which would be a weak 12V fan), or it might have
a larger number. If the replacement fans draws more current,
chances are it moves more CFM.

When you buy the more powerful 80mmx80mmx25mm fan, you can also
pick up a fan speed controller like a Fanmate II. That will
allow you to set the fan to 7 volts (in the cooler times
of the year) and 12 volts when you need full cooling.

On one of my "fanless" video cards, I placed an 80mm fan blowing
at the heatsink on the video card. That seems to help in hot weather
as well (if your video card is unstable). You can buy brackets
that bolt to the PCI slot cover screw holes, to hold the fan.
I used some homemade brackets made from aluminum L shaped
"angle iron" from the hardware store. The fan is held to the
aluminum bracket with some nylon tie-wraps.

To compare fan speed and power ratings, there are a few Panaflo
fans listed here (bottom of page):

http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/T062/1684.pdf

From the table, 3.24 watts gives 46.9 CFM, 2.08 watts gives 39.6 CFM,
1.49 watts gives 32.1CFM and so on. Dividing the watts by 12V,
gives 0.27A, 0.17A, 0.12A respectively. You can compare the
current rating of your existing fan, to those numbers, to get
some idea of how much more powerful a fan can be fitted.

Paul

 

[Richard Urban]

You have a 430w Antec PSU with NO internal fan???

I have two of these in my computers and they certainly DO have internal
fans. In fact, the PSU fan is probably the "primary" heat removal device for
most computers. If your fan is not spinning, get a new power supply.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[kony]

Here's some specs for my machine, upgraded over a number of years:

* 430W Antec PSU (no internal fan)
* A7N8X-N Deluxe motherboard
* Athlon 2600 266Mhz CPU with Tornado cooler
* 1.5GB Memory
* nVidia 6800 GS card (AGP)
Overheating advice needed

It's packed into a 2001-era Mesh case with a single 80mm fan. Normally
I have the Tornado cooler on low (it's adjustable via a knob on the
outside of the case).

If you have fairly unobstructed front intake passage(s) and
the rear 80mm fan is also unobstructed (no stamped-in-metal
grill) AND runs at a fairly high RPM (say over 3500) it
should be sufficient for a moderate temp room. If your room
is getting uncomfortably hot you will need to make changes.

One change might be leaving the PCI slot under the video
card empty, and leaving that slot's case bracket cover off.
This will cause (more) passive airflow past the face of the
video card. Also note if it makes a significant difference
to the HDD temps as it will tend to reduce flow past them a
little bit.

Another of the easier alternatives (compared to having to
strip down the case to cut on it (without having metal
shavings potentially going where they shouldn't)) is to take
off the side panel, cut a hole and mount another fan there.
Preferribly low and towards the front of the case to
maximize the chassis area this air flows over, it need not
be positioned directly beside the video card and if you also
left that lower PCI slot's bracket cover off, it will again
help.

Now it's the summer, and my CPU is reaching 55C (131F) when playing
games, and I'm noticing a lot of crashes. I'm presuming it's
overheating; although 55C isn't anywhere near the danger limit
indicated by ASUS's "Probe" utility, I presume it is quite high.

55C, assuming it is correct (I suspect it is, or maybe even
a degree or two above the actual temp) is low enough that
the CPU should not be instable. Rarely if silicone thermal
compound is used, it can pump out in odds ways that result
in part of the core being cooled directly (nearer where the
thermal diode is) but other parts not making good 'sink
contact. If you have used silicone grease I would reapply
it, or rather, use a synthetic based grease such as Arctic
Alumina or Silver instead this time.

Turning the Tornado up a few notches does lower the CPU temperature,
but not by much, and the racket it produces is terrible.

Take the case side cover off and point a desk fan at the
system. if this significantly lowers the temps, you need
more case cooling or possibly just to clean out any
accumulated dust in the case or CPU ' sink.

Now, without replacing the case (I intend to buy a new machine next
year), does anyone know of any short-term fix? There are coolers that
fit into spare drive bays and spare PCI card slots - would one of these
work? I'm thinking the best solution might be to have a drive bay fan
blowing _into_ the case, while the existing fan (situated above the PCI
slots) blows _out_. Is this correct, or does anyone have a better idea?

A front pusher fan in front of the drive rack can help, but
it should have a mostly unobstructed intake area, not
perforated case wall in front of it, and the case front
(plastic?) bezel also needs have significant open area. I
don't know exactly what your case is like or how handy you
are with (and your supply of) tools but several things can
improve airflow.. and which is applicable depends on where
your cases' weakest points are.

Generally the slot fans help some, but often at a higher
noise:flow ratio than other alternatives.. but then if you
had to have the current rear exhaust fan at higher RPM
instead, it may be a reasonable tradeoff. I assume this
rear exhaust fan you wrote about is not the one in the PSU
but below it. if you don't have at least this 2nd fan in
the chassis rear it is the first thing to add/change.

 

[oceanclub]

The cheapest fix, is to remove some disk drive bay covers
from the front of the computer. That will reduce the resistance
to air flow, so that the rear exhaust fan on your case can
work more efficiently.

That's one option, but the computer seems to gather a lot of dust (in
answer to someone else, I do open it and vacuum it out regularly).

So rather than simply leaving a bay open, I was going to place a fan
blowing inwards there; hopefully, that should have the same effect as
your suggestion but be more resistant to dust?

On the subject of the video card; I'll double-check, but I seem to
recall it has its own fan. Probably not as well cooled as my old card
though (a 9800 Pro which I'd modded with an Artic Cooler).

Richard says:

You have a 430w Antec PSU with NO internal fan???

Yup, it doesn't. My previous version did indeed have an internal fan
and perform cooling; however, that broke down and was returned, and
after much frustration and time (a few months!) with the shop I bought
it from, the only replacement I could get from them was one with the
same power output but no internal fan.

P.

 

[Bob I]

Unless you put a filter in front of the fan, you will BLOW in the dust
instead of only "sucking" it in.