Comp heating up too fast?

[thkri]

Comp heating up too fast?

Finally after purchasing a new rig i decided to install and play the witcher 2.I looked on the options it auto detected low even though i believed my rig would be able to run this game on high. So as i started playing , the game seemed to play out very smoothly, with no hiccups or lags but strangely enough even on low-med settings my comp was heating up fast. I might be exaggerating but it seemed quite strange to me that a newly built comp would get riled up on lowest settings. I didnt get any crashes or anything yet, Im still at the prologue trying different settings but it seems i keep getting similar results if not very significant ones. Are my specs too low, or could it be a different problem? Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.

My specs :
Intel Core i5-2500 CPU @ 3.30GHz
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP 1 , 64-bit
8 GB RAM
GeForce GTX 460
Video RAM 4.0 GB
Pixel Shader version 5.0
Vertex Shader version 5.0
Free disk space 1.4 TB

P.S. All drivers are up to date.

 

[username_2093396]

Those specs are a lot better than mine and I was able to play the game on a mix of mostly High and Ultra settings at around 30 FPS.

How hot is your PC getting? Have you used something like RealTemp to get an exact temperature?

 

[taichun]

can you be more precise on the temperature?
my system only heat up 3~4 celius degree when playing on high setting.

 

[thkri]

I havent checked my computer temps with any program yet, but from what i heard coming out of my rig sounded as if it was building up heat. I will try out the game with the program you suggested. I will keep you updated on my progress.

 

[Mblackwell1024]

Intel procs tend to ramp up the fan speed after you hit 50c and above. Noise level increases drastically at that point. You might get a high-pitched low-volume background hum before then, but after that you'll get quite a bit of noise. The game definitely makes my Q9550 jump in temperature.

Same with my GTX 460 which also gets quite loud when the fan speed goes up. By default it's at I believe 40%. It goes up as temps increase but never beyond something like 70-80%. After around 60% you'll notice the noise.

 

[dragonbird]

Also, what drivers are you using for your graphics card? There have been some reports of over-heating issues with the latest Nvidia 280.xx drivers.

 

[thkri]

Also, what drivers are you using for your graphics card? There have been some reports of over-heating issues with the latest Nvidia 280.xx drivers.

My currently installed driver is version 280.26

 

[thkri]

Those specs are a lot better than mine and I was able to play the game on a mix of mostly High and Ultra settings at around 30 FPS.

How hot is your PC getting? Have you used something like RealTemp to get an exact temperature?

Well, after trying out RealTemp i must admit im baffled at the numbers .I was testing it on the lowest settings and it recorded that the cores were at 66C / 68C / 65C / 64C only 5 min into the game . I dont know what Thermal Statues means but it remained OK on all the cores. I thought i would get these temps if i would play on High-Ultra but on lowest settings possible and resolution of 1200-800 i wouldnt even believe it would reach this high.

 

[GuyNwah]

My currently installed driver is version 280.26

Yes, back off to 275.33 (you have to go to the Archived and Beta Drivers page at nVidia to get it). 280 drivers will heat up some GPUs, especially factory overclocked ones. And some GPUs have fans that run loud when they are cranked up.

Also, many nVidia cards are designed to run hot, and the GTX 460 is no exception. 85C is reasonable, 95C is not unheard of, and the design maximum is 104C.

Finally, this game seems to torture the GPU like nothing else does.

 

[thkri]

Yes, back off to 275.33 (you have to go to the Archived and Beta Drivers page at nVidia to get it). 280 drivers will heat up some GPUs, especially factory overclocked ones. And some GPUs have fans that run loud when they are cranked up.

Also, many nVidia cards are designed to run hot, and the GTX 460 is no exception. 85C is reasonable, 95C is not unheard of, and the design maximum is 104C.

Finally, this game seems to torture the GPU like nothing else does.

Alright, I will back up the driver. I will inform you of any changes . Hopefully this game wont end up busting my rig.

 

[GuyNwah]

Well, after trying out RealTemp i must admit im baffled at the numbers .I was testing it on the lowest settings and it recorded the the cores at 66C / 68C / 65C / 64C only 5 min into the game . I dont know what Thermal Statues means but it remained OK on all the cores. I thought i would get these temps if i would play on High-Ultra but on lowest settings possible and resolution of 1200-800 i wouldnt even believe it would reach this high.

