Overheating Desktop

My brother bought a sweet computer when he went to school this past year. He has a quad 3.2GHz processor, dual video cards, 2GB of RAM and 3 fans attempting to cool it. It fails miserably.

This was a built computer at a store near my house. I think it's overheating because when he plays games it will shut down completely and without warning. In order to use it for much of anything, he has to leave the cover off and blow his fan into it. However, it still seems to overheat after a little while.

A friend of mine suggested that maybe the heat sink isn't making good contact, but I couldn't tell by playing with it. How can I tell what is running hot so I can narrow down the problem?

 

Core Temp is a good program for CPU temps: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Core_Temp_d5665.html

Everest works for other components: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

Speedfan works also: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download337.html

Keep in mind these only work with devices with temp sensors. You may have a CPU or a video card overheating. A weak PSU can also cause random crashes. What PSU is in the computer?

If he bought the computer prebuilt, I would check on the warranty before doing anything with it.

E

 

I apologize for how much of a noob this makes me, but by PSU you're talking about the power supply, right? I'm not sure, I'll have to check with him.

 

PSU stands for Power Supply Unit.
We get into using a number of abbreviations here (Because we're basically lazy )
We sometimes do forget that not everyone knows that:
HDD means hard drive
OP means Original Poster
OS means Operating System
etc. etc. etc.

Never hesitate to ask.
The only really dumb question is the one that you don't ask.

 

lol joelsz.

Anyways, Where is the computer placed? If its in a corner with no sufficient airflow options, try moving to a more open space, might just solwe the problem. Also, if that doesn't work, try manually setting fan speed a bit higher than sensors would do.

 

It is under a desk up against a wall. All three fans are facing open areas as there is quite a bit of space between it and the wall behind. There are 2 fans facing this back wall and one face (I think it's the processor fan) on the side of the case.

 

Huh, so the PC is under a desk in a corner? That is bad. I'd try moving the PC onto the desk and see if it changes anything.

 

Also EVEREST will give u a ton of other important info and allow you to assess your PSU Voltages to ensure proper function of PSU:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181

DL and install EVEREST then you can goto (LH Column) Computer>>>Sensor......this will give you system Temps and Voltages have a look and post the Temps back. When the system crashes again open EVEREST up straight away and observe the Temps.....start from here and post back.

 

Thanks for all the help. My brother hasn't had time to deal with this problem as he's a student at MIT. He finishes up this week however, so I'm hoping when the computer is more accessible and he has more time, the two of us can really try to solve this problem.

 

no problem. If you can't solve it, you can always come back... :major

 

I have a Quad with an 8800GTS that was doing the same thing. It was running OK for all types of Apps except those with heavy graphics. It was the power supply, which was too weak (480 Watts). I installed a 750 Watt supply and it works great...