Why does my computer heat up so much?

[Deleted]

Hey all, back in November last year I had a PC built from a company in the UK, all custom built to what I wanted and assembled by them. I am just worried that something is wrong, my PC seems to get too hot when doing things, such as rendering a video my PC will become too hot and alert me that it will soon shutdown (something around 80°c). I also find that it warms up rather a lot playing any games, maybe 55°c. Currently sitting at 45°c from being on the internet.

This is my setup:
Intel i7 950 overclocked to 4.0GHz
Titan Fenrir EVO cpu cooler
6GB Mushkin DDR3
Sapphire HD6870 1GB GDDR5
Coolermaster CM 690 II case

Could it just be down to the overclocking they did being too high? or perhaps the heatsink or just the cpu cooler?

Any ideas would be appreciated before I give them a call, will be a hassle to try sending a PC back to be looked at

Thanks

[Asmekiel]

Is your case dustfree? That's cause #1 of overheating.
Additionally you can get some thermalpaste and reseat the heatsink.

[Arslay]

You could always lower your overclock or force your fan faster... But yep dust + thermal paste are the main issues.

[Deleted]

Dust won't be the issue, I clean it regularly with compressed air and it is not sitting on the floor. I don't really feel confident enough to do the thermal paste again myself though to be honest.

[Simonzi]

55*c while gaming is not bad for a 950 at 4.0ghz. The TJMax for that CPU is 100*c. So 55*c is perfectly fine. Hell, 80*c is fine, but warmer than it should be for gaming. If you use a program to render video that will max out all 8 threads, then yeah, it can reach 80*c easily.

Sure, it could be cooler, but temps like that are normal.

[Evil Inside]

Lower the overclock or force fans to go faster. It could be due to restricted airflow. Are you routing all the cables behind the case chassis?
also another thing you could do is water-cooling.

[Casmir]

it being from a company, one would hope they did proper wire management. correct air flow direction on the fans. additional fans.

4.0ghz on air is good for an OC, but is still pushing the thermal max dissipation of most air coolers.

Also remember it's summer now and the ambient air temperature plays into the efficiency of any thermal device for cooling.

That is a decent case. My kid's pc is in one. I maxed out the available fans and he has no problem with heat. He plays with headphones on so the fan noise is not an issue.

[Deleted]

I know the company is fairly reputable, lots of decent reviews etc and they were a pleasure to do business with.

This is an image of the inside of my PC, http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/69/cimg3526tf.jpg/

So it is more than likely due to the heatsink or overclock?

[Casmir]

I know the company is fairly reputable, lots of decent reviews etc and they were a pleasure to do business with.

This is an image of the inside of my PC, http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/69/cimg3526tf.jpg/

So it is more than likely due to the heatsink or overclock?

Wiring and components look fine. Most likely combined summer ambient air temps being slightly higher and the thermal max of the cpu cooler due to increased voltage of the OC.

[Cantii]

You have, essentially, the exact same setup as I do, and I'm at 4GHz as well. In this hot, Florida summer, my CPU idles at ~40-45C and gets around 50-55C while gaming. Your temperatures are fine, really. I'm using a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus with two fans in push/pull for cooling.

Quick question: What's the voltage at for your V-Core, QPI/DRAM (or VTT) and DRAM Bus? I'm interested to see what others have for their 4GHz i7 950 overclock.