[ceponatia]

Hello,

I've ruled out most of my PC's problems except for heat and the PSU. Could someone give me some advice on what type of cooling equipment to buy and where to position it? Right now I have a fan in the back of my case blowing air in, one in the side blowing air out, one on my GPU (an NVIDIA 9600GT), and one on my CPU. Strangely I don't think my case has a fan in the front or even a way to install one, too much useless plastic and metal in the way. My motherboard, an MSI P6N SLI Platinum, has those copper pipe-looking heat sinks all over it as well. I don't think I really have any other spots to install a fan on the case but perhaps some on the inside might help even though everything but the sound card already has one. Are there any other tools for cooling your case? Aside from the PSU failing this is the only thing I can think of that is causing my black-screen crashes.

Also would it be a terrible idea to put together a PC without using a case at all? Seems to me like that would solve any heat problems too as long as I kept it dust free...

[ceponatia]

Hello,

Is there any software out there that will let me check to see if my power supply is failing or defective so I can rule that out?

[crjdriver]

Not directly. You can monitor your voltage rails and see if they are dropping under a load. That is a sure sign that pw supply is failing or just under powered for your hardware. I like HWMonitor or most high end boards have some type of monitoring software ie asus probe, gigabyte easytune, etc.

[crjdriver]

I should have added there are psu testers you can buy however the best test is to swap in a known good psu and that will tell you pretty quick.

[Jack Hackett]

forget software, your best tool is a multimeter, digital or anlalogue

[crjdriver]

I see one problem right off. The fan at the rear of the case should be an exhaust fan; not blowing air into the case.

It would help if you posted your exact hardware AND the temps you are experiencing.

A very simple test for overheating is to pull the side cover OFF and place a small desk type fan blowing air into the case. If your lockups stop, you have found the cause. If not, then you know you need to look at other possibilities.

[ceponatia]

My father has one, Jack. How would I go about testing with it?

[ceponatia]

So should I have the rear one blowing out and side one in? I'll try to rummage and find a small room fan to see if that helps. I just played Oblivion for 3 hours and then my GPU crashed. Never used to do that. I assume that has to be heat. I'm willing to bet that if I started it up right now it would crash after only ten minutes. I'll work on getting temps but right now I'll try the fans.

[crjdriver]

BTW you could assemble a PC without a case however you would not be able to move it anywhere AND if you have a pet, he/she will chew up the wires, cables, etc.

This might be something like what you would want. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-056-_-Product

[crjdriver]

BTW that is not a real hot running video card so if it is overheating, then the card's heatsink fan is probably loose or perhaps not spinning.

[ceponatia]

Exact hardware setup:

MSI P6N SLI Platinum motherboard with an Intel Core2Duo E6650 2.33 GHz
2 GB of RAM
EVGA NVIDIA Geforce 9600GT
180GB Samsung SATA hard drive
1TB external Western Digital Mybook
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1
Mad Dog CD\DVD RW

All of the internal hardware is spaced out because I thought that would help keep it cool but had no noticeable effect. On a fresh boot after the PC has been off for a bit everything idles at 50C and after gaming for a bit it peaks between 61-67C. On one rare occasion I saw it get to 71C.

I checked the fan last week, it was caked heavily with dust so I cleaned it out but it still spins.

[crjdriver]

If those temps are the video card, then they are fine. I have a nvidia 260 and it gets to 72~75C while running games and it never gives any problems at all.

What pw supply do you have installed? Have you checked system voltages? If so, post your 12V, 5V, and 3.3V readings here. If you have not checked system voltages, do so now. You can use HWMonitor or check them in the bios.

[crjdriver]

OK, I merged your two threads. Do not start multiple threads for the same problem ie lockups. It may be heat related, it may be pw supply related, or it could be some other hardware or software issue. The only way to find out is to test in a systematic manner.

[ceponatia]

Either HWMonitor is getting a totally different reading than Speedfan or switching my fans around like you suggested dropped my temp 20C. Here's what HWMonitor says:

+3.3V: 3.46V
CPU VCORE: 1.18V
VIN2: 1.76V
VIN3: 0.99V
+5V: 5.13V
+12V: 12.23V
VIN6: 1.82V
VSB3V: 3.46V
VBAT: 3.15V

Temp
TMPIN0: 27C
TMPIN1: 37C

Fans
FANIN0: 2086 RPM
FANIN1: 7246 RPM

Fans PWM
CPU: 100%
System Fan 1: 100%
System Fan 2: 100%
System Fan 3: 100%

NVIDIA MCP
Temperatures
CPU 255C
Mainboard 216C
Fans
System: 856 RPM

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550
Temeratures
Core#0: 31C
Core#1: 31C

NVIDIA Geforce 9600GT
Temperatures
GPU Core 46C

WDC WD2000JD-00HBB0
Temperatures
Assembly: 35C

Sorry for multiple threads. I see what you mean, won't do that again!

[ceponatia]

Oh and my power supply is an Ultra V Dual Rail Series 600 watt ATX with a 120mm fan.

Specs
AC Input: 115V/230V
AC Input Freq: 50-60Hz
AC Input Current: 10A for 115VAC
6.0A for 230VAC