CPU overheating

[AlwaysWong]

I'm still running an old 300 PII system (description in sig). In the past, I would have trouble with overheating on warm days w/o air conditioning (just like my old Honda). I know it's overheating because of the annoying screaming beeps I get. Anyway, whenever this happened, I just took off the side of the case and it would be cool enough. Just recently, for the past day or two, the CPU started overheating again... even with the open case! I touched the processor and it felt pretty darn warm (like, EZ bake oven warm). At first, I thought my CPU fan was unplugged, but nope... I can see it spin. The only recent change I made to my system was replacing the power supply, but that was about 3 weeks ago. It's the same wattage as the old one... a standard 250W ATX from Compusa. Anyway, does anybody have any ideas why my CPU is running hot? Tell me if you need more info.

Thanks,
e

 

[DaiShan]

several Ideas actually 1. Do you have any case fans at all? 2. Do you have thermal compound between the cpu and the heatsink? 3. if the answer to 1 and 2 are yes, then you should look into buying a $10 heatsink/fan that will do a little better job. (check compusa or the like) Hope this helps!

oh and btw don't do what my friend did and just prop a floor fan up against the side of the case with the side off, this just blows dust all over your components

 

[AlwaysWong]

Well, I admit I've never had case fans because it only used to overheat when it was like 80 degrees in my room. My trouble is that all of the sudden, the old CPU is overheating a lot more that unusual. Anyway, I guess I should buy a more efficient heatsink/fan combo for the old PII. Can somebody suggest one?

 

[foQ]

You might try cleaning all the dust off of everything first. It is a pain in the ass, but with a few q-tips and some alcohol it can be done fairly easily. Also, check to see that the thermal paste has not dried up on your heatsink. If it is a retail P2, that is more trouble than it is worth because you can't easily get to the processor through the packaging. Another thought is that your old power supply might have been blowing or removing air more efficiently or closer to the processor, and the new one doesn't do that. If all else fails, check ebay or pricewatch for a new p2 processor. They should be pretty cheap by now, and If your board can handle it, you may be able to go to 450 Good luck!

 

[DaiShan]

try to find one of the p2 retail heatsinks if you can, but those models don't put out that much heat, so pretty much any one with a good fan will do, FoQ has some good advice, check to make sure the thermal compound hasn't dried out and if it has whipe it off with alcohol and add some more. I don't think that you will need a new cpu though!