Need help with my computer constantly overheating

Cooling Processors quietly

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
gamelover85
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:14 pm

Need help with my computer constantly overheating

Post by gamelover85 » Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:23 pm

I have an AMD Althlon(TM) II 640 Processor, MMX, 3DNow (4CPUs) ~3.0GHz

Not sure why but the CPU keeps overheating when i play a game. Especially minecraft.

I went into Bios and saw some settings that had everything to do with tempeture and the fan speed. I saw something in there called PWM Or pulse width modulated high limit (someone at another forum told someone else what PWM stood for and i was reading it at that other forum. It didn't answer my question though cuz they were talking about something else.)

Anyways, should i set this to a higher limit (255?) or a lower limit? And the low limit setting there also in the bios is it better that that's also high or low? All I want to do is make my fan bust butt all the time. Cuz i need that sucker to blow hard on the heat sync to keep it cool. Obviously settings are off and the fan isn't doing its job to keep the heat sync cool.

I just need my fan to work harder and not sure how to make it work hard enough (preferably hardest it can at highest settings for highest fan speed).

So how would i go about doing this? Anybody know?

I have an ECS motherboard.

Pappnaas
Posts: 726
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 11:23 am
Location: Germany

Re: Need help with my computer constantly overheating

Post by Pappnaas » Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:46 pm

Welcome to SPCR!

You should give us some more info, which board is it exactly, which case, PSU and fans you are using?

And most important, which CPU cooler is being used?

If you could supply some pictures, we could see even more and might be able to help you better.

quest_for_silence
Posts: 5275
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:12 am
Location: ITALY

Re: Need help with my computer constantly overheating

Post by quest_for_silence » Sun Oct 05, 2014 1:05 am

gamelover85 wrote:I have an AMD Althlon(TM) II 640 Processor, MMX, 3DNow (4CPUs) ~3.0GHz

Not sure why but the CPU keeps overheating when i play a game. Especially minecraft.

Why did you say that it keeps overheating? And what about relevant stress testing figures?

As already said by Steve, write down your full, detailled specs, if you don't mind.

SebRad
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 1121
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2003 7:18 am
Location: UK

Re: Need help with my computer constantly overheating

Post by SebRad » Sun Oct 05, 2014 7:55 am

Hi, I would guess you want to set the setting to 255 for the fans top speed to be its maximum speed.
If you run Speedfan or HWMonitor software this will report figures that will help you/us determine what's going on.

If you have a pwm/°C setting then will need to calculate the value, yes it's that un-intuitive!
The min PWM figure most fans run to is 25-30%, i.e. 64 on a scale of 255. You then need to work out the temp range for the CPU, e.g. 40°C (25 to 65°C) This then gives 192 (255 max - 64 min) "PWMs" over 40°C or about 5 PWM/°C.
Higher figure will make the fan ramp up faster with CPU temperature.
Clear as mud!

Obvious, but a quick visual check that none of the fans/heatsinks/intake filters/grills etc are clogged with dust or fluff is good.

Regards, Seb

edh
Posts: 1621
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:49 pm
Location: UK

Re: Need help with my computer constantly overheating

Post by edh » Sun Oct 05, 2014 10:15 am

I really wouldn't bother changing that PWM setting yet. It might not even do as you expect as it might be to do with the PWM signal rather than the actual fan speed.

System specs would be very useful. Temps as measured in Speedfan at both idle and load would be useful. A picture of the inside of your system would also be useful to try and work out how your cooling setup may be working or not working.

gamelover85
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: Need help with my computer constantly overheating

Post by gamelover85 » Sun Oct 05, 2014 11:57 am

Okay sorry for wasting your time. Believe it or not i did figure it out while i waited for this post to get approved. But now maybe i can help others who also have a ECS motherboard (Or this same feature on any other board). If anyone happens to see a "Shutdown Temperature" option there in bios setup, disable that crap! It does no good. In fact i'd say it damages the computer more than it helps. Cuz sure it protects the CPU (Maybe, if it needs that much protection? [I'm sure my CPU can withstand temperatures hotter than 80 degrees C, cuz the manual says it can go as hot as 100 degrees C]) but the board only goes as high as 80 as far as options go. Anyways, just disable it. It not only will damage your disk drives but your OS as well cuz it just flat out cuts the power without any proper shutdown. its terrible. My PC is doing fine now. In fact i never see it go hotter than 85 degrees C and that's it. So its like 5 degrees hotter than the max of the shutdown temp can go. That's stupid.

I'm really sorry for wasting your guy's time, but at least now if someone else runs into this problem here is the solution for them :) peace.

edh
Posts: 1621
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:49 pm
Location: UK

Re: Need help with my computer constantly overheating

Post by edh » Mon Oct 06, 2014 11:16 am

gamelover85 wrote:just disable it. It not only will damage your disk drives but your OS as well cuz it just flat out cuts the power without any proper shutdown.
I really would suggest you leave it enabled! 85C is really really hot. Even if it doesn't burn out your CPU, the risk to other components on the motherboard is severe and the system will not run efficiently at those temps. Typically you notice a few watts increase in power draw at extreme temepratures like those.

