Overheating/putting a keyboard in a bathtub

[krosenqu]

My friend has a computer that he plays Half Life 2 on. He has had it for about a year now and his computer keeps overheating. His CPU range goes about 65 to 70 degrees fehrenheight. He can disable the alarm but it still gets on my nerves that he wont let me play Half-Life when it gets to about 65. I suggested to him to get a new case so he did. (http://www.xoxide.com/aspire-x-cruiser-case-black.html) Still gets up there. I'm thinkin his video card (64 MB Nvidia GeForce4 440 w/ AGP8x) might be putting too much stress on the motherboard but I'm not sure. He turns down ALL the high deail in half life.

Also I'm not a big fan of Intel. He has a 3ghz pentium 4.
What do you guys think? I'm stumped. :confused:

[bubba069]

case had little to with the prob, his cpu fan is not cooling the way it should.

1. clean the heat sink

2. if the heat is still getting up there then he needs a new cpu cooler.

60c is not unherd of under a load but, 70 is not good.

here is a shot of my machine under 90% load on stock cooling.

http://img27.imagevenue.com/loc113/th_edb_screen_shot2.JPG (http://img27.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc113&image=edb_screen_shot2.JPG)

[iluvtruenos]

A: Bigger case: at most 5 degreee difference.

B: Clean heatsink.

C: Put new thermal grease on if not already applied, or take old off and put new on.

D: Get a bigger cooler. I suggest something by Thermaltake.

Instead of getting a case, he should have gotten a different HSF, and saved himself money and the headache of transferring everything over to the new case.

[penguinrusty]

Make sure that you have a proper air cicrulation path. And that your fans are blowing in the right direction.

[WESTOZ racer]

WHAT?? 70* Farenheight? Thats cold you bugger! Be worried if the tem gets to 70 CELCIUS....

Nuff said..

[bubba069]

never paid attention to the fact he siad Farenheight, got to figure though it has to celcius, never seen a temp alarm defaulted to Farenheight...

[krosenqu]

WHAT?? 70* Farenheight? Thats cold you bugger! Be worried if the tem gets to 70 CELCIUS....

Nuff said..

I tried to say that. O well, it just buggs me he gets all hyped because it gets up to 70 :rolleyes: .

[bubba069]

but what is he running for cooling.... if its air cooling it has to be celcius. 70F = 21.1C witch is pretty cold for air, only seen water get to the low 30's c, vapo chill for sub 0c...

I'd check to see what the temp sensor was set to, but if he hasnt don anything to the machine and it now starting to mess up... has to be the cooler or the tempsensor is messing up. I bet its the cooler.

if nothing else get a digi cam snap a shot of the bios temp screen.

[penguinrusty]

Heh, I forgot to look at the picture. But that is weird that a temp alarm is set to farenheight, and not to celcius.

[krosenqu]

I'll send him this thread. I'm prety sure he set it to fehrenheight because thats what hes used to. Celcius means absolutly nothing if you dont use it ever. Sort of like using military time when your not in the military. I'll see if he want to get his specs up here.

[krosenqu]

