Overheating Advice.

I have a home entertainment PC which is starting to overheat now that summer is comming on. Which I find strange as it is watercooled. I think it may be one of the HDD's? Using SpeedFan I get the following when at rest:

CPU: 31 C
Temp1: 29 C
Temp2: 38 C
Core: 11C

As soon as I put stress on the system by doing some rendering the Temp1 gradually climbs until the system become unstable and shuts down. All other temperatures stay well antruely within limits.

The specifications of the system are:
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Edition SP1 all patches applied
Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
HDDs: WDC WD25 00JS-55MHB0 and WDC WD25 00JS-00MHB0
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+
Memory: 2GB
Cooling: Zalman Reserator V2

Regards,

Glyn

Those temps are very low. Do they go higher?

Hi Steve,

Yes, as soon as I put stress on the system by doing some rendering the "Temp1" gradually climbs until the system becomes unstable and shuts down. All other temperatures stay well and truely within limits.

SpeedFan has Temp 1 as IT8712F-J, Bus: ISA, Address: $290.

Regards,

Glyn

Roughly what is the temp of "Temp1" when it "becomes unstable and shuts down)?

Immediately after shutting down, restart. What temps are showing in the CMOS/BIOS Setup?

Hi SpywareDr,

I am afraid I have never not had SpeedFan running and watching it when the PC has crashed. I just now did a quick test by putting a full load on the PC and in 45 minutes the temperatures went up from GPU - 31, Temp1 - 29, Temp2 - 38 and Core - 11 to 33, 84, 37 and 61 respectively. I had to stop the trial so I did not interupt a show my wife wanted to record.

If needed I can try this again, probably on the weekend, until it fails.

Regards,

Glyn

Temp1 - 29 went to 84

If I read what you posted right, then yes, you do have a heat problem. Really you do not want the cpu to exceed 65 C.

Hi Train,

I though Temp 1 and Temp 2 were the two HDD's as the Core is 61 C. Or am I reading this wrong? If I am reading it wrong then how can one core be 84 C while the other is 37 C? That is a very big difference when they are both at 100% usage!

I take it that the Core temperature is the average of Temp1 and Temp2. But this does not make sence as when I started Temp1 was 29, Temp2 was 38 and Core was 11.

What am I missing here?

Regards,

Glyn

One or both of us maybe wrong, speedfan to me is a mess.

PC wizard
http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php

Download, install.
Open
bottom right icon in the 3rd row in the left pane is for temps.
Click it and read right pane.

Let us see if it reads things better.

Yes you can R-click the right pane and select all, the R-click agqain and select copy then paste it in your next post.

Mine reads

Hardware Monitoring :
Voltage CPU : 1.21 V
Processor Temperature (Core 1) : 54 °C
Processor Temperature (Core 2) : 54 °C
:
Hard Disk Monitoring : S.M.A.R.T
Hard Disk Temperature TOSHIBA MK8032GSX : 37 °C

I've found that PC Wizard is pretty inaccurate as well when it comes to monitoring temps and voltages, though your mileage may vary. In my experience Everest is the best app for doing so, it is $ware, but you can download a fully functional demo and use it for a month:

Everest Ultimate

Hi SuperSparks and Train,

I have Everest and I can not find a temperature monitoring feature in it.

I down loaded PCWizard and the results are attached. Bottom line; it is the Processor. Interesting that the individual core temperature are lower than the overall core temperature. Also, for some reason I do not get a HDD temperature?

So, next is what do we do about it! The Zalman should be more than adequate to cool the CPU. I suppose first is to remove the block, apply new past and then reseat. Is that right?

Regards,

Glyn

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GlyndwrBartlett

I have Everest and I can not find a temperature monitoring feature in it.

---

Look under Computer | Sensor.

Hi SpywareDr,

I looked there and it was a blank page. I waited and nothing came up.

Am I right in assuming that the Zalman should be more than adequate to cool the CPU?

And am I right in my next step being to remove the block, apply new past and then reseat?

Regards,

Glyn

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GlyndwrBartlett

I looked there and it was a blank page. I waited and nothing came up.

---

Hmmm, strange.

What are the temps in CMOS/BIOS Setup?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GlyndwrBartlett

Am I right in assuming that the Zalman should be more than adequate to cool the CPU?

---

Should be, yes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GlyndwrBartlett

And am I right in my next step being to remove the block, apply new past and then reseat?

---

I'd want a second opinion from another program before going to the trouble.

Try PC wizard again, 4th row down in the left pane, the last ICON is the icon to click.
I goofed before. And when you mouse over the ICON, a balloon with voltages, temperature and fans should pop up.

Now when the right pane fills, right click it and select all, R-click it again and select copy and post that into your next post.

