Noise, Heat, Freezing

My parents have a nearly year-old computer with the following specs:

3Ghz P4
2x512MB Corsair DDR
ATI Radeon 9200

Lately the CPU has been getting hot, and the fan's been going like crazy and making a shit-load of noise. Nothing's overclocked.

We replaced the case-fan, but nothing changed. Do you think it's the heatsink/cpu fan? Should it be replaced, or should a new CPU be bought?

P.S. It also freezes randomly.

 

I found that an empty paper towel tube will let you hear the individual fans. At least you'll hear exactly where the noise is coming from and perhaps find a solution.

 

How do you know the cpu has been getting hot?
Is it the heatsink that's hot or the CPU?
If the temperature sensors are reporting a temperature rise of course the fans will be driven hard. Eventually overheating will lead to freezing and even themal shutdown.
Before lashing out on a new cpu I would make sure of the themal contact between the cpu and its heatsink. Take the heatsink off, clean the contact surfaces, making absolutely sure that there are no small gritty particle in between, APPLY NEW THERMAL GREASE/PAD.

Post the results


Studio T

 

If it's not yet a year old surely it's still under guarantee?

Studio T

 

I found the problem, the heatsink/fan wasn't screwed in fully (the people that put together the computer really sucked).

The CPU is about 40 degrees celcius on idle now, and the fan runs at about 2800rpm idling. I know this isn't bad - not noisy either, but I've seen a lot lower.

I know that Core 2 Duo is socket 775, but when I look at motherboards, some say they're core2duo compatible, and some aren't? Does the motherboard need to say core2duo compatible, for the chip to work?

The reason I'd like to know, is that my parents have a 775 motherboard, and a P4, so I was hoping to upgrade to a core2duo, since it'll only cost the price of the CPU (not a whole new computer).

Thanks.

 

Motherboards, like most things develop.
So your older 775 mobo may support duo with a bios upgrade. You will need to check with the manufacturer - most are good at answering emails addddressed to support@....

Glad you clamped your heatsink down in time

Studio T

 

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=1805

That's the motherboard. It says though:

Supports LGA775 Intel® 90nm Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology

 

Help people, please.

 

If you go to http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/M...ProductID=1805
and click on cpu support, you will see it gives you the core 2 duo numbers , and the N/A in the last box tells you, --unlucky- no good for core 2 duo.

 

Don't be too disappointed, I know of an excellent transition board that is pretty cheap and will allow you to keep your AGP card and old RAM (DDR 400), but also takes DDR2 PC 4200 (533). Full support for Core 2 Duo, as well. Take a look at the ECS P4M800Pro-M (V2.0) board. I have a lot of experience with it and it is solid (it has it's weaknesses) and is the best transition board I know of. Newegg has it for $47.

 

Hey! Thanks heaps mate - that info on the transition board was really helpful.

Thank you everyone!

 

No problem. If you want to keep your current hardware, just make sure it will work with this board. Everything you listed will work, just make sure your RAM is DDR 400. It even supports RAID 0/1. Very stable and easy to set up board. Here is the link to newegg. Double check compatibility.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135027

*Board supports Core 2 Duo up to E6700 (2.66GHz (2x2MB,1066MHz,LGA775)), with latest BIOS

Good luck!