|
CPU overheating
The other day, part way through processing an avi, my computer suddenly shutdown. A quick check of the UPS showed that power was okay and I could still hear the TV in the lounge room. Hmmm. Ah well, re-boot and see what happens. As I re-booted, I hit the Del button to get into the BIOS for a physical system check and just happened to notice the CPU temperature climb to 90 deg C and klunk, down she went again.
I opened the case (after removing power) removed the OEM CPU fan and discovered that the heat transfer compound had somehow migrated off the main thermal contact area so I popped down to the local Computer Shop and purchased a tube of Artic Silver thermal compound. After re-doing the thermal contact pad, I re-assembled the system. Fingers crossed and when I powered on, the CPU temp in the BIOS settings started off around 52 Deg C and climbed to around 70 deg C before stabilizing.
Still not happy with the temperatures, I decided to replace the P4 3.4G HT fan and the Radeon 9800XT graphics card fan with a Zalman CNPS7700-Cu Low Noise CPU Heatsink/Fan and a Zalman VF700-CU High Performance Video Card Cooler respectively.
Now, the CPU idles at around 38 Deg C and when I run my weekly Norton’s anti-virus scan, it climbs to around 57 Deg C. I had to cut off 4 of the copper cooling vanes from the Zalman VF700-CU High Performance Video Card Cooler, as they fouled a couple of capacitors on the board, despite being compatible with the card!.
All in all, a good job for $100 and a couple of hours work. Our study is on the Western side of our house and is often at 30 Deg C in the summer months, even with the windows open and the ceiling fan running.
Cheers
Dennis
|