Random Beeping

Hi, whenever I play any intensive, graphics heavy games like Assassin's Creed or Hellgate London, my computer will start to randomly beep about five-ten minutes into it. It'll beep once to start with, then a short while later (maybe 30 seconds?) it'll beep twice, then after that (again, maybe 30 seconds) it'll beep continuously, fairly often and long. It seems to only happen when I'm doing things that are fairly demanding, when I'm just browsing the internet, typing Word documents, etc. no beeping occurs.

I don't think it's due to overheating, I measured the temperature of my graphics card during one such beeping episode and it was only at 51 degrees celcius, which I read was a perfectly fine temperature.

I'd really like to find out what it could be, I don't want my computer to break. My specifications are below.

OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit Service Pack 2
Processors: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz
Memory (RAM): 4.00 GB
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 4870

If you need any more information, please just ask.

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

Hello,

Please download and install the program at the following link, I can assure you that it is recommended, and totally virus free: http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

Please then post back all reported temperatures, especially GPU and CPU.

 

I would make sure the internals are clean of heat trapping dust. And what PSU do you have?

 

All right, I just did as you asked Collins, and this is what I got.

At idle, the temperatures were;
Temp1 - 49 degrees Celcius
Temp2 - 51 degrees Celcius
Temp3 - -2 degrees Celcius
Temp - 0 degrees Celcius
HDO - 37 degrees Celcius
Core0 - 43 degrees Celcius
Core1 - 43 degrees Celcius

I started playing Crysis with the maximum settings, and after about 5 minutes or so, got these temperatures (there are two listed because I noted the temperature at its first beep, and then the temperature again 10 seconds later when it emitted one long, uninterrupted beep).

During gameplay, the temperature were;
Temp1 - 54 degrees Celcius and 54 degrees Celcius
Temp2 - 78 degrees Celcius and 80 degrees Celcius
Temp3 - -2 degrees Celcius and -2 degrees Celcius
Temp - 0 degrees Celcius and 0 degrees Celcius
HDO - 39 degrees Celcius and 39 degrees Celcius
Core0 - 75 degrees Celcius and 79 degrees Celcius
Core1 - 73 degrees Celcius and 79 degrees Celcius

I'm not sure which component Temp1, Temp2, etc. correspond with, if you know what they correspond with or know how I can find out, I'll make sure I find out and let you know.

And Digerati, I just cleaned the internals of dust. My PSU details, as read from the sticker on the unit itself, are;

Model: 700SEL
AC Input: 240V/6A 50Hz
S/N: A0000889
FAN CONTROLLED EPS 12V POWER SUPPLY
Rating Output Watts: 700W, +5V & +3.3V: 200W

 

I think it may have been the dust, I've been playing Bioshock 2 with its highest graphical settings for the past two days and so far it hasn't beeped at all, I've tested the temperatures mid-game and the ones that were 75+ last time are now mid to low 60s. So, I think my problems probably were heat-related

If there are any further ways to decrease the temperature, I'd love to know.

 

Yes, you are correct that heat was the problem.

Any temperature over 70 degrees will shorten the life of a processor, which on your temperature monitor is core0 and core1. Just like temp2 is quite hot as well.

Just to let you know, temp1 is likely to be your northbridge chip (the southbridge chip is a motherboard component), temp2 is likely to be your graphics card (why it is temp2 and not GPU I don't know), temp3 is a ghost temperature, as is temp, HD0 is your hard drive, and the cores are the processor.

How many case fans do you have?

 

Firstly you have been hearing overheating warnings (beeps) that your CPU is approaching an upper critical threshold (as Collins states leading to a lowering of it's life potential).

There are many ways to cool your system. It really depends on what your:
- Case is (make and model and therefore airflow potential),
- CPU HS.

A good case (doesn't have to be expensive) with the right fans is a good start but the easiest and best thing you can do is to get an after market HS for the CPU.

Lian Li Lancool Dark Armor K60 is a great example of a very reasonably priced case with exceptional airflow. This would allow improved cooling of CPU, GPU and whole system and I am sure remove the beeps.

An exceptional Air cooler is Thermalright TRUE Black Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU Cooler but would need some additional fans like ZM-F3. I prefer without the lights or the ZM-F3L as linked are top of their game.

A simple but very effective H20 solution is the H-50.

If you want to game cooling is always important, hope this helps.

p.s. these are objective observations (not personal) and if you google any and all of those parts watch the review hits come in!