PC Overheating

[ilborro 0]

Hi there,

I made this post since i thought someone could help me.

I started playing Dayz about 2 weeks ago, had no problems up to this week. Some dayz ago, I started playing with a temperature problem, the CPU and GPU were overheating too much up to 70-75ºCelsius. It was quite strange since I wasn't doing something demanding for the PC, yet I know having the stock coolers are not too good.

So, I was looking for someone to suggest a cooler for CPU and GPU or just telling me which you think the problem is, since yesterday I am playing with all setting Low.

My PC specs:

AMD FX-8120 3.1 Ghz (Not OC)

AMD Radeon 6950 HD 1Gb DDR5

Motherboard Asus M5A99X

4Gb Kingston RAM Memory

Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit

I have a Sentey DS1-4246

PS: Sorry for my bad English, not my language.

[ODoyleRulez 195]

Make sure you clean the dust traps and components. Make sure all fans are functioning properly and clear of debris.

I use a lot of Cooler Master after market sinks personally. My favorite being the

COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Intel Core i7 compatible

Edited August 11, 2012 by ODoyleRulez

[jackogara 5]

Try using http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html to see what temps you are getting. Most software has false reading but HWMon works great for most people.

If still getting high clean out the case and make sure no hidden dust in heatsinks.

If problem persists then reset the heatsinks on the GPU and CPU.

[DayZPvP.com 143]

Unless you are in the southern hemisphere it is summer and it is hot out. For example if it is 65 degrees in/out my computer will hardly make a sound.

If it is 80+ she whines like a banshee.

[mrducky (DayZ) 33]

First of all, it all depends on whether your CPU or GPU is overheating. (If both - you should really look more into you chassis ventilation).

Secondly, setting graphics settings to minimum probably won't affect the GPU or the CPU overheating. Choosing lower graphics setting just means that instead of pushing a few nice looking frames, your computer uses the same amount of power, but is now pushing more frames that look crappier. What you need to do instead of lowering the graphics settings, is to ensure that your CPU / GPU get some idle time.

The easiest way to do this, specifically for the GPU, is to set the vsync on (if you don't already have it on). It will make your framerates go down a bit to match the screen refresh rate (or some value the multiple of which it is). The rest of the time the GPU can idle while waiting for the vsync - and that will bring its temperature down a bit.

Also, DayZ really taxes the CPU, which is a likely to heat up. Some notes on that:

- Make sure there is no dust buildup on the CPU heatsink

- Make sure the CPU and the chassis fans are actually running properly (the normal cheap chassis fans tend to die after a few years of heavy use)

- If you have some kind of smart fan speed feature that adjust the CPU fan based on temp, go tweak it in the bios - either disable it completely or adjust it so it revs up to max speed even on lower temperatures

- If you chassis fan speed can be adjusted, set it to max

And of course, make sure you have no unnecessary applications running in the background while playing. They might be utilizing some of the CPU cores while playing, causing unnecessary additional power usage and heat up.

All in all, if things are installed/working correctly and there is no dust - and the computer chassis is sensible - even the stock CPU coolers should be able to pretty much deal with even the maximum CPU usage if you haven't overclocked anything.

[ilborro 0]

Thanks to you for being so supportive, I was't expecting to receive so much answers, thank you.

Doyle, don't think is the dust since today my PC reaches its 6 month use with 1525 hours of use :o; I will check it just to be sure.

Jackster, I use PCWizard to check the temperature yet I will try that software and see the results.

DayZPvP, forgot to mention, I live in Argentina (Winter), for example, today we have 17ºC and its raining.

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

My rig is now over 2 years old, and was not top of the line.

My CPU never seems to be a problem, but beginning this summer my GPU (GT 240) began overheating.

I used a program called Kombuster to verify this and it was obviously my GPU, games like Skyrim, and Dirt 3 really fried the thing.

Apparently the temperature in my room make a big difference when it comes to my GPU (as stated above).

I also have a cooler master case, and I make sure to clean as much dust out as possible regularly.

But, the only way I found that am able to play for extended periods of time this summer was to pop open the left side of the box and I put a Honeywell brand turbo blade desk fan (very strong fan) right up to the opening in the case.

I haven't had an overheat problem since.

[gambla 118]

If you have a proper ventilation setup for chassis and hardware, then it's most probably simple dust. I use a little air compressor and clean my rig any 6 months minimum, every fan is unmounted and cleaned, chassis, everything. The little compressors are cheap and it's definetly worth it.

[Uncle Gapey 16]

70-75c under load is not bad. You're fine, OP.

If you really want to do something about it, things to try (in order of ascending cost) are:

- Blast your case out with canned air or an air compressor. Let it dry for an hour or two before turning it back on. It might not look wet, but it is a little.

- Buy some decent thermal paste, remove CPU heat sink, remove CPU, remove old thermal paste with rubbing alcohol, put new paste on, re-seat processor, put CPU heat sink on.

- Figure out how much air is currently being pulled into your case versus how much is being pushed out (how many fans are pulling/pushing?). Buy two 80-120mm fans and mount them inside your case. Measure your fan mounting areas first! If your case currently has the same amount of air coming in as is going out, then mount one fan as intake and one as exhaust.

Hope this helps, but you're really OK with temps in the 70-75c range. o/

[Uncle Gapey 16]

Oh! And in Options->Video->Advanced, turn Post Processing effects OFF. Set it to disabled.