As for damage to the hard disks, almost impossible. If you accidentally pull the power cable straight out of the wall then yes, there is a risk of damage but I have never physically damaged a disk like that. I've had the need to do a low level format but only on a 1997 era 2.5Gb Seagate. When the CPU overheat threshold is hit, it doesn't just pull the power, it does an ATX soft off. It's exactly the same as you shutting down your system through software. There is a chance of data corruption of whatever is being written to disk at that point, but if the CPU overheats that badly, the chance of corruption exists anyway.

Now, back to the issue. Your CPU is running way too hot. What about other temperatures in your computer? Have you tried using Speedfan to look at other temperatures? Or do you also perhaps have a temperature readout from your graphics card driver? I'm still happy to help sort this out so what would really help is full specs and a picture of the internals of your system.

Things to try:
- Clean your computer out.
- Remove any components that are not required like analogue modems, floppy disk drives etc.
- Are all fans spinning?
- Your CPU heatsink may not be properly attached. Remove it, clean off any thermal paste, reapply new thermal paste, reattach.
- Tidy cabling out of the way of airflow.
- Remove obstructions to airflow like fan grills, spare drive bays
- Undervolt your CPU if your motherboard allows this. This can have huge power and temperature advantages.
- If still no solution, replace your CPU cooler. The 640 is a 95W CPU so you are dealing with a lot of heat there. A big tower cooler would be a good solution. Do however consider that your system is now old and that a newer CPU could run a lot cooler for the same performance.

gamelover85
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: Need help with my computer constantly overheating

Post by gamelover85 » Mon Oct 06, 2014 5:08 pm

Okay. Give me a bit. I'll create a youtube video and just record things. I don't have a camera. So i can only do it by video. I'll give you the youtube hash later. I don't like working on computers. I am very gifted and experienced by 15 years, but, its just never soemthing i ever look forward to doing.

I'd rather do other things. But i'll open it up and just get the serial # and what not. Specs? I'll just give ya a dxdiag txt you can check that out for the rest of the info.

I'll even record what my bios settings look like and all the options in there. All cables in front, all vents in back. I just cleaned out all dust like 4 or 5 months ago. Checked it all again its still clean inside no dust.

Yes my system is a bit old. I see no reason yet to upgrade. Its able to run windows 8.1. I do Multi-boot.

Xp home
Linux Zorin
XP pro 64 bit
windows vista
windows 7
windows 8

all on multiple partitions. I wish i could have ME on this PC too for legacy games cuz i got tons of dos games and certain games that never seem to be able to run on anything after windows XP.

1TB hard drive

Its just i tend to procrastinate this kind of thing. I'm sorry for that. I'll get on it as soon as I can. I have college right now. Going into study Criminal Justice for associates degree in that. So it might be a bit but i will defiantly get back with you on all this.

edh
Posts: 1621
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:49 pm
Location: UK

Re: Need help with my computer constantly overheating

Post by edh » Tue Oct 07, 2014 12:11 am

gamelover85 wrote:I wish i could have ME on this PC too for legacy games cuz i got tons of dos games and certain games that never seem to be able to run on anything after windows XP.
Try DOSBox. I've managed to get all of my old DOS games running this way. It works pretty much the same under Windows and Linux.

gamelover85
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: Need help with my computer constantly overheating

Post by gamelover85 » Wed Oct 08, 2014 12:13 pm

Dosbox does not work well with Silent Hill 2... for example. Silent Hill 2 only works well on windows 98/ME... and is terribly glitchy on Xp or Newer OS. The game will lock up, audio loops, graphics stop loading, just really weird stuff happens. Sometimes even the buttons stop working and menu buttons stop working too. Keys on my keyboard stop controlling the character. I play it on an ME machine and everything is totally fine. Dosbox don't seem to support Silent Hill 2 and games like it.

I feel legacy machines are still pretty useful... for old fashioned games... not to mention Windows is easier to navigate than dosbox anyways... for me anyways... personal experience...

I should be working on that video later today seems i'll have some free time for that....

edh
Posts: 1621
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:49 pm
Location: UK

Re: Need help with my computer constantly overheating

Post by edh » Wed Oct 08, 2014 3:00 pm

Silent Hill 2 was never compatible with DOS, guess that would explain why DOSBox won't run it. DOSBox can sometimes require a bit of configuration but then you can make games just run by clicking on an item if you wish.

I think in Silent Hill 2 you have a special case. It was primarily a console game, therefore the PC version is likely to be bodged. The fact it doesn't work well on Windows XP is evidence of that and from what I've just read problems are common, even with the patches released.

What might interest you is that it has been reported as running well on Linux under Wine:
It runs way smoother than it did on Windows 7/8.
https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager. ... n&iId=4525

Windows 9x era games (95, 98, ME) do cause a lot of problems in my experience. There were a lot that were never intended to run on Windows NT and hence don't run on modern Windows versions. There were also lots hardcoded to work with only certain specific graphics hardware, so you get a hilarious message displayed telling you that you don't have an ATI Rage Pro, Riva 128, Voodoo 2 or better! I've put some time into getting old games to run and this era is the one that has given me the most headaches, Wine appears the best root.

Post Reply