Need help underclocking my CPU! (Acer MoBo)

[cheechchong]

MoBo is Acer Aspire X3990, which is kind of old, and also low profile. I use a stock CPU cooler, which is why I want to underclock it.
The idle temps are way too high(44-48 celsius).
In games the temps can shoot up to 65-70 celsius, and it will freeze 1/2 seconds etcetc. every now and then at random intervals, it is still playable, but the occasional crashes and freezes happens.

How exactly would I go about underclocking this CPU on this motherboard?
it is an i5-2320 LP @3.0gh/z.
I am quite unexperienced about this, but in general a techie kind of person.

 

[Burpo]

That's a 95 watt processor, and those temps are well within range. You might want to open it up & clean the fan, but the problem you're experiencing is from the video, and most likely not the CPU. Time to upgrade?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOUuZVjtFjM

 

[Techhog]

That's a 95 watt processor, and those temps are well within range. You might want to open it up & clean the fan, but the problem you're experiencing is from the video, and most likely not the CPU. Time to upgrade?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOUuZVjtFjM

Getting a new card might be a problem. http://www.cnet.com/products/acer-aspire-x3990-006-core-i3-2120-3-3-ghz-6-gb-1-tb/specs/

220W PSU. Not good.

 

[Stuka87]

Yeah, those temps are fine. Cleaning out the dust would most likely help the most.

 

[Burpo]

This should work.. It's only 2 watts more than the GeForce 315.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Radeon-...926?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4634e819de

Or a Radeon HD 7570 @ 11 watts more.. and 3X faster..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATI-Radeon-...470?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e99ff45c6

 

[Ken g6]

Or a Radeon HD 7570 @ 11 watts more.. and 3X faster..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATI-Radeon-...470?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e99ff45c6

Wikipedia shows that card as having a 60W TDP! And the DDR3 version having 44W.

 

[Burpo]

The GDDR5 version I linked is 44 watts (11w over what comes in the Acer) and should work just fine..
Looks like a hit & run post anyway..

 

[cheechchong]

Hey everyone! And no, this is not a hit & run thread. I really genuinely would like help, I should have explained better in the main post, my bad. I was just really curious on how to go about when underclocking my CPU as I can find no other fix to my issue at this current moment of time.

Heres an explanation: Reason is I get weird freeze ups etc. like 1-2 second durations, every now and again, especially more under load, but also when not under load at all.
Just a few days ago I cleaned out everything, and I did apply new thermal paste just about a few months ago. I'd say 5 months. (artic silver 5)

I have a PS-600 PSU running @500W
GTX 650 TI SSC EVGA.
And the stock i5-2320 sandy bridge 3.00gh/z, stock cooler with that.
I still use the x3990 motherboard, but I did buy a ATX tower to put it in, which worked out great.

But so basically what you are trying to tell me is that it could actually be software issues causing this, rather than hardware?
Because I highly doubt so. I would guess it lies somewhere within the cpu/HDD.

I should also add;
Everything in this setup was working perfectly(for about a year or so) up until I re-formatted my computer, and installed windows updates, that's when the freeze ups started occuring.

 

[erunion]

try this:

Update your intel graphics drivers.
Use DDU to uninstall your nvidia drivers.
Reinstall Nvidia driver with a fresh install.

This fixed a similar issue I was having with a gtx 760 and i5-4570.

 

[VirtualLarry]

occasional freeze-ups can be the HDD or SSD failing.

I would check the SMART status and do a surface scan on your drive.

You can do that with HDTune Free ( www.hdtune.com ) in Windows, or using a Linux LiveCD/DVD.