CPU too hot, weird story

D

Dodge_this

New Member
Hi there. I just built my new computer for the first time and I'm not really up with some of the terminology around here. Bare with me.

Specs:
Intel Core2 Duo E6600
ATI 1900XTX 512 mb Video card
690 Watt power supply
ASUS P5B motherboard
1 gig of memory

Here's the story.

I built this computer and it ran amazing for a full month. I don't overclock-all settings are normal. It's the fastest PC I've ever had and I was really happy. Then, about two weeks ago, I was playing a video game when it shut down by itself. It began shutting down every few hours until it got worse and worse. It came to the point where I would turn my computer on and within 7 to 8 minutes, my CPU would hit 190 to 200 degrees (fahrenhiet) and then shut down. Note that my motherboard maintained a solid 90 degree temperature.

I checked my fan speeds. My chassis fans were only running at about 400 RPM's. My CPU fan was only running at 1700 RPM's. I switched a few power cords and I got my chassis fans back up to 1300 RPM's, but my CPU had stayed at 1700. So with a computer idling at 195 degrees after start up...

My CPU fan was firmly attached to the CPU so that wasn't the problem. However, I thought that maybe the thermal clay stuff wore off or something. I went to Micro Center to buy some Arctic Silver. This brings me to where I am today. After applying the Arctic Silver, my CPU now idles at 145 degrees fahrenhiet. That is a big improvement, and the best thing is that my computer isn't shutting down haha. However, it is still too hot, and I'm afraid that if I play any PC intensive video game, it will get screaming hot again and then shut down.

I know that if I can bring up the CPU fan speed from 1700 to 3000, it will be a big help. I think this is the last step to getting my PC back to where it was when I first built it. Any ideas? I looked in the BIOS but there was no option for me to manually set the fan speed. The only thing available was a Performance Mode which doesn't seem to do anything.

This forum is great and there are many people with a ton of knowledge here. Thank you for any help you can give.
 
Running stock with the stock HSF will see higher temps when you place a good load on the system while gaming, running multimedia, or other large apps. That's why many go with 3rd party cooling setups. It's not only fan speed since there are some without having a fan on them. The stock setup has a strictly aluminum heat sink while others have copper base plates and some go further with strictly copper. That is more effective as copper is a better conductor for heat. 200 farenheit = 93.333333Celsius ouch!
 
yea i'd recommend gettin an after market copper heat sink fan. and just wondering. your fans are only 1300 rpm? how many rpm's is it suppose to run normally? or is that the highest it can go? if so, try gettin some higher rpm fans with better air flow since your at it.
 
What I did when the new build here first started off in an older case to replace a board there was simply swap cases. The old case had two 80mm fans only with no vents or front intake fan. The new case came with a large front intake, a 120mm rear exhaust fan there, and I added two 120s to the side cover. The high board temps dropped from 46-48C idle down to 31C.

That also helped when the 3rd party cpu cooler was still seeing over what it should have been. Once the entire case saw that increase of air flow every temp dropped.
 
Dodge_this said:
My CPU fan was firmly attached to the CPU so that wasn't the problem. However, I thought that maybe the thermal clay stuff wore off or something. I went to Micro Center to buy some Arctic Silver. This brings me to where I am today. After applying the Arctic Silver, my CPU now idles at 145 degrees fahrenhiet. That is a big improvement, and the best thing is that my computer isn't shutting down haha. However, it is still too hot, and I'm afraid that if I play any PC intensive video game, it will get screaming hot again and then shut down.
Click to expand...

Ku-sama said:
have you tried reseating the HSF?
Click to expand...

You keep asking the same question when the answer has already been given. :rolleyes:

The real problem there is either going with a better cooling setup(advised) and/or adding larger fans as well as seeing about using larger ones to replace the ones in use already. These are the lower cost methods. There are quite makes and models of 3rd party coolers to choose from. The expensive options are water cooling and air conditioned pc cases.
 
PC eye said:
You keep asking the same question when the answer has already been given. :rolleyes:

The real problem there is either going with a better cooling setup(advised) and/or adding larger fans as well as seeing about using larger ones to replace the ones in use already. These are the lower cost methods. There are quite makes and models of 3rd party coolers to choose from. The expensive options are water cooling and air conditioned pc cases.
Click to expand...


lol, its not like he got a faulty processor which runs at 1.7V and crap, any stock HSF is sufficient for stock speeds and voltage...


i had a crappy HSF on the x6800 and it faired just great...
 
well, intel's stock cooler is copper based, the fins are aluminum.
it should run nice and cool with the stock heatsink.
you can try reinstalling the heatsink, and disable the fan controller in the bios, that'll allow the fan to run at its maximum speed at all times.

here are some thermal compound application instructions:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appinstruct/as5/ins_as5_intel_dual_wcap.pdf

basically you need to make sure both surfaces (cpu and heatsink) are purified with rubbing alcohol and cotton balls or a lint free towel. then, you need to apply a small amount (about the size of half a rice grain) of arctic silver 5 onto the heatsink. then, spread it around with a credit card making sure not to scratch the surface too much (no big deal if you do). then, put the heatsink on and secure it down. make sure the heatsink doesnt LOSE contact with the cpu, because this assures that the arctic silver was contaminated by dust in the air... and you need to clean it again with rubbing alcohol and start over.

kind of stupid and boring, but it needs to be done in order for your computer to run well. also, for future reference, always check cpu temps for newly built computers.
for every extra 10C you add, it cuts the cpu's lifespan in half. somethin to do with silicon tunneling, which is also helped along by voltage, but basically the less heat the better.
 
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If you are still experiencing problems, the Thermaltake Big Typhoon or the Zalman 9500 are great coolers.
 
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