Random heat related slowdown

[Matt Saunders]

Ever since I bought my PC it has randomly slowed down after what seems a
completely random time period, usually from 1 minute up to half an hour.
There is no excessive reading of the hard drive or anything else
instantly visible. It always slows down to what seems the same speed. I
have also taken bench marks before and after this slow down and the
results reflect it also.

I reformatted, and still the problem occured. I have taken the side of
the case off, and physically stuck a large household fan blowing
straight in to the case. This keeps it very cool, and the slowdown
hardly ever occurs now, even when left on for long periods of time.

I have been told that this could be due to processor throttling, or
maybe something to do with PSU voltage oscillations? It is a P4 3ghz
running on a Foxconn K7S5A motherboard.

If anyone has an insight in to this problem, then many thanks in advance.

Matt

 

[kony]

Ever since I bought my PC it has randomly slowed down after what seems a
completely random time period, usually from 1 minute up to half an hour.
There is no excessive reading of the hard drive or anything else
instantly visible. It always slows down to what seems the same speed. I
have also taken bench marks before and after this slow down and the
results reflect it also.

I reformatted, and still the problem occured. I have taken the side of
the case off, and physically stuck a large household fan blowing
straight in to the case. This keeps it very cool, and the slowdown
hardly ever occurs now, even when left on for long periods of time.

I have been told that this could be due to processor throttling, or
maybe something to do with PSU voltage oscillations?

It does seem like processor throttling but is definitely not
PSU voltage oscillation.

It is a P4 3ghz
running on a Foxconn K7S5A motherboard.

If anyone has an insight in to this problem, then many thanks in advance.

Monitor CPU temps. If it gets too hot then assess the
adequacy of the heatsink and chassis cooling, making
changes. If it's possible the heatsink isn't installed
properly then take it off, clean off the thermal compound,
reapply a tiny bit of fresh compound and reinstall.