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Question about Computer Overheating
RCagent
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I recently got a new computer, and I've been very concerned about Overheating. When I first tried it out it played games great, although I had two instances where the polygons went flying everywhere and the two games crashed. I came to the conclusion it was due to overheating and I repositioned the case (I found out I was blocking lots of venting air holes). Now, this problem never has occurred again, but the prospect of killing my computer from overheating worries me.
Playing something like Portal or Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas might make the case a little hot, but the fan quickly fixes this problem. But, I recently played Half-Life 2: Episode One for about 2 hours, and I decided just to touch the case and holy shit. The metal was literally scorching hot. If I had to describe the heat of the case, it felt like it had been over a fire for atleast 30 seconds. Not insanely hot, but you were definitely not going to leave your finger on it.
Now this may be a bit obvious, but I'll ask anyway. Does a generally hot hot case mean intense overheating? Because I did not find any video mess ups.
I should note that the tower case for this computer needs to be positioned upside down (yeah don't ask ) to properly ventilate all the vent air holes, so could it just be that all the hardware is merely touching the "top" (or bottom in reality) of the case and is just giving me a false illusion of intense hotness? Because touching the sides offers a warm and cool feeling while the top gives me a crazy ass heat.
In simple words, should I be worried about this?
Playing something like Portal or Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas might make the case a little hot, but the fan quickly fixes this problem. But, I recently played Half-Life 2: Episode One for about 2 hours, and I decided just to touch the case and holy shit. The metal was literally scorching hot. If I had to describe the heat of the case, it felt like it had been over a fire for atleast 30 seconds. Not insanely hot, but you were definitely not going to leave your finger on it.
Now this may be a bit obvious, but I'll ask anyway. Does a generally hot hot case mean intense overheating? Because I did not find any video mess ups.
I should note that the tower case for this computer needs to be positioned upside down (yeah don't ask ) to properly ventilate all the vent air holes, so could it just be that all the hardware is merely touching the "top" (or bottom in reality) of the case and is just giving me a false illusion of intense hotness? Because touching the sides offers a warm and cool feeling while the top gives me a crazy ass heat.
In simple words, should I be worried about this?
RCagent on
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Unless you are using a tiny case with everything packed in very tightly, your case should not be getting to the level of "crazy ass heat" on the top (or noticeably hot at all, for that matter) after simply playing a game for 2 hours.
I should note that the tower case for this computer needs to be positioned upside down (yeah don't ask ) to properly ventilate all the vent air holes, so could it just be that all the hardware is merely touching the "top" (or bottom in reality) of the case and is just giving me a false illusion of intense hotness? Because touching the sides offers a warm and cool feeling while the top gives me a crazy ass heat.
Said again for emphasis - your case should not feel like anything but cold, room temperature, or slightly lukewarm at most on the outside, except for possibly the fan vents in the back, and even those should not be scorching.
More info is needed here - What case are you using? What CPU do you have, and is its fan working? what kind/how many case fans do you have? Are they all working? What graphics card are you using? Does it have a fan? Post a picture or two of the inside of the case if nothing else.
Download Speedfan and see what it's reporting, especially while you're gaming. If the company that makes your video card provides a monitoring utility (I know Nvidia does), do the same with that.
In simple words, should I be worried about this?
Yes, very.
Well, like they say in Unsolved Mysteries, UPDATE!
My New Computer has official died. Now, I guess it could be playing Team Fortress 2 + other shit for 6 hours and then playing Portal to listen to the developer commentary is a bit too much.
Well what occurred, was that I was playing Portal for the Developer Commentary, really loving, then all of a sudden I hear this really insanely loud banshee jackhammer noise which sound like a motor gone bad. I immiedietely looked at my ceiling fan only to notice the sound that was drawing my headphones was next to me, my computer. In panic, I did a quick shut down of the computer and decided that it was basically in a "no games right now" mood.
Well, the next morning starting up, I get "BOOT DISK FAILURE: PLEASE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS RETURN: What the fuck? It starrted up twice at shows.
