Computer gets really hot

[PaladinL]

Hi Everyone

I've noticed that my computer gets EXTREMELY hot, so hot that it acutally raises the temperature in my room. I have a feeling it is my power supply, cause the back part of my computer (where the power supply is, is the hottest), I bought a 400W powersupply for a fairly cheap price around 40$ canadian, so i dunno if its the qualtiy of the power supply thats causing it to get really hot.
I'm running a P4 3gig, with a hyperthreaded mother board and a ati radion 9600xt 256meg, so maybe thats requiringa lot of power from the powersupply and causing it to overheat? Any one have any thoughts on this?

Let me know what you guys think i should do.

Thanks
PaladinL

[stevietat]

did this all starts happening only after you got the new powersupply. If so, you might want to return it if its creating so much heat you can feel it in your entire room, because that sounds like somewhat of a firehazard. However if you're computer reboots a lot by itself, you may have some overheating on the motherboard which means you'll have to look at your cooling devices.

But if it is your powersupply, that could be a real danger. A friend of mine recently had her laptop adapter catch on fire, was pretty freaky.

[gasbag15]

Its probably not the PSU, more that likely it will be the radoen 9600xt and possibly the p4.

Radeons are terrible for handling heat.
I have P4 3.2 with 9800xt and its the VGA that is the cause of all my woes. I added extra fans and it keeps it a fair bit cooler.

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Since we're on the topic of computer problems, I have one that is plaguing me!

Full sys specs:
2x 512MB RAM - no ECC
MSI 865PE neo2-P mother board
Asus Radeon 9800xt 256MB
P4 prescott 3.2ghz
Western Digital 80GB HDD 7200rpm
450W PSU
And PCI Network Card
All the latest drivers.

Anyways my problems are if I try use Photoshop and say make a selection with the marquee tool OR use brushes, PS will just lock up and rarely recovers causing me to lose any unsaved work. Also large websites will be a problem, for instance, if I have 2 browser windows open and one or both of them have a large image or a fair bit of content, the browser window that im closing will lock up for a while before it closes.
Other problems are when playing (I've noticed this the most on HL mods) the HL mods I will momentarily freeze and then start moving again BUT nothing else freezes, only me (even if I threw a grenade it won't freeze with me).

added note: I have changed the RAM over to a different brand because I thought that might have been the problem, but it didn't solve anything. So I have a sneaky suspicion that its the Radeon.
(also for some reason there is no Overdrive tab when I install any of the Catalyst drivers)

I was thinking it was a heat issue but the VGA is sticking to a pretty stable 40-50C.

If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated as the computer is only about 3 weeks and these problems have been going on for atleast 2. (before then the VGA would just crash and VPU recovery would try and kick in).

[PAlexC]

What kind of RAM?

Are you mixing different brand modules?

What's the CAS Latency?

[wiReZ]

My computer heats up my whole room as well! But my computer never shuts off (never gets that hot). I have 3 fans in my computer, 1 bringing in air, 2 exausting, including my power supply which has 2 fans pulling and pushing out air. My current PC specs are as followed:

2800XP Barton 333FSB (on a ThermalTake SilentBoost)
1GB DDR 2700 (2x512 Kingston Value)
MSI K7N2G-ILSR
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
SoundBlaster Audigy 2
1x80GB Seagate 7200RPM 8mb Cache
1x120GB Maxtor 7200RPM 8mb Cache
1x250GB Western Digital 7200RPM 8mb Cache

Overall, my PC put's out some lot of heat (110F processor, 100system). Pentium 4's (especially Prescotts) are notorious for their heat. How hot is yours running?

[gasbag15]

I have huyatt (I think thats how its spelt) 400mhz DDR3200 - both are the same brand.
Before I was using 400mhz generic brand to cut down on costs, but when I started having problems I thought the generic ones would be the cause and got them changed over for the huyatt ones but the problems still occur.

[Archimage]

Are you in a small room with closed doors and windows? If so then you'll be re-heating air that has already been through the system once(or several times).