Hi SpywareDr and Train,

First Train, sorry for the empty files I am not sure what went wrong. Please find another file attached.

SpywareDr, the temperatures under the BIOS are CPU 62 C and MB 33 C. The temperature drops fairly quickly after I take the load of the CPU. However, I rebooted and went into the BIOS as quickly as I could.

Regards,

Glyn

I'll post the figures for folks to see.

Hardware Monitoring : ITE IT8716F
Voltage CPU : 1.31 V
+3.3V Voltage : 3.26 V
+5V Voltage : 4.91 V
+12V Voltage : 12.46 V
VBAT : 3.09 V
Processor Fan : 10 rpm
Chassis Fan : 3110 rpm
Power/Aux Fan : 10 rpm
Processor Temperature : 84 °C
Mainboard Temperature : 41 °C
:
Processor : Thermal Diode
AMD Athlon 64 X2 (Core 1) : 60.8 °C
AMD Athlon 64 X2 (Core 2) : 63.8 °C
:
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT : nVidia Driver
GPU Temperature : 41 °C
GPU Fan : 100%

Do you have case fans?
One low in the front blowing in and one high, near the ps [power supply] blowing out?

Hi Train,

This system was built for me and I have not had it open. When everyone is out of the house next (I am more likely to get away with surgery on the family pet than on the home entertainment system :eek: ), I will open it up and find out for sure. However, I do not believe that it does have any fans as it is a water cooled system.

I take it from your question that even though it is a water cooled system it should have two fans. Can you recomend two quiet yet efficient fans?

Regards,

Glyn

Water cooled, never dealt with one, but heat still builds up in the case and has to be removed. The ones I remember seeing being showcased, did have 80mm fans for that.

Might be worth while to see how much dust and junk has built up in the case also.
Use canned air to get it out.

Have you checked to see if the radiator is clean and is not plugged up with junk?

Hi Train,

OK. I will get a couple of fans and clean the PC out while in there. The radiator is external to the case and is clean.

It may take a while for me to get this done as I have to wait for the right opportunity. I will post back with the results ASAP.

Thanks,

Glyn

My first impression after reading the above is that the CPU heat sink may be out of kilter and not making a complete contact. That would account for the wierd temp difference between the two cores.
If you get those fans, may I suggest you get Scythe brand? They move a heck of a lot of air, but are very quiet...ideal for a home theater setup.

More likely, the AMD Dual-Core Optimizer hasn't ever been installed and the BIOS for your mobo may need updating as well. AMD went through a slew of changes as they introduced and dropped various dual-core permutations two years ago; many mobo makers had to scramble to keep up. (I learned that myself just recently, when I couldn't drop my CPU temps to save my life - turned out there were 10 BIOS revisions in the sixteen months since I'd bought the mobo.:o ) The BIOS update may also address your CPU fan's readings...10RPM?!:eek:

Look for the optimizer on your mobo driver CD, and for a BIOS update in the mobo maker's website.

BTW - You really should install SP3. SP1 is hole-ier than Swiss cheese.

Hi bistro,

I will do both then, reseat the CPU block and install two fans.

Hi Igbpop,

I have already checked for a BIOS update and it is already using the most current version. I will look for the optimizer on my mobo driver CD and install. I am running Vista on this particular PC and therefore, as far as I know, SP1 is the latest.

Thanks for all your help.

Regards,

Glyn

My mistake. I assumed you had XP. That's what I get for staying up past 10:00 PM.:D

Hi Igbpop,

I should have been more specific on the O/S, and the optimiser software was a good spot.

Regards,

Glyn

Hi SAFAI,

I received notification that you posted "I know I'm a bit late with this message, but could yoy solve the overheating problem? I have exactly the same issue with almost the same pc configuration". However, I can not see it here.

In the end I simply swapped the hoses over on the outlet of the reservoir.

Regards,

Glyn

Hi GlyndwrBartlett

Thanks for replying back. If I understood correctly, your problem was related to your CPU cooling system after all.

Ok. It is a good advice. I will also work on my heatsink/paste arrangement; other people have also suggested the same thing to me.

Thanks again.
Cheers:)

Hi Safai,

There are also a lot more products on the market since I built my PC. From the BARAM for $80 to the Cool Master V10 for $189 (if that doesn't cool the CPU then nothing this side of refrigeration will). But there again when the temperature reaches 45 degrees Celsius, as it does on Oz, then it is either turn the Media Centre off or turn up the air conditioning :D

Hi GlyndwrBartlett

My problem is to a large extent resolved; please see this thread:

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...d.php?t=241662

Since I'm not doing heavy jobs with my PC, the stock air cooling system seems to be OK for the time being. Anyway, thanks a lot for the advice

SAFAI

Well done safai.