Now, while just showing this error message the computer gets insanely hot, we're goign to call in for a replacement. Still, this sucks so much kinds of ass.
So was it the computer that was just overheated at the start due to a faulty fan, or was it something I induced?
The specs (from what I gather):
2GB of RAM
AMD Anthlon Dual Core Pro
Nvidia 8400 GS
You then played games for six hours on an overheating computer. This was much worse, and you've almost certainly fried at least one component permanently.
Excessive heat is bad for pretty much everything inside your computer case, and if you're having overheating problems you need to fix those problems before doing anything intensive (which definitely includes Source engine games).
Well, the replacement I'm getting should be exactly like the computer we've got before. Was it just faulty hardware that caused it to overheat? Or was it just how the computer was set up? The computer case, I should mention was very compact, and that'll probably lead to some overheating, but it had assloads of ventilation holes around the case, that that much excessive heat would have meant I was blocking its air-flow or something.
When my replacement arrives, and it still overheats, what should I do to prevent it from frying up? ( I can understand I may have to give it a cooldown break if this is the case). I would imagine buying a extra fan or something?
O.O
I hate to sound mean, but I cannot begin to say what a bad idea this was - playing intensive 3D games for hours is the absolute last thing you should do with a computer having cooling problems. You should have babied it along, running as little as possible, and done a visual inspection/used monitoring software to find out which fans weren't moving, what component was putting out excess heat, what was clogged, etc.
From what you mention about the case, probably both. Extreme compact cases aren't amazing at cooling to begin with, and then a fan or something failed which sent it over the edge, and then into complete meltdown when you fired up TF2 & Portal for hours.
You seem to be saying that it was under warranty or whatnot....Are we talking about a Dell or somesuch here? If so, what model?
If it's anything like the Dell Optiplex GX270 i'm typing this on at work right now, there is not much you can do to add additional cooling, and there is not much wiggle room....'Fer instance, all I have open right now is Firefox with 4 tabs, Outlook, and Notepad, and the fan vent in back is so hot I can't keep a finger on it for more than a few seconds.
I can't install any kind of monitoring software here, but i'd probably be a little disturbed to know what the case temp is at the moment....And if I run anything even remotely intensive (like a Flash game), it quickly turns into a jet engine trying to keep up.
The first thing I would suggest is that if you have any way possible to get a computer with a non-compact, normal-sized tower case, do that instead - you will make your life much easier.
Failing that, you need to determine the biggest fan(s) w/the most air movement that can fit in your case, and look into installing them, assuming that won't void a warranty or something. Keep everything clean. Make sure all the cables are organized in a neat fashion and out of the way of airflow if possible.
Without knowing more about exactly what case you have, it's hard to suggest much in the way of specifics.
No prob, and i'm sorry if I sounded a little abrasive this morning, the ol' clock radio goes off way too early some days O_o
About all I can think of is maybe you could get a better cooler on your graphics card, depending on how much wiggle room there is in the case (and what your power supply can handle) - Newegg has a bunch here
Other than that....I don't think you'd have enough room to get a really decent CPU cooler (the one I have here at home is easily twice the size of the stock unit), but you could always consider that.
Wish I could help out more, maybe someone with more experience on these types of cases will chime in though.
I cleaned my computer out about 3 months ago and I needed to vaccuum the area afterwards because there was so much bloody dust that came out of it (Note: do not vaccuum the case, go to an office supply store and buy a can of compressed air, vaccuums generate static electricity which is bad for your processors)
Also ask Dell if they can spot why it overheated, it may be that the fans were broken and just plain not running. If they can't determine the problem ask if you can pay the difference to get the new computer installed into a larger case.
Satans..... hints.....
Well, the fact that I bought the computer merely a week before, I don't think dust would build up in that quick of a time. I checked the fans, and they seem to be in working order, its just the bad placement of hardware I believe that is overheating it, that and its a compact case. Hopefully I can try keeping the new one alive, and if all else fails, I'll see if HP can send me a PC with similar specs in a larger case.