System crash (overheating).

[beyond-tec]

How do you cool down your system?

my whole PC crashed several times yesterday because of overheating.

System Config:
Q6600
8 GB RAM
8800 GTX XXX
Several Harddisks
etc etc..

Bought myself a slot-fan to cool down the gfx-card but doesn't help that much.


CPU starts with 36 C (96F) and reaches over 60 C (140F) during gamplay.
GFX card starts with 60 C (140F) and reaches over 80 C (176F) during gameplay until the PC crashes.

I'm gonna buy myself a bigger PC case with more case-fans.

any ideas which would help me getting the hardware cool?

[mikekim]

if you cant physically get more fans in your case you could use the following emergency measure... open the side cover and point a desk fan at the components

this will allow you to use your machine without overheating until you can get a case with better airflow

[beyond-tec]

Looks like I need to buy a new case with fans.

I'm currently checking the online stores...


Fans: 4 (3x 230mm, 1x 140mm)


4x 120mm


1x Case-Fan for the gfx-card.

[turbonapkin]

Those temps you mentioned - are they the max you see? They seem reasonable under load. I am assuming that you have active (air or water) cooling on both the cpu and gpu, rather than passive cooling. Some ideas:

1. Dust is the first obvious culprit - make sure your heatsinks are all clear of dust bunnies!

2. Run under load with the sides off your case. If you are still getting artifacts or crashing issues, it may be a heatsink problem on the GPU or CPU.

3. Consider removing all unecessary hardware to see if the problem persists, re-attaching each device until the problem returns

4. Check your case fan setup. If you have more intake fans than exhaust fans (aka positive pressure setup), you may be having a problem with turbulence in the case, which causes nasty hotspots. This can be solved by reversing enough intake fans such that you have more exhaust fans than intake fans, a setup known as 'negative pressure'. I use this setup myself and can recommend it against the positive pressure setup.

HTH

[beyond-tec]

those temps are the max before the system freezes and restarts.

I got cpu and gpu fans, no water-cooling.

1. no dust, pc is very clean, usually clean it twice a month

2. Although the sides are currently off my case I got the same temperatures yesterday before the pc crashed.
I put a big desk fan next to the PC yesterday to cool it down so I can play.

3. there is no "unnecessary hardware". I only got RAM, Harddisk, Gfx-Card and a DVD-Drive plugged to the mainboard.
It's a pure gamer-system, that's why I keep it as clean and as fast as possible.

4. I currently only use exhaust fans.

;(

[turbonapkin]

4. I currently only use exhaust fans.

;(

That's got to be it. Without an intake fan, your exhaust fans suck all the air out of the case meaning little or no cool air flowing across your heatsinks.

Good luck with the new case, I too have a Coolermaster (Cosmos case).

[Akeldema]

Looks like I need to buy a new case with fans.

I'm currently checking the online stores...

That case is Awsome, I have it, its so quiet but Keeps Quite alot of air moving through, Im at 45 degrees with 100% Use on my quadcore. and ITS HUGE, It must weight 20+kg empty

But dont bother with the 4 120mm fans, Nowhere for them to go in that case

[elsegundo]

who put together your current system? are the GPU and CPU fans already installed when you bought it? also, you need some direct air into your system as well as out of your system. make sure the airflow is consistent (front to back, top to bottom, etc). what kind of heat sinks do you have?

[beyond-tec]

it's done.

bought the computer case which I've linked above.

re-built the whole system...

...now I need to crush the ice from the harddisks *lol*



the system was built by a pc-store. they've done a very good job but I think the case was too small and there wasn't enough
space so that the air could circulate. Now I've got lots of space, some very very very big fans and suprisingly it's very silent.

hardware monitor:
CPU 20 degree (68F)
system 30 degree (86F)
core 0: 28 degree (82F)
core 1: 28 degree (82F)
core 2: 28 degree (82F)
core 3: 28 degree (82F)
gpu core: 50 degree (122F)
hdd: 22 degree (72F)

let's play some WoW and test the system.

[Coltimar]

My quad was overheating and I put a friggin' huge fan on it. I was gonna post the specs but I'm not sure it's street legal :/ Last night I came downstairs to find a piece of paper suck-stuck to the side of my case. Down side is it's so loud people sneak up on me and scare the stool out of me before I know they are there.