Legit Reviews

Operating System
MS Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3
CPU
Intel Pentium 4
Northwood 0.13um Technology
RAM
1.50 GB DDR @ 132MHz (2.5-3-3-6)
Motherboard
First International Computer, Inc. SAMBA-1845GL (Socket 478) 67 °C
Graphics
DELL E551c (1024x768@60Hz)
Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller
Hard Drives
78GB Western Digital WDC WD800BB-56JKC0 (ATA) 44 °C
Optical Drives
MATSHITA DVD-RAM SW-9585
Audio
Creative AudioPCI (ES1371,ES1373) (WDM)

I've confirmed this with other software this is from speccy from pirform
If that is running too hot does anyone have any recommendations on how to cool it?

Hi johnny & Welcome to Legit Reviews!
There could be several causes for your computer (processor/CPU?) to run hot. For most situations, dust is the cause.

When was the last time you opened up the case (and take all the parts out too?) and clean them from dust build-up? Did you remove all the dust clogged up in the CPU cooler? What about all the dust on your fan blades, and on/around the motherboard? A computer should be "dusted" atleast once a year (would recommend twice a year) to keep the components from overheating and working optimally.

Old/dried thermal paste (the heat-conductive material that goes in between the processor chip & the cooler) can also cause increased temperatures. After a couple years, the paste will dry, and possibily crack, and will not tranfser heat away as effective.

Poor airflow can also be the cause. How is your cabling inside your computer? Is it in the way & all over the place? Do you have enough case fans to circulate the air? (bring fresh cool are in, hot air out)

ditto for above - a pentium 4 system is definitely old enough where your thermal paste should be replaced.

Clean, clean, clean and then clean again with compressed air or an air compressor (be careful not to set it for a crazy high psi and blow the chips right off the motherboard )

Only other thing i would suggest is looking around for a better heatsink/fan to buy.

I think 67C at idle is too much but at load I would not be concerned.

Welcome to LR jonnylaw220.

Are you sure the CPU fan is still working? If it is still working have you spun it with your hand to see if the bearings are still working correctly? If you spin a fan and it isn't smooth then a bearing is bad.

What software are you using to check your temperatures? Some software works better than others. Some software gets readings from different places too.

Confirm that the temperatures are in fact correct.
Free temp programs.
HWMonitor
AIDA64 Extreme Edition
HWiNFO32
Open Hardware Monitor

I'm using Pirform's Speccy to check them
I tryed HWMonitor and it confirmed Speccy

Ok i cleaned the dust out of it and it dropped to 50C at idle and since i had the case open i upgraded my hard drive and op system as well...
the new stats for it are

Operating System
MS Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit
CPU
Intel Pentium 4
Northwood 0.13um Technology
RAM
1.50 GB DDR @ 132MHz (2.5-3-3-6)
Motherboard
First International Computer, Inc. SAMBA-1845GL (Socket 478) 51 °C
Graphics
eView 17f3 (1024x768@60Hz)
Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller
Hard Drives
117GB Seagate ST3120022A ATA Device (PATA) 43 °C
Optical Drives
MATSHITA DVD-RAM SW-9585 ATA Device
Audio
Avance AC97 Audio

and i'm also looking for a new video card but unsure which is compatible with my computer

It's time to move on. You can't find a new video card for that computer. The only places you can find something for that machine would be eBay or Craigslist, etc..

Something like this would be a major improvement.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883103381
It's a little light on RAM but DDR3 is cheap. That PC also has a vacant PCIe slot so you could get a new video card.

well I'm a little tight on cash so i'm trying to beef this one up as much as i can but while browsing for video cards it looks like it may be cheaper to just buy a new computer seems like PCI video cards are more expensive and not as good as the PCIe and that computer would be a step up but what about something like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 883114100R like i said short on cash

It would be better than what you have now, but it's out of stock. You're right PCI cards are few and far between and are usually pretty expensive. I was thinking your computer had an AGP port, which they don't make at all.

*EDIT*
I just saw that Newegg does sell AGP cards. I went to look up your board and you're still SOL.
This your board?
http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/other/fi ... /board.jpg

Major_A wrote:It would be better than what you have now, but it's out of stock. You're right PCI cards are few and far between and are usually pretty expensive. I was thinking your computer had an AGP port, which they don't make at all.

*EDIT*
I just saw that Newegg does sell AGP cards. I went to look up your board and you're still SOL.
This your board?
http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/other/fi ... /board.jpg

WOW is that like the first P4 board ever made?! I haven't see that "grey" slot at the top since my OEM Pentium III system.
Jordanlaw, if that is how your motherboard looks like, then you have NO upgrade options, sadly. I don't think you can gt much value for even selling that...

The system that you linked to is not thqat great. Of course, it's better than the system you have now, but in terms of upgradeability and the processing power, it's not that great.

The Athlon II X2 250 220 is the "slowest" Athlon II X2 available.
The system is based on the slimline chassis, so it will be very difficult to do any major upgrdaes to it (graphics card, CPU cooler, RAM with all heatsinks, power supply)
It is using an old onboard graphics chipset (was found on the original Athlon 64 socket 758 and 939 from 2003-2004) systems. My friend had a system that uses the 6150E and it just does not do well, for even running old games on Low.

The major problem is the size of the system; it uses the smaller, non-standard-ATX size components, so if you want to upgrade anything, it's extremely diffcult as most available PC parts follow the ATX format.

The system Major_A suggested may cost $400 after taxes and such, but it is well worth it.
- It uses the ATX sizing (more upgradeability & futher expansions),
- The processor is much, much faster,
- the intel HD graphics is several times better than the 6150SE
- 7200RPM drive
- More overall features

Sure you may have to spend $100-$150 more (don't know how much the Slimline is), but it is well worth it. You don't have to spend another couple hundred for a completely new system a couple years later.
Just a piece of mind.