Video problem related to overheat?

[cyclefish]

I'll preface this by saying I'm a hardware novice.

AMD2600, 2.14GHz
Gigabyte GA7vaxp mobo
ATI 9700 vcard
512MB ram

I just moved my desktop back home from college for the summer. I moved it once prior without problem-- but this time, after about a half-hour of use, I noticed weird multi-colored spots on my monitor. To be short, I began thinking the problem was the monitor, ruled that out, thought it was the video card, resat that, and then discovered that my cpu temp had jumped to 63C. This at least 20C above average, and the case temp had not noticably changed. I unhooked the heatsink, re-applied thermal compound, and rehooked it, and the case dropped back down to 48C, still higher than normal. I have not noticed the spots again, but I've not done anything more taxing than surf the web or listen to music. I'm a bit scared to try running a game or do some intensive graphic work because I think the temp will shoot up again.

I've read a few pages of this cooling forum, and you people sound way more knowledgable than me (I know that's not saying much!) so I thought I would ask your advice.

It has been brought to my attention that the fan on the video card could be the problem, but it seems to be running fine and I blew it out recently with canned air.

Would switching to Artic Silver compound really make that much of a degree difference? Additionally, the hsf I am using is Thermaltake's Orb 3. Should I switch to a higher end fan, or one that's lighter? It seems to be quite heavy, and I will be moving my case again in three months.

Thanks,

Lisa

 

[thelanx]

You said your cpu was 63C and then you said after reapplication of thermal compound, your case temp was 48C? Or do you mean your cpu temp? A cpu temp of 63 is a bit high, that maybe be the cause of the spots, also you may want to look at your video card. To test, I suggest running a prime95 torture test and see what cpu and case temps you get, also touch the heatsink after prime95 has run for a bit. If it is burning hot, then it may be overheating, if it is not very warm, you might not have a good contact between your heatsink and the thermal paste/core, if it is pretty warm, then your hs/f is working properly thought that doesn't mean it's adequate. For you video card, boot up some kinda video benchmarking program like 3dmark03 and do the heatsink touch test. Arctic silver will help heat transfer from your core to the heatsink and may drop your temps a few degrees max probably. Also, has the weather gotten much warmer since you moved, and do you have case fans?

 

[cyclefish]

Sorry for that typo, it was my cpu temp that was 48C. Just ran Prime95, CPU temp 50C, Case temp 35C, heatsink not hot to the touch. About to start on 3dmark03. I feel like such a bonehead though, I have had an almost drastic change in ambient temp since I moved. From Seattle to So Cal. I've got a room fan on my case now, and can run the air conditioning, but it's not something I can do all the time. I have two case fans, one in the front taking air in, one in the back, blowing it out. They are Vantecs. Should I have more case fans? Or in a different arrangement?

Thanks again,

Lisa

 

[cyclefish]

The Benchmark for 3dmark03 was 4425, CPU Temp 50C.
Seems like no matter what I'm doing, my cpu temp will stay at 50.

 

[Granorense]

Kind of interesting, I just bought a Gigabyte GA-N700Pro2 and no matter what I do, cpu temperature stays at between 57C and 60 C even when running Prime95. I got plenty of airflow in my case. Before when I had my soyo board temps where in the middle 40s.

 

[thelanx]

If the heat sink is pretty warm, and you are getting 50C under load with prime95, I'd say that's pretty normal. Your two fan arrangement is good. If you have more places to mount fans, you might want to consider mounting more fans, but 50C load is normal for your CPU.

Granorense, it may just be your new motherboard being calibrated differently. This can result in great differences in measure temps across motherboards.