CPU Overheating

I can not for the life of me figure out why my cpu is overheating. This only seems to happen when I'm gaming in which the temps rise to 60-80C and my computer shuts down. When idle or browsing the net, it's in the high 20s/ low 30s. I have AMD cool n quiet enabled and the cpu has arctic silver thermal grease on it. In the bios, I changed it from smart fan to always on which helped the temp a little but it still shuts down. Here are the specs for my pc: AMD 4200+ X2 (939 socket) 2 gigs of ram Nvidia 8500GT SATA 160gb hdd 400W PSU (came with the case)

Hi cereal_killerxx

How come, you figured it out to be the CPU that causes the
shutdown? What program did you use to determine this?

As far as I know, the GF8500GT comes with passive cooling,
so unless you have added a 3rd party GPU cooling fan, my
guess would be that it is your GPU and not CPU that makes
it shut down. They usually comes with "Silent Heatsinks"
(No fans) Which puts a little more demand on casing fans
compared to cards with fan or 3rd party cooling solution.
120mm Casing fans are nice, silent and moves a lot of air

Core temperature for CPU's in the 60-80 shouldn't make the
CPU shut down, altho it isn't a ideal situation. For your CPU it
is certainly in the "red zone", and I can't say for sure if it is the
CPU causing the shutdowns. Is the cooling paste applied
properly? Do you use stock fan / cooling sink or 3rd party
cooling? Have in mind, that to much cooling paste will have
the opposite effect, and actually make it run hotter.

Hows airflow in your casing? Doesn't matter how much fans
and cooling paste you have, if the casing can't vent the heat,
and you literally just blows hot air around inside the casing.
Try take of the side of the casing, see if the temperatures will
rise as high. Also make sure you have free space behind your casing.
To close to walls, or enclosed space is a no-no with regards to
venting heat properly.

A mistake sometimes seen, is that people have mounted their fans
opposite, so instead of drawing / blowing air, they are doing quite the
opposite. So check your out-take / in-take casing fans.

I am not a hardware geek, but I am sure, if you wait and have patience,
Troy will eventually stop by, and he is a hardware geek

Regards Abydos

Seeing as I only have one fan in the case, I think I should get another one. Maybe even upgrade them.

This is my case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16811190072

Apparently it only has 1 90mm fan at the rear. It has room in the front behind the hard drive for one more. Does this case support 120mm fans? If so, I think I'll buy two of them.

Hi cereal_killerxx I would think, without having actual proof, that your casing will support 120mm Fans, most newer casing does. Some 120mm fans also comes with adjustable screwholes for those cases where it doesn't. In any circumstances, one 90mm fan is not enough. I can see from the picture on Newegg, that you have side-vents also. So it is possible to mount one there as well, for a total of 3 120mm fans. Front, rear and side. (Not considering the PSU's own fan) You could take it to your local PC-shop, and have them have a look at what is possible. But 3 120mm fans would work wonders. One thing to consider tho, is that you have to be sure that your PSU can support the extra workload with added fans. Altho I wouldn't worry to much, extra fans are not that hard on PSU's. And luckily, fans are not expensive Regards Abydos

I only see two spots in case for mounting fans, the rear and behind the hard drive. Should I somehow find a way to modify the case to allow for more fans? On the part of the side panel on the case that I can take off, there is a funel thing thats right above the cpu ( i assume so that the cpu gets more direct air). Should I take that off and replace it with a fan?

Should I somehow find a way to modify the case to allow for more fans?

No. Try out your options at hand. So try with 2 fans first. Replacing your 90mm fan with
a 120mm, will be a good choice, if 2 fans is what there is room for.

On the part of the side panel on the case that I can take off, there is a funel thing thats right above the cpu ( i assume so that the cpu gets more direct air). Should I take that off and replace it with a fan?

Ahhh. I see. Sorry my bad. Didn't take that into account. Thats why I am not a hardware geek
No, you shouldn't replace that with a fan.

But consult with your local PC-shop. Tell them you got heat-problems, and find out what your options
are, if 2 120mm Fans doesn't cut it. I would think, that next would be some sort of GPU cooling as the
AMD CPU is a AMD cool n quiet

By the way, did you apply the "arctic silver thermal grease" or was it applied for you?