Thought I'd mention it as I have a smallish room for my PC's and this summer it was like an oven with closed doors.

Another thought, are the fans facing the right way? I'v been told that sucking when you should be blowing will ruin the effect

[gasbag15]

at the moment my CPU is running at 47C which is I think about 117F

[GMF ™]

PaladinL , hey I suggest as many others have said , try another power . it shouldt make much heat .

Originally posted by gasbag15
at the moment my CPU is running at 47C which is I think about 117F

Thats not very hot Most cpus (intel that is) will freez about 80 - 90º .

Idle temp here is 29º (cpu) and system is around 32º . I maneged to get 60º when i play Doom3 . What wiReZ says is important , you must bring air into the pc or it will give a vacum fx in the tower . Put a fan in the bottom that will suck air in and have one in the top that blows it out .

[Markp.com]

Get a quiet one too! www.quietpc.com

[gasbag15]

I have 2 fans case fans (both are blowing air into the pc), 2 fans built onto the VGA and one for the CPU. I also have a alot of ventalation. I'm not sure if its heat but I was thinking the other day that I might try turning the case fan at the back around.

[GMF ™]

whats important is that the one that blows in must be in the bottom and the outfan must be on the top . The sirculation is important too soo dont have too much ventilation xsept for the fans . Good airflow i from bottom to top will get the best cooling.

I have manage to get my cpu cooler than a watercoolingsystem with fans and xtra coolingribs of copper.

[gasbag15]

I don't know of the problem I'm having is a temperature issue though :S

[PaladinL]

well when i bought my case for my computer, it came with a 200W supply, and figured that woudln't be enough, so i bought the 400w supply.
My computer hardly ever reboots, it just gets too hot. Its usually when i'm playig games. I'm gonna see if my friend will let me borrow his power supply for a few hours to see if it still gets hot.

Thanks for the info guys

[nordberg]

on a side note, how do you guys tell how hot your machines are actually getting...?

recctal thermometer?

[GMF ™]

there are builtin senors on the mainbord and software that comes with it .
http://www.epox.nl/english/products/...oard/4pda5.htm

[TallGuyLittleCar]

Originally posted by PaladinL

My computer hardly ever reboots, it just gets too hot. Its usually when i'm playig games. I'm gonna see if my friend will let me borrow his power supply for a few hours to see if it still gets hot.

Maybe i missed something, what do you mean gets to hot? Enless it is locking up / rebooting it's probably not a problem. Computers get hot... can't do work without creating heat.

[Ultima Designs]

Originally posted by nordberg
on a side note, how do you guys tell how hot your machines are actually getting...?

Koolance has a themometer that attaches to the CPU. Motherboard sensors are never very exact.

By the way, I'm a strong proponent of high-end power supplies like Antec, PC Power and Cooling, and Enermax. In your case, with such a demanding system, I wouldn't go with anything less than a 400W power supply from one of those reputable vendors. The PS is the most underestimated component in the entire system, and can save you from frying your mobo, CPU, memory, and everything else. With all of the high end components you have in your PC, it will definitely be running pretty hot. You may wish to get some high-end cooling components for your CPU, GPU, and memory - you may even want to consider water cooling.

With my Koolance fans on full blast, my CPU idles at about 28ºC at room temperature and about 32ºC full load at room temperature. With my Koolance fans on a lower setting, my CPU idles at about 31ºC and stands around 37ºC full load.

[PaladinL]

Maybe i missed something, what do you mean gets to hot? Enless it is locking up / rebooting it's probably not a problem. Computers get hot... can't do work without creating heat.

Well, the back part of my case (where the powersupply is) gets extremely hot if i touch it, i could almost fry an egg on it (almost, but not quite). It gets so hot that my entire room's temperature rises.

[Ultima Designs]

Originally posted by PaladinL
if i touch it, i could almost fry an egg on it (almost, but not quite).

That's not safe. Open the case, boot the computer, and feel the actual PS. If it's the hot component, return it. Like I said, invest in something like Antec - it will pay off.