CPU overheats playing games

O

olypentax

n00b
Joined
Jun 8, 2009
Messages
7
I am stumped. My 2 year old computer with a Asus P5E3, Intel, Duo Core 3.0ghz, Radeon HD 2900 series card, 2 GB DDR3 memory, 80gb seagate SATA, Windows XPSP3 (dual boot Vista) opens in Windows but now runs almost 50c at idle.

I have cleaned everything, I have reseated the heatsink with Arctic 5 and the CPU fan is running at 2265 which should be OK. I have been using this for gaming for over a year and all of a sudden it has started to overheat and crash.

I decided to try it on Fallout 3 on medium quality (I normally run it on ultra with max FPS), and it didn't crash but on Team-Fortress 2 It crashed within 1 minute of joining a game!. Then after that it would crash on boot again.

Do you think this could be my CPU, video-card or something else be doing this? I just don't know where to start troubleshooting.
 
I agree with the 2 above me.

Rarily, and I mean rarily do I see a CPU overheat crash, unless something is really really borked.

More often than not the fan(s) on the GPU start failing , or dust, etc, gets underneath and imbedded in the HSF on the GPU. I had a 7800 GTX do this to me, and I was able to fix it by getting an aftermarket cooler.

I'd check the GPU carefully.
 
Thanks for all your replies. The GPU was real dusty when I cleaned it with clumps of dust in the fan area. I have it all blown out now but maybe it was damaged. I am not at the computer to check temps now but I think Real Temp went up to over 70c. Would a bad GPU cause the CPU to overheat?
 
Last edited:
I would not be concerned about 50C with an core2 Intel CPU. They have 80C max I believe. Is the max temp approaching that?

BTW my core2 quad Q9550 idled at 55C before I replaced the stock fan with an AC Freezer Pro 7. Now it idles in the 30s. Both with the automatic fan speed control.
 
Last edited:
might want to think motherboard too. I had an asus motherboard a few years ago which exhibited similar problems.
 
Check said:
might want to think motherboard too. I had an asus motherboard a few years ago which exhibited similar problems.
Click to expand...

yeah dis is true they have really bad sink on the north bridge. I always take it off and scrap of that plastic crap they call paste and apply my own improves temps at least 5 degree's.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top