Overheating problems

[drago123]

Hi, please help, dont know what to do. Here are my specs and problem

MB - ab9 pro
Proc - e6600
gc - nvidia gts 8800 720 meg

Formatted today, re-built computer into new case (icute tower with 25cm side and 10cm internal fan, plus the one on processor), had decided to do this as I was having temp issues with cheap tower had been using that had only a small internal fan. Everything fine until reinstalled drivers for gc, alarm went off on restart and now goes off everytime i restart, once booted and sitting idol is fine but using rom drive (whilst reinstalling all my other drivers) alarm goes off. have checked bios for temps....as follows
reading shutdown beep
cpu temp - 87C 85C 75C
sys temp - 29C 65C 55C
PWM temp 42C 90C 80C

from what i can gather cpu temp should not be that high, everywhere I am reading people saying 60 - 70 normal so why am i so far out? Have checked fan speed....as follows

cpu fan spd - 2040/1980rpm
all others listed as N/A even though I definately have two fans that are defo working as i can see them in my tower (plus one on processor I'm not sure if this counts as an aux or not).
I have never overclocked and just assumed that changing to a tower with such a big fan would solve my probs, i can feel plenty of cool air coming out of the case.....dont know whats wrong or how to solve as i dont know much about how to play with things like voltage etc etc ....

Plz help.

[KnightRid]

Did you replace your thermal grease between the cpu and the heatsink? You should. It will then take a few cycles of the computer warming up then cooling down, etc until it reaches max performance, but it will work anyway.

Clean the heatsink and fan out.

if none of that works, try running the computer with the sie panel off and see what the temps are and if it shuts down or not.

Mike

[bubba]

If you took the heat sink off for the case transfer make sure that it is down all the way. If it is not fully locked down then the temps will go through the roof.

Another thing to check is that the fan plug did not get knocked off in the transfer, if the fan is not on its not cooling properly.

[DaIceMan]

Something is definitely wrong, and you should not continue to run the system that hot.

My E6600 is overclocked 25% to 3.0 GHz, and it idles at 28-29 deg C (but I think that is touch higher than it used to, but I'm going to replace the thermal paste next weekend).

I would set the BIOS to factory defaults, check everything the above gentlemen recommended, and definitely make sure you get the temps down before running the machine too long.

[drago123]

K thanks will try what you have suggested.........can i first ask some dumb questions as i know very little about what you're talking about.

What is the heatsink?
No i did not replace thermal grease, did not know it existed, where does it go? between the processor and the other metal plate i saw a dried substance caked on, is that the thermal grease? will any computer store sell it?
I cleaned the machine as best as i could so fans are relatively free from fluff.

sorry be patient i am a novice:)

[drago123]

O and Ice man, out of interest what setup do you have case and fan wise............as i explained earlier i bought a case with what i thought was a killer fan setup and am bemused why i am still having this problem, how many fans and what size are they that you have?

[DaIceMan]

yes, the thermal paste is usually the gray material on the bottom of the CPU heatsink. I would take that apart, clean off what is there and replace it with a fresh line. To clean it, I usually use a cotton ball lightly dabbed in alcohol, or an alcohol adhesive remover.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appinst ... l_wcap.pdf

as you can see, you only apply a thin line of the thermal paste and let the pressure of the heatsink do the spreading.

As for mine... I have the system installed in an Antec 300 with a 120mm rear and 140mm top fan. no intake fans at all right now, which account for the higher temps than in my Antec 900. I'm using an Arctic Cooiing Freezer 7 Pro, with Arctic Cooling paste. You can pick up paste and most stores, like Best Buy or Circuit City if you have those near you.

What case and how many fans do you have?

[drago123]

K thanks for the pdf, will come in handy

this is my case - iCute BLACK Midi Tower Case WINDOW and 25cm Side Fan Model: S901-5GA-BB

has a 12cm intake fan as well as the 25cm side fan........i also purchased an optional rear fan (i guess this would be an exhaust fan) but have not installed that because of lack of room and also thought i wouldn't be needing it.

If all my other temp readings are normal like gc etc meaning my fans are sufficient, and my heatsink fan is working, what will be the likely hood that thermal grease is my problem? I cant see this grease dropping my cpu temp by 20 degrees, am starting to get worried:(

[bubba]

Did you remove the CPU cooler for any reason during the case switch?

[DaIceMan]

K thanks for the pdf, will come in handy

this is my case - iCute BLACK Midi Tower Case WINDOW and 25cm Side Fan Model: S901-5GA-BB

has a 12cm intake fan as well as the 25cm side fan........i also purchased an optional rear fan (i guess this would be an exhaust fan) but have not installed that because of lack of room and also thought i wouldn't be needing it.

If all my other temp readings are normal like gc etc meaning my fans are sufficient, and my heatsink fan is working, what will be the likely hood that thermal grease is my problem? I cant see this grease dropping my cpu temp by 20 degrees, am starting to get worried:(

If there's room for fans, use them. Some will argue that "too many" fans will just create extra noise, but I'd rather have a little more noise and a little more cool.

As for the thermal paste, I would DEFINITELY change that out ASAP. If there is none, or it is applied wrong, it could easily account for high temps.

[drago123]

No Bubba, only removed the cpu cooler heatsink thingy as a whole unit nothing was removed or taken off it, had a little trouble fitting the pins back in but eventually got it, have a recollection that the so called 'grease' looked more like a baked on substance rather than a grease.....am thinking this is more my prob but just concerned that it wont drop temps by much.........will find out soon though, am buying grease today and hopefully find the time soon to replace it.

[bubba]

No Bubba, only removed the cpu cooler heatsink thingy as a whole unit nothing was removed or taken off it..

Well guess I should have said did you separate the heatsink from the board, from the above it looks like you did. When this is done you have to replace the paste (the grayish color stuff)

...have a recollection that the so called 'grease' looked more like a baked on substance rather than a grease....

That would be the old paste. It is a creamy paste when first applied. When cured it turns simi-hard, cheap stuff turns rock hard.

.....am thinking this is more my prob but just concerned that it wont drop temps by much....

It will make a great deal of difference. The paste helps the heat transfer to the CPU by filling in the imperfections between the two.

Think we found the problem though.

[drago123]

Yup you guys definately did so thanks alot.

replaced the grease and to my surprise i've dropped temps by roughly 20C, comp has been idol for an hour and sitting at 55C......happy days.

have installed COD4 and run on full graphics just to blow out the cobwebs and all is good.

thanks guys for the help