Ooh, that's high for an Intel CPU. 72.6C is the design limit for the Core i5, and a Core i5 with a properly set up stock cooler shouldn't be running more than approx. 20C over ambient.

It sounds like your cooler may not be seated properly, or you have airflow problems. (Or you're in a room without air conditioning during a heatwave.)

 

[username_2093396]

Edit: I just saw the post above, so I'm going to go check something. My post might be wrong

Well, after trying out RealTemp i must admit im baffled at the numbers .I was testing it on the lowest settings and it recorded the the cores at 66C / 68C / 65C / 64C only 5 min into the game . I dont know what Thermal Statues means but it remained OK on all the cores. I thought i would get these temps if i would play on High-Ultra but on lowest settings possible and resolution of 1200-800 i wouldnt even believe it would reach this high.

That really doesn't sound too bad Was the GPU temperature in a similar range? (On my version of RealTemp it has the GPU temperature on the top left of the window).

I have a Core 2 Duo @ 3.16 GHz and a GTX 275. I get paranoid every time I install a new video driver so I always check the temperatures afterwards, which happened to be while I was playing TW2.

Idling on the desktop my CPU is around 45-50 C and my GPU is around 55-60 C. Once I get into the game and start playing for a bit, the temperature rises to around 70-80 C.

The hardware max is supposed to be around 100 C and nothing blew up on me, so I just went with it and hoped nothing bad happened. I think this is normal, although if I'm overheating too I'd certainly like to hear about it

 

[thkri]

About the airflow not being the best i can actually understand. My comp sits in a kinda closed airspace. It sits on the floor with the left leg of the table covering its right side , and topside also closed off. I will place my comp on the table behind the screen and see if it changes anything. Btw i live in the Netherlands so theres no heatwave here atm .

 

[dragonbird]

My GPU running temperature in the game is usually around 65-68 C. I'm in the tropics, in a non-aircon room. I have good CPU and GPU fans because the PC was initialy setup for 3D animation rendering, which means running all cores at 100% utilisation for days at a time. CPU also typically runs at the high '60s in-game, but that's with I7.

You don't seem to be running dangerously high, but it still sounds a bit on the high side given your ambient temperatures. It's definitely worth trying for improvement.

(In my case, "try for improvement" usually means "open the case and vacuum out the cat hair". That probably isn't the cause of your problems, so I won't suggest it).

 

[thkri]

I placed my comp on the table next to the screen and i installed driver version 275.33 , Now i hope this will fix the overheating problem . Incase it doesnt help, i'll open the case and see wether or not the fan/s are not in place or its too dusty. I will also use RealTemp again to see wether the temps have changed. I will keep you informed on my progress.

 

[thkri]

After 1 hour of gameplay on the lowest settings ( with 1600x900 resolution ) i got the temps of 66C/68C/66C/64C
with an average temp of 58-65 for some reason. My comp didnt get any warmer then this but im still surprised that even on the lowest settings, it got this high.

 

[yosburr]

Yeah your CPU is pretty hot. I would try reseating the HSF and checking Thermal compound. If that does not work, maybe looking into after-market heat sink

 

[thkri]

Yeah your CPU is pretty hot. I would try reseating the HSF and checking Thermal compound. If that does not work, maybe looking into after-market heat sink

Well , Im glad to report that it wont be necessary anymore. After afew more tries with the higher settings , my rig seemed to work better (for some odd reason). After playing afew hours on high settings , my temps were between 48-58 degrees celsius.
Perhaps it was the driver or the lack of airflow , but now after i backed up the driver and placed my rig on the table everything works smoothly and looks great.

I thank everyone who took their time to help me out.

 

[Bamsmacked]

Hey Binter, you may need to apply fresh thermal grease, stock grease usually SUCKS.

I had the same problem with my video cards. I thought it was my powersupply at first because I had a Xtream Gear 700w with a crossfire setting. I ended up spending 280 (40 bucks off - woot woot) dollars on a Thermaltake Toughtpower Grand 1200w A+ Gold Cert hoping it would solve my problem but it did not.

Of course I don't regret buying the PSU because I intend to use that in a new better case in the future.

Anyway so I decided to clean my video cards, they were dirty of course but really shocked me was the fact that there was more thermal grease around the core than actually on the core itself. (Which is also dangerous because thermal grease is somewhat conductive!!! Stupid manufacturers!)

