I was having problems with my PC crashing. I *thought* it was my CPU.

My CPU Q9550 was running at 105 C. I levelled all the way to 80 with it running this hot. Chatting to Ooga he suggested the stock heatsink/fan was terrible and after 6-8 months got a cake load of dust inbetween it. Sure enough pulled it out and a massive thick layer of dust had built up.

Bought a Zalman 9700 fan. Now it peaks out at 52C running 5 clients.

I still get pink/purple/green/blue screens of death which doing alot of reading is related to my GTX280. Apparently alot of people running them have problems. I cleaned out its cooling fan and it sits at about 65 under heavy load but the crashing is just anytime the 3D part of the GPU is initialized - ie Windows 7 Aero or if I manage to get into WoW and leave Dalaran it might do it.

After a few crashes its fine though and then will run solid for a week or so straight.

I am strongly thinking about getting a 295 or a ATI card but not sure if there is a batch of new cards coming out soon to hold off and wait.