Desktop overheating? Not sure what the issue is - please help

[Karazee]

I posted this on the official forums but I'm not expecting any replies there so I figure I'd try the more knowledgeable folks here

I've had a few issues where my desktop will just shut down and restart while playing SWTOR. There is no dust inside the unit, I've already checked that.

I'm trying to figure out what's causing the auto-restarts and I'm assuming the computer is just plain overheating. The cores run at between 85-95 celsius according to my temperature monitor desktop widget, occasionally peaking at 99. I bought my computer from iBuyPower 2 years ago. Here are my computer's specs:

Processor Intel® Core™ i7 920 Processor (4x 2.66GHz/8MB L3 Cache)
Motherboard Asus P6T SE -- Intel X58 Chipset CrossFire Supported w/7.1 Sound, Triple-Channel DDR3, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Triple PCI-E MB
Memory 6 GB [2 GB X3] DDR3-1333 Triple Memory Module - Corsair Value or Major Brand
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 – 896MB - Single Card
Power Supply 700 Watt -- Power Supply - SLI Ready
Processor Cooling iBUYPOWER Napoleon CPU Cooling Fan System Kit
Primary Hard Drive 750 GB HARD DRIVE -- 16M Cache, 7200 RPM, 3.0Gb/s - Single Drive
Optical Drive 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black
Sound Card 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
Speaker System iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System
Network Card Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit


I'm by no means a computer expert but I know a little bit.

[Lebronchanez]

Cans omeone move this to the computer section, with those specs it shouldn't over heat.

Maybe something is out of place, or the fluid has gone between the cpu cooler and the cpu. All your 4 cores should be at around 40degrees or slightly under. I was running an i7 950 oc'd to 4.00 on air @ 45's and it was unstable.

Get speed fan, and real temp, to see the tempretures of each core.

[Mirakh]

http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/overview.htm

Allows monitoring of almost everything in your computer, along with clocking abilities.

[DaGhostDS]

What kind of case do you have?
and
Also that video card seem to be under the minimum requirement of the game, it might cause the system to heat more.

P.s. You said Vista VADE RETRO SATANA!

[Lumicide]

Cans omeone move this to the computer section, with those specs it shouldn't over heat.

Maybe something is out of place, or the fluid has gone between the cpu cooler and the cpu. All your 4 cores should be at around 40degrees or slightly under. I was running an i7 950 oc'd to 4.00 on air @ 45's and it was unstable.

Get speed fan, and real temp, to see the tempretures of each core.

i7's are inconsistent in quality, the stock cooling is garbage too, the copper contact part of it doesn't even cover the whole cpu and my 920 was running 99c load on stock, yet it's 60ish load on an h50.

However, he's not on stock... TC, you should check to see that the CPU heat sink is seated correctly, if it is, ibuypower may have botched 'it' and forgot to put thermal paste on... if that's fine then you may have to buy a better cooler, anything from the 'H' line from Corsair is quite good, however there are a couple huge, better air coolers from Noctua(very quiet)..

[hayharut]

The cores run at between 85-95 celsius according to my temperature monitor desktop widget, occasionally peaking at 99

speedfan gives me hell if any of my cores run over 45-48 degrees C.... i cant imagine what it would do to you...

[Lumicide]

speedfan gives me hell if any of my cores run over 45-48 degrees C.... i cant imagine what it would do to you...

AMD? They often have really low thermal limits, like 60's, 920's are perfectly safe 'til they get into that 95 range.

[Karazee]

P.s. You said Vista VADE RETRO SATANA!

My bad, I changed it. It was VIsta when I bought it in 2009 but I have upgraded to Windows 7 since.

Thanks for your help - would my restart problem be something that is directly traceable to the temperature it's running at?

[vian]

Which brand is your Nvidia card? I've heard of this before with the Gainward cards during the beta and updated bios should solve it.

[Karazee]

Which brand is your Nvidia card? I've heard of this before with the Gainward cards during the beta and updated bios should solve it.

Apologies for my noobness but I always thought NVidia was the brand. I'll open the case and check when I get home from Thanksgiving trip

[iggie]

Reseat your mobo, manage your cables, clear out any dust, then come back and report to us.

[Lierial]

i had the same trouble with my i7 920, couldn't get it cooled down no matter what i tryed and not only in SWTOR in about any game
the thing i did that finally fixed it, was remove the standart cpu cooler and got a Corsair H60 water cooling system since then the cores run "cool" with around 25-40°

[Madcaptn]

If I'm not mistaken, if a CPU goes to 98 degrees it's auto shutdown or reboot. My quad-core when playing skyrim or any game for that matter doesn't even go like over 60 degrees with a stock fan..

