Overheating - GPU or CPU?

[Greatsilverwyrm]

My roommate's computer is overheating, trying to figure out why and/or solutions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He's completely dusted it out, taken heatsink off, dusted it etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His GPU is running hotter than anything else (35 celsius, mobo/cpu running at around 20) however the overheating message says "the CPU has experienced a thermal event (overheating)"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The question I have now is whether or not it's the CPU itself or the GPU.. I would assume it's the GPU since it's the hottest, but since the message is denoting the CPU-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will update this tomorrow with exact system specifications, I was just posting this now to ask the question about whether it was the gpu or cpu, and see if anyone had any non-specific ideas. (i.e. sorry for lack of info, will update tomorrow)

[Stuart_G]

Is that 35*C under load or idling, cause my idling 7600GT with stock cooling is around 55*C at the moment, which when compared to yours, is far hotter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You said he removed heat sinks too, so did you remember to re-apply some thermal paste after that?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The system specs will help, but those temps are pretty low compared to my system. I've got an AMD 3500+ running at stock speeds and its around 40*C, motherboard with an nForce4 chip at 35*C and the 7600GT at 55*C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You're temperature sensors could also be acting up and reporting false temperatures. It probably isn't this, but its just another reason I could think of.

[Parabola]

I can tell you now that 35 celsius is not too hot by a long way. What CPU and GPU are they?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My GPU (8800GTX) has run just fine at 80 celsius without crashing, and I've heard that this particular chip can go up to 90.

[Greatsilverwyrm]

CPU is a pentium 4 (will find out specific soon)

 

 

 

GPU is ATI Radeon X800

[Parabola]

I would be very surprised if that CPU was running at 20. It is more likely that the sensor is either very inaccurate or you're reading the ambient case temperature rather than either the CPU diode or socket temperatures. As far as I recall P4s run hotter than the equivalent Athlons and are still fine, so they should run perfectly under 60-70 celsius.

[Greatsilverwyrm]

Also, yes, thermal paste was applied.. Arctic Silver ftw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He evidently forgot to blow-out the PSU, we just did that and got a good ammount of dust..

 

 

 

Could that be contributing?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have very little experience with overheating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

 

 

Specs:

 

 

 

cpu: P4 Northwood 2.4 ghz

 

 

 

gpu: Radeon x800 XL 256 MB

 

 

 

mobo: Intel Bayfield D865GBF

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CPU is running at ~28 C idling

[Kinslayer777]

Not much use, but that's extremely odd. Is it windows or the program that says it's experiencing overheating? And if program, is it motherboard supplied or 3rd party?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That doesn't sound like isn't anything near overheating. While i generally run at 26, my idle is 21, and i get as high as 54 often problem less. I try to turn up the fans though a notch when that happens, but that's just background)

[Cruiser]

That CPU temp sounds way off. My dad's P4 runs so hot it heats his office throughout the winter. :? If you're positive that isn't the ambient temperature, I'd be leaning toward bad/innacurate sensors too. My Athlon doesn't even idle that low. :o

[Kinslayer777]

Oh, I think it's perfectly fine for idle if he has a good case. My fan settings are at the lowest possible in my Antec P180 with a AMD X2 4200 and I get 22 idle, and am right now doing light browsing + Im and have 27

[blade995]

If your idling at 35 degrees on a X series gpu that is very good. The x series from ATI ran very hot, 80-90c degrees under full load is pretty normal, so it's probilly not the gpu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My x850pro is currently idling at 46c so yours is at a very good temp.

[Greatsilverwyrm]

An update..

 

 

 

I thought perhaps his CPU fan was dying, and triggering the restart because it didn't want to run if it didn't detect a fan running.

 

 

 

He had some bizarre heatsink that required a propriatary fan, so he got a new heatsink.

 

 

 

Just installed it, put new paste in, etc, and it's still behaving the same..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Temps are the same they were when this was happening last time, CPU idling at around 35-40, the rest in that range as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone have any new ideas?