Whats Hot and whats Not?

[Draken12685]

I put together my gaming PC from different parts from Fry's that have lasted me quite a while until now. Until recently I was running:
Pentium 4 2.4 w/stock heatsink/pad
1 gig ram (2x 512 ddr)
Abit IS7 motherboard
300w Antec PSU
GeForce 5600 Ultra 128 mb AGP
80 gig Maxtor hd
Iomega CD/DVD burner
Stanard keyboard
Intelli MX550 ( i think) red gaming mouse
1 80mm standard casefan out the mesh in back
:: in a medium size metal case with no ventilation on front/sides, and only 2 mesh spots in the back for 80mm's,

After maybe a year or so I noticed my computer crashing quite often. Finally after maybe 1-2 months of having it crash after a while of playing I took started touching the heatsinks of the pieces in my computer and found my graphic card, which btw has the additional PSU hookup needed, almost scorched my finger to touch. The fan had stopped working. I didnt have any money for a new graphic card so I then kept a large housefan next to the side of my computer and it never froze.

Recently I bought a Sapphire x800 Pro 256 AGP to replace the card so I wouldnt have to risk burning my house down when leaving the fan running next to it. Problem started there, it still crashed. At first during EQ2 / CS 1.6 my games would crash to desktop and i would have no mouse movement but could use my keyboard, which soon lead me to think things werent getting enough power.

I ordered a ASPIRE 520w black PSU with 3 fans in it. Once I installed that it I didnt have any crashing games to desktop but just freezing going on. Meanwhile I would have the housefan next to my computer and nothing would freeze.

I checked my temperatues with AbitEQ, Bios, and ATI tool. ATI tool showed showed that my GPU would get 68-69 degree's max and average 60-65 while gaming and my GPU environment would be about 50-55. AbitEQ showed all my devices getting good wattage, good fan speeds, and around good temperates besides my CPU which seemed to be around 55-60. Bios showed CPU running 54 idle and around 60+ load after gaming.

I just now installed an Artic Cooling ATI Silencer 4 Rev 2 with Artic Silver 5 thermal paste on both sides of the GPU's ram and and followed instructions as well as putting Artic Silver 5 on my CPU. The G-card installtion went smoothly. The CPU on the other hand didnt. I put 1/2 rice size or so on the CPU after cleaning with a coffee ground paper towel and when starting up the screen wouldnt connect. When I went to pull out the heatsink the CPU was so STUCK onto it that it ripped out along with the heatsink without budging the metal lapse bar. When i looked at my GPU i had slightly bent some of the gold pins. I moved them back and alligned them and reapplied ect and my computer loaded up. GPU now in ATI tool is 40 idle and average 48-50c load, highest it has got at one point was 62c which I imagine might have been with massive spell particles/ water gleaming / torches going ect. The idle's at 48-52c and games at 56-60c.

Leaving my computer on with game running it is STILL freezing. Using my house fan next to it it doesnt seem to freeze at all.. What am I to do? I am holding off buying anymore cooling devices until I find out what is REALLY freezing my computer.

Please help =)

 

[grego]

Sounds to me like you need more case ventalation. One 80mm fan is not very much. When you say you it works when you put your house fan on it, are you taking off your case's side panel? If so I would be willing to bet that you simply need more case ventalation. Perhaps your ram or some other component is overheating... something sure is.

You sound somewhat screwed as far as case fans go though. You may want to look into getting a cheap case that has both front and back ventalation, the larger the fans, the better. Other than that, try adding another 80mm fan, and make it so that one is blowing in and one is blowing out.

EDIT: A case with 1 120mm fan in the front, and 1 120mm fan in the back should provide adequate ventillation. The cheapest ones like that on newegg are $60, I'm not sure how much you can spend.

 

[Draken12685]

I have been looking into getting a new case but really didnt want to spend more money if something else is causing the issue or if its an easy fix. Anyone know exactly what temperatures for devices is too hot or hot enough to cause crashing? I know my bios sets limits for shutdown at like 80 C or 100c, but what actually causes them to freeze?

If anyone knows a decent priced case 60-130 USD$ range that has good airflow and wouldnt scare my girlfriend away please post. I tried finding a double glass-pane panel case so I could add some blue glow to my computer but havnt been successful. Anything but an alien looking case or something really funky.

If anyone here plays EQ2 could you please post or email me your comp spec's and what temperatues devices run at? As well as if you crash while zoning or freeze on occasion so I know that some does not have to deal with the patches/game itself. I am running XP without SP1/SP2 which may be a reason for the game going to desktop when zoning occasionally.