Kevin's friend here on his account.... :ninja:
OK...
Now to sort this out.
My machine has 6 fans in it. 2 front fans(80x80x25mm)that generate 52 CFM (cubic feet a minute) of air a min each. 1 back fan (120x120x25) that generates 93.7 CFM of air. One cheap 80x80x25 top fan blowing out. One 80x80x25 side fan blowing in. And finally one fan directly on top of the CPU processor 80x80x25. I have the case at the following site.
http://www.xoxide.com/aspire-x-cruiser-case-black.html
the chepo fans are the stock fans.
This is what my comp runs IN CELCIUS in idle.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/flame_kitty/Mike/cooling1.jpg
These are my specs shown in the cooling window
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/flame_kitty/Mike/cooling2.jpg
My computer is programmed to beep at 69 degrees CELCIUS which is about 150 degrees FAHRENHEIT. The processor zone seems to be the only alarm that goes off now. Zone 1 hovers around 50 degrees and Zone 2 around 55-60. The proccessor zone is the only thing that gets to 69 degrees C and when the alarm comes on the system minimizes all programs and pops up the cooling program. It then immediately jumps back to 65-66 degrees C in that area, I remaximizes the game I'm playing (usually HL2 it goes off on) and 1-3 minutes later its at 69 degrees, beeps, and jumps back to 65-66.It seems the processor Zone (temperature sensor in the upper corner of the comp), by the 550 Watt power supply is, is where i think air flow is minimal because its in the corner. Or it could just be a faulty sensor. Who knows.
I don't know the last time it was cleaned since we bought the new processor about 8 or so months ago and transitioned between cases 1-2 months ago.
My comp. only overheats when I start to play HL2 and its mods but for playing HL it seems to be fine, except on huge maps.
I do believe a new video card would help take stress off the processor but i could be wrong, you guys tell me. My video card is a PNY GeForce4 MX440 AGP 8x 64MB DDR. Would it help if i upped it to a better card?
Also, would it help if I some how arrange the wiring in the comp. so its not all strewn about? I think the wiring, since there is so much to go to the six fans, CD rom, Zip drive, and two harddrives, could be causing air flow restriction. I should probably zip tie some of it out of the way.
Also, somthing that may be causing the overheating in just that area is that the power supply fan blows straight down onto this area. Maybe i could make something to reflect this air away like to the side or something???
Also the from of the case has an open close type door. Should i leave it open so it doesnt restrict airflow (this also causes more dust to get in the comp.) or leave it closed since there are some tiny slots where air is supposed to travel in (and may hinder air flow slightly).
Thank you for the help thusfar and all further help will be greatly appreciated.
Peace.

[krosenqu]

Wow.

I goofed. :rolleyes:

I guess it was celcius, my bad :p .


ANYWAYS... :ninja:


He also (not he, his sister :rolleyes: ) dropped a glass of water on his keyboard and now it doesn't respond when hitting certin keys. Anybody heard of and/or tried the bathtub trick?

[mike5721947]

He also (not he, his sister :rolleyes: ) dropped a glass of water on his keyboard and now it doesn't respond when hitting certin keys. Anybody heard of and/or tried the bathtub trick?

my dad did the same with some scotch (he cried more about the lost scotch.) :rollin: now his num keys dont work.

i will bet you he turned the key board over and drained the scotch back into his glass. :rollin:


but i would like to know more about this trick with the bathtub as it might save him getting a new keyboard (its fairly new)

[krosenqu]

As long as it's not wireless. Maybe I should make a tutorial on how to do it. Its fairly easy but pictures are worth a thousand words. What you say Mike (my friend)?

[WESTOZ racer]

Back on topic, the cpu heatsink may have been clogged with dust preventing good heat transfer. Take the side panel off and see. Also while you're in there touch the heatsink metal to determine if it really is getting to 70*C. Meanwhile, sensors can be dodgy. Test temps with your finger, if its hot then you know the sensor is accurate-ish.

Disable any fan speed options in bios aswell. Some mobo's have a slowdown feature that are, well, crap. Overheats are common.

One of my machines here with a 80mm side fan gets so much dust in the heatsink that it goes unstable every few months and I have to clean it out.

[krosenqu]

Mike here.
I shall see. Ima try the bathtub trick soon, parents permission first. I may nee your camera.
As for the sink being clogged...it might be. the side entrance to the case has a filter but it may not work properly....we shall c in due time.

[MicroFreak387]

I've spent a lot of time designing my computer to run cool, (At high loads while rendering it has never peaked 50C with my current set-up) I would recommend:
-Turning fan speeds up as loud as you can bear.
Check for any CPU cooler issues, those being:
-Heatsink clogged with dust(Clean it.)
-Poorly applied, or bad thermal paste or PAD (USE THERMAL PASTE REMOVER, and re-apply a high quality thermal paste, Arctic Silver works well)
-Crappy CPU cooler(Buy a High end Thermaltake unit with adjustable speeds)
-Insuficient air flow(Buy round cables, zip tie as much wiring to the sides as you can)

Apart from what's mentioned above I would say install more fans, which it seems like you've done, check your sensors accurcay, which has been mentioned, or stop any overclocking you're doing, which you didn't mention so I'm assume you're not overclocking.

[bubba069]

Apart from what's mentioned above I would say install more fans

he has plenty of air going in and out the case, dont need more fans.

get all the cables tucked out of the way get good flow though the case, I still think its your cooler or maybe the temp sensor. I bet bucks to donuts that its the cooler. clean it. and it you have some coin laying around get a good cooler from thermaltake or zalman

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118115

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106061

and looking at that case, looks nice but the door on the front is cutting down a lot if the incoming air flow.