Dell 4600 going crazy

[petesamprs]

Guys - can you help me out here?
My brother's Dell 4600 (with a pny 6800gt), which for the last year has run fine on all games without a temp problem, recently started acting up.

Now I notice video card temps idle at 65 and up to 100 while heavy gaming. Something is definitely up since it wasn't that high before. Also, after a few minutes of gaming, the mobo starts beeping (one beep every 3-4 seconds) and then sometimes the computer freezes.

I can't decide whether it's my CPU overheating, the video card, or the case fan not going 100%?

- Is there any way on this system to monitor the CPU temp? I've heard Dell doesn't include the temp monitoring software on their mobos.
- Is there any way to set my case fan at 100% all the time. There was no throttling options in the BIOS.

Note: It looks like the CPU doesn't have fan - just a passive heatsink.

thanks

 

[Bobthelost]

Are you sure there is no CPU fan? Not even lying at the bottom of your case?

 

[petesamprs]

Haha yeah, I'm pretty sure. The case is sitting here, with it's side open, right next to me. I should add that I've been running Prime95 for a while now and there's no beeping or anything, so it's probably not the CPU.

Maybe the beeping was coming from my 6800gt overheating. Do 6800gt's beep?

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
Are you sure there is no CPU fan? Not even lying at the bottom of your case?

dell usually employ a large passive heatsink with a duct that leads to a fan....im not sure whether this slow rotating fan blows or sucks but thats how i think dell cool the processors


pete

my 6800GT had a buzzer on it, i remember it beeping at me when i forgot the extra power connector. so yes they can


can you check the heatsink on the 6800 for dust? my friend almost fried his ultra becuase he didnt clean his case and had dust caked between the heatsink fins, and that was with a an NV Silencer from Arctic cooling

 

[petesamprs]

otis,
You nailed it bro. I popped out my 6800gt and took off the cover for the fan/heatsink. The inside of the card was packed full of dust bunnies - especially at the entrance of the heatsink closest to the fan! My idle temps immediately dropped from 65 to 48. Not great temps for idle but those are the temps i remember when I first got the card (this is a dell with stock cooling so I was fine with those temps).

thanks again.

 

[narutofan36]

i also read somewhere that u can increase the performance of your computer just by cleaning out the dust from your computer.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: narutofan36
i also read somewhere that u can increase the performance of your computer just by cleaning out the dust from your computer.

not directly no lol, cleaning dust out of places such as the heatsinks will make the heatsinks more effective (well move them back up to being as effective as they were when new)

which should = reduced heat = no clock throttling (ie pentiums and GPU slow down when too hot) = room to overclock.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: petesamprs
otis,
You nailed it bro. I popped out my 6800gt and took off the cover for the fan/heatsink. The inside of the card was packed full of dust bunnies - especially at the entrance of the heatsink closest to the fan! My idle temps immediately dropped from 65 to 48. Not great temps for idle but those are the temps i remember when I first got the card (this is a dell with stock cooling so I was fine with those temps).

thanks again.

48's pretty good for idle on those cards, my 6800gt only idled at 45 with the zalman cooler on it. thats why i hate those radial fan things, they just clog too fast and too easy, and you just dont notice.

 

[petesamprs]

yeah tell me about it. if you didn't mention it I would never had guessed that as the cause.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: petesamprs
yeah tell me about it. if you didn't mention it I would never had guessed that as the cause.

np glad i could help