SO I used some 91% isopropyl rubbing alcohol with q-tips removed all the old paste, used a microfiber cloth and wiped it down, sat the cards under a desk lamp with 40w lightbulb and let them dry out nice and good for about 45mins - 1 hour.

After they dried I reapplied some paste, I used T-2 Thermaltake Thermal Grease (Hell I used Arctic Silver 5 before and and the results are about the same. No point in spending twice as much on thermal grease when other brands do the same. Thermaltake makes quality products anyway, their T-2 paste was 5 bucks compared to AS5 which was like 13-14.)on both cores and my temperatures dropped dramatically.

I was sitting at 50c+ at Idle with 100% fan speeds, but now I'm sitting at 38-42 at idle with 100% fan speeds. Under a load I was getting 75c+ with 100% fan speed, and now under a load I'm getting between 62-68c with 100% fan speed.

Before I applied that thermal grease my cards were getting so hot I couldn't even PLAY a game. So here I was for about 2 months, saving up for this Powersupply missing out on such a great game when all I really needed was some thermal paste to put on my GPU cores. Red lights were coming on my video cards after crashing in game play. I submitted a help ticket to HIS and they said that means it was overheating. Reapplied some new grease and my heating issues was solved.

Take a look at your CPU and GPU cores to make sure they have decent spread of thermal grease and that it's not blobbed up and bubbly all over the place, or outside the core... If you don't know how to do these things do some google research or I can help you some-what via PMs but I tell you this at your own risk. I won't be responsible if you damage your system but if you do it correctly you should be fine.

Anyway... Hope this sheds some light on your situation.

EDIT - Have you tried managing your cables better for better airflow? Have you cleaned out your case fans and excess dust and buildup?

 

[thkri]

Hey Binter, you may need to apply fresh thermal grease, stock grease usually SUCKS.

I had the same problem with my video cards. I thought it was my powersupply at first because I had a Xtream Gear 700w with a crossfire setting. I ended up spending 280 (40 bucks off - woot woot) dollars on a Thermaltake Toughtpower Grand 1200w A+ Gold Cert hoping it would solve my problem but it did not.

Of course I don't regret buying the PSU because I intend to use that in a new better case in the future.

Anyway so I decided to clean my video cards, they were dirty of course but really shocked me was the fact that there was more thermal grease around the core than actually on the core itself. (Which is also dangerous because thermal grease is somewhat conductive!!! Stupid manufacturers!)

SO I used some 91% isopropyl rubbing alcohol with q-tips removed all the old paste, used a microfiber cloth and wiped it down, sat the cards under a desk lamp with 40w lightbulb and let them dry out nice and good for about 45mins - 1 hour.

After they dried I reapplied some paste, I used T-2 Thermaltake Thermal Grease (Hell I used Arctic Silver 5 before and and the results are about the same. No point in spending twice as much on thermal grease when other brands do the same. Thermaltake makes quality products anyway, their T-2 paste was 5 bucks compared to AS5 which was like 13-14.)on both cores and my temperatures dropped dramatically.

I was sitting at 50c+ at Idle with 100% fan speeds, but now I'm sitting at 38-42 at idle with 100% fan speeds. Under a load I was getting 75c+ with 100% fan speed, and now under a load I'm getting between 62-68c with 100% fan speed.

Before I applied that thermal grease my cards were getting so hot I couldn't even PLAY a game. So here I was for about 2 months, saving up for this Powersupply missing out on such a great game when all I really needed was some thermal paste to put on my GPU cores. Red lights were coming on my video cards after crashing in game play. I submitted a help ticket to HIS and they said that means it was overheating. Reapplied some new grease and my heating issues was solved.

Take a look at your CPU and GPU cores to make sure they have decent spread of thermal grease and that it's not blobbed up and bubbly all over the place, or outside the core... If you don't know how to do these things do some google research or I can help you some-what via PMs but I tell you this at your own risk. I won't be responsible if you damage your system but if you do it correctly you should be fine.

Anyway... Hope this sheds some light on your situation.

EDIT - Have you tried managing your cables better for better airflow? Have you cleaned out your case fans and excess dust and buildup?

Thanks for the advice(s) , but i figured that the problem was the lack of airflow going through the computer. It works great and pretty damn silent now . BTW its a 1 week old rig. I checked if it was dirty or dusty. Doesnt seem so yet but it will start picking dust after a week or two. If i notice my rig heating up too fast ill follow your advice.