Regards Abydos

I just bought 2 120mm case fans… they don't fit in my case!!! I'm gonna call newegg and hopefully they will take them back. Guess I will try and replace them with 90mm fans.

I just bought 2 120mm case fans… they don't fit in my case!!! I'm gonna call newegg and hopefully they will take them back. Guess I will try and replace them with 90mm fans.

Hi

Ahhh, bad luck

Newegg should take them back, I'm pretty optimistic about that. So 90mm fans it is
then. Unless you want to take the road of drilling holes so the 120mm fans will fit.
The benefit of adding larger fans, besides the obvious that they move more air, is
that they are not as noisy. So if you want less noise, you should consider drilling
holes to make them fit. If unsure on how to approach this, make a quick stop by
your favorite PC-shop (if any) or find a locale one that will give you a good offer on
the deal.
Further info on mounting Fans

Regards Abydos

Newegg took back the fans! So I decided to order a 90mm fan for the front of the case. I also put in a pci slot fan. So far, the pci slot fan has lowered the temps by atleast 3-4 degrees. It was the highest rated pci slot fan they have. Also, I ordered a new power supply that has two fans on it. If I'm correct in thinking so, I believe that the second fan will be pointed downward onto my cpu.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16817101034

From the pictures, it looks the the PSU is upside down and when I flip it the right way, will be pointed down at my cpu (or at the very least my motherboard). So what do you think?

Good on you, cereal killerxx. No, the PSU fans should be sucking air out of the interior and exhausting out the back. Be sure to position the PSU such that the fans are drawing from the middle of the case, and not stuck up against a case wall or top. Best Regards

Does anyone know what normal temps are for a dual core while gaming?

Does anyone know what normal temps are for a dual core while gaming?

Hi again

What the "normal" temperatures are for Dual-core processors can vary a lot. Depending on specific hardware, casing, cooling, enviroment, temperatures outside etc. etc. But a general thump of rule with newer dual-core AMD processors, is that 65 degree celcius is when you enter the red-zone. But in my opinion, you shouldn't reach that. Especially not now when you get fitted extra fans. Your temp's should, in my opinion lie around the 30'ish to the 40'ish, if you reach 50'ish you should be taking another look on cooling solutions. My Intel processor never reach above 40 degree celcius, but I also got a non-stock cooling solution for my processor. And that is with multiple windows opened and gaming.

You can use this little freeware program to monitor your heat and various other things as well.

CPUIDHW-Monitor: http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

Regards

With the new pci slot fan, new power supply, and new thermal paste on the cpu, the temps have skyrocked I don't understand what's going on. Tomorrow or the next day I should be getting another fan. Hopefully that helps. If not, I'm all out of solutions…

Hi

With the new pci slot fan, new power supply, and new thermal paste on the cpu, the temps have skyrocked I don't understand what's going on. Tomorrow or the next day I should be getting another fan. Hopefully that helps. If not, I'm all out of solutions…

Well, thats sound like something went wrong there. It should be quiete the opposite effect you were looking
for. Who mounted the fans and applied the new thermal paste? Remember, you want to draw air out with
the new fans, not in. That goes for the fans on the PSU as well. No fan on the PSU should blow into the casing,
thats just hot air and have no cooling effect at all. Make sure they are mounted so that they draw air out. How
come you wanted to apply new thermal paste? We only discussed adding fans.

Regards Abydos

Hi

With the new pci slot fan, new power supply, and new thermal paste on the cpu, the temps have skyrocked I don't understand what's going on. Tomorrow or the next day I should be getting another fan. Hopefully that helps. If not, I'm all out of solutions…

Well, thats sound like something went wrong there. It should be quiete the opposite effect you were looking
for. Who mounted the fans and applied the new thermal paste? Remember, you want to draw air out with
the new fans, not in. That goes for the fans on the PSU as well. No fan on the PSU should blow into the casing,
thats just hot air and have no cooling effect at all. Make sure they are mounted so that they draw air out. How
come you wanted to apply new thermal paste? We only discussed adding fans.

Regards Abydos

Well, as of right now until I get that other case fan in, I have 3 exhaust fans. One in the back, the pci slot one next to my video card, and the one on the PSU (originally I thought it was blowing air in, my bad). As for putting on new thermal paste, I just figured it would be a good idea. Maybe it was a bad idea? I did clean off the old stuff with rubbing alcohol before putting new on though.

Anymore more ideas for better cooling?