The first thing I would be checking if this was happening to me would be if the CPU Fan is working properly & if it is then I'd make sure there's thermal paste on the cpu & take that time to make sure the CPU Fan/heatsink is seated properly.

[Dorfadin]

Make sure u enabled v-sync ingame, my pc was getting pretty dam hot running 111fps , solid 60 fps and temps dropped lots

[Buckwald]

Moved this to the computers forum.

[endersblade]

I noticed a significant increase in GPU temps when playing TOR as well. Nothing my card couldn't handle, but it was over 20 degrees hotter than WoW, and about 10 degrees hotter than Skyrim. (Idle temps for me, about 22; WoW, about 32; Skyrim, about 46; TOR, 58.)

Granted, I'm not running Vsync, maybe I'll give that a try when I get home. Normally, Vsync slows everything down considerably for me. Like, 30-40 FPS instead of 60+. But I'll see what it does in TOR. I think I'd take the FPS hit if it'll keep my card cool.

[Haydest]

Going to go with a lame, but probable solution:

In those 2 years, have you cleaned out your computer from the inside consistently? For all you know, you could have 2 years worth of dust trapped around the insides--especially your fans. Also, it's probable that maybe the thermal compound on your CPU/Heatsink has dried out over the years.

[Ghâzh]

To clarify from the mostly useless comments so far. Yes, your CPU overheating is the most likely cause of the restarts. If it isn't, you've still got a problem with extremelly high and dangerous temperatures that needs to be fixed. I'd douple check the temps under load with at least two programs to make sure you are getting the correct readings. Core Temp and Hwmonitor are good temperature monitoring softwares that you could try, use Prime 95 to force the processor to 100% load.

If you indeed find that the temps under load are higher than ~85celsius, you've got a problem. A few (quite) simple steps to try to fix it:

-Make sure all the fans are spinning (case fans and the most important, CPU cooler fan).
-Check if the CPU cooler is seated properly. It should feel solid when you try twisting / pulling it softly.
-Douple check that there's no dust. Especially the cpu cooler area under the fan, motherboard heatsinks and graphics card cooler/ heatsink.
-Make sure that the case gets enough air in, no restrictive cable bunches hanging out etc.
-If non of the above works, you will most like have to reseat your CPU cooler. This step is a bit more difficult and if you don't feel confortable doing it yourself, check with a pc repair store.

Step by step how to reseat your CPU cooler (can also find guides online with pictures and what not if this aint clear enough):
-You'll need to buy some new thermal paste, 99% alcohol and q-tips.

1. Unscrew your cooler. If after the removal of the screws you can't take it of, try twisting it around a bit to break the old thermal paste application.
2. Remove the processor. Be careful when handling it. Do not bend any pins underneath it.
3. Clean the surface of the processor with 99% alcohol and q-tips off the old thermal paste. Also clean the part of the cooler that's in touch with the processor with the same method.
4. Apply new thermal paste. You'll want to put a pea sized drop of the thermal paste in the middle of the processor.
5. Reseat your cooler. Make sure not to twist the cooler around or remove it after you've inserted it on the thermal paste before you've screwed it back.
6. Make sure the cooler is tight. It shouldn't move much if at all if you've put it back correctly.

[Karazee]

Going to go with a lame, but probable solution:

In those 2 years, have you cleaned out your computer from the inside consistently? For all you know, you could have 2 years worth of dust trapped around the insides--especially your fans. Also, it's probable that maybe the thermal compound on your CPU/Heatsink has dried out over the years.

From the original post: "There is no dust inside the unit, I've already checked that."

Also, there is a constant stream of hot air being exhausted out the back. The exhaust fan is definitely "working." I'm just not sure it's not somewhat in over its head, so to speak. Other fans, no idea.

As I said, checking it all will have to wait until Monday since I'm out of town for Thanksgiving. Thanks for the ideas to check when I get back, will report back.

[Firann]

Your CPU temperatures are high as you said. That is the reason of the restarting.

Your cooling solution is an aftermarket one so check if something got lose. You could also dismount it, clean the cpu + block, apply new thermal paste and re fit it. This might help.

Also is the hot air coming from the vent of the GPU or the case fans? DOES the GPU have an external vent? It might be the case that the GPU just dumps all the hot air in the case and that air "cools" your CPU overheating it.

CPU should not be an issue in TOR and its more likely GPU dumping hot air in the case...