(also posted at tech support forum)
Can someone tell if this is (or probably is) overheating, or if it's something else, what it might be?
Games (and 3dMark) crashes. Both OpenGL games and Direct3d games crashes, in similar ways. Most often just program-crashes (with and without error-messages), sometimes reboots.
(Short version, long version, computer specs, temperature info and personal thoughts follows)
[Short version]
Computer crashed from assumed overheating after changing loud and good PSU-fan with silent and bad PSU-fan. Cabinet-fan was installed and stopped crashing. Fast forward to summer, crashes are back. Another cabinet-fan is installed, to no avail. With a heatpipe-cooled graphics-card the crashes are sooner than with a fan-cooled graphics-card. New and larger cabinet with 4 fans is bought, crashes continue, all though not as soon as earlier. Again, heatpipe-cooled graphics-card crashes sooner than fan-cooled graphics-card.
[Long version]
I've had troubles with this earlier, when I changed from a very noisy PSU-fan to a 19db Papst fan. It turned out the reason the old fan was very noisy, was because it was very effective
I immediately experienced crashes, most of the times the computer just froze, sometimes it restarted. I installed a 120mm fan blowing air into the case, and the problems stopped. This was winter-time, with a room temperature of 20-25 C.
Now, as summer has arrived and temps have increased, the crashes came back. Pretty much the same symptoms as last time, only with the crashes acting a bit differently, this time including graphical errors. I installed another fan, this time a 80mm fan, but nothing changed. (I tried both blowing air in and blowing air out on both fans.) I changed graphic-cards, as the one I use normally is cooled with a Zalman 80A heatpipe, which I thought might perhaps not cool enough. With the other card in, I could play/benchmark for a longer period of time compared to the other one, but this one too would crash eventually.
With this result I now thought it was a general overheating problem, and went out and bought a new and larger cabinet with more space and plenty of room for fans. A total of 4 80 mm fans (as opposed to 1 120mm and 1 80mm) was put in. As with changing the graphics-card earlier, this lead to being able to play for a longer period of time, but it will crash after a while still. Again I switched the graphics-card from the heatpipe-cooled one to the fan-cooled one, with same effect as last time.
[Computer specs]
AthlonXp 2200+
MSI KT3 Ultra2
Radeon 9700 Pro w/Zalman 80A Heatpipe. (Radeon 8500LE w/standard fan was also tested)
CPU-Fan claims to do 22CFM. (The fan the guys at the local computer-shop recommends for CPUs like this does 22.7 CFM)
360 Watt PSU.
PSU-fan is a 80mm 19db Papst fan - has caused overheating problems earlier.
4 * 80 mm fans.
[Temperatures]
Room temperature at winter is 20-25 C. At summer (now) it's 25-35 C.
CPU-temperature with old cabinet was 55-60 C. (Idle - Under load) Cabinet-temperature was 37-40 C.
CPU-temperature with new cabinet is 48-56 C. Cabinet-temperature is 30-36 C.
[Personal thoughts]
Temperatures are AFAIK not THAT high, pointing to something different than overheating.
Crashes DO occur even with sufficent cabinet-cooling, pointing to something different than overheating.
Crashes occur faster with old cabinet and heatpipe-cooled graphics-card, pointing to overheating.
Did not crash (after installing first cabinet-fan) at winter/spring, starts crashing when summer and hot temperatures arrive, pointing to overheating.
Another computer (1.2 Ghz celeron) here also experienced overheating-like crashes. Turned out it was a faulty motherboard w/no overheating problems.
Can someone tell if this is (or probably is) overheating, or if it's something else, what it might be?
Games (and 3dMark) crashes. Both OpenGL games and Direct3d games crashes, in similar ways. Most often just program-crashes (with and without error-messages), sometimes reboots.
(Short version, long version, computer specs, temperature info and personal thoughts follows)
[Short version]
Computer crashed from assumed overheating after changing loud and good PSU-fan with silent and bad PSU-fan. Cabinet-fan was installed and stopped crashing. Fast forward to summer, crashes are back. Another cabinet-fan is installed, to no avail. With a heatpipe-cooled graphics-card the crashes are sooner than with a fan-cooled graphics-card. New and larger cabinet with 4 fans is bought, crashes continue, all though not as soon as earlier. Again, heatpipe-cooled graphics-card crashes sooner than fan-cooled graphics-card.
[Long version]
I've had troubles with this earlier, when I changed from a very noisy PSU-fan to a 19db Papst fan. It turned out the reason the old fan was very noisy, was because it was very effective
I immediately experienced crashes, most of the times the computer just froze, sometimes it restarted. I installed a 120mm fan blowing air into the case, and the problems stopped. This was winter-time, with a room temperature of 20-25 C.Now, as summer has arrived and temps have increased, the crashes came back. Pretty much the same symptoms as last time, only with the crashes acting a bit differently, this time including graphical errors. I installed another fan, this time a 80mm fan, but nothing changed. (I tried both blowing air in and blowing air out on both fans.) I changed graphic-cards, as the one I use normally is cooled with a Zalman 80A heatpipe, which I thought might perhaps not cool enough. With the other card in, I could play/benchmark for a longer period of time compared to the other one, but this one too would crash eventually.
With this result I now thought it was a general overheating problem, and went out and bought a new and larger cabinet with more space and plenty of room for fans. A total of 4 80 mm fans (as opposed to 1 120mm and 1 80mm) was put in. As with changing the graphics-card earlier, this lead to being able to play for a longer period of time, but it will crash after a while still. Again I switched the graphics-card from the heatpipe-cooled one to the fan-cooled one, with same effect as last time.
[Computer specs]
AthlonXp 2200+
MSI KT3 Ultra2
Radeon 9700 Pro w/Zalman 80A Heatpipe. (Radeon 8500LE w/standard fan was also tested)
CPU-Fan claims to do 22CFM. (The fan the guys at the local computer-shop recommends for CPUs like this does 22.7 CFM)
360 Watt PSU.
PSU-fan is a 80mm 19db Papst fan - has caused overheating problems earlier.
4 * 80 mm fans.
[Temperatures]
Room temperature at winter is 20-25 C. At summer (now) it's 25-35 C.
CPU-temperature with old cabinet was 55-60 C. (Idle - Under load) Cabinet-temperature was 37-40 C.
CPU-temperature with new cabinet is 48-56 C. Cabinet-temperature is 30-36 C.
[Personal thoughts]
Temperatures are AFAIK not THAT high, pointing to something different than overheating.
Crashes DO occur even with sufficent cabinet-cooling, pointing to something different than overheating.
Crashes occur faster with old cabinet and heatpipe-cooled graphics-card, pointing to overheating.
Did not crash (after installing first cabinet-fan) at winter/spring, starts crashing when summer and hot temperatures arrive, pointing to overheating.
Another computer (1.2 Ghz celeron) here also experienced overheating-like crashes. Turned out it was a faulty motherboard w/no overheating problems.
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