Possible Cooling issues w/ my "Old School" rig?

[BigDan]

Hi guys, I've had my trusty XP2800+ setup for probably 3 years now. I game casually over the summer when I have access to the computer and it's been great with CS:S (my main game) over the years. This Summer however, I've been having some instability issues causing the game to lock up frequently. It took me a while to figure out that I might have some cooling issues. I was idling around 45-46(cpu) and 34(case), which was a little high, but I hadn't used the comp in over a year so I couldn't remember what my temps were before. It wasn't until I started opening up the side panel to see what was going on before I noticed my temps drop down to 42, 31 idle. Nice. So I've been running w/ the side panel off until I can get a decent fix... However, today while playing Dungeon Runners the comp has started locking up again... the game will "lag" for a few seconds, and then I'll hear some popping noises in my headphone before it completely locks up and I am forced to power down via the power button.

So I figured my CPU temps might still be too high and since I've been running the stock cooler all this time (sad I know, been meaning to upgrade for years - everything else is upgraded - dual 120mm fans, upgraded PSU, artic cooling GPU cooler, etc). I ordered a cooler master aero 7 ( http://www.digital-daily.com/cooling/coolers-socket_a-roundup6/ ) from SVC and will hopefully get that soon. What I'm asking is, does this sound reasonable? I mean, theoretically since my computer is not OC'd at all - it should run the stock cooler fine. It has for a few years. The case isnt that dusty (although when I put in the new cooler, everything is getting the shop vac treatment). So I'm not sure what the problem is. Writing this post I'm running at 42/32. Is this decent?


Cliff notes -
-Old solid system running hot this summer (46/34) - lots of crashing until removing the side panel dropped it a couple degrees. Fixed the problem - for a while
- Suddenly having similar issues. ordered an after market cooler - wondering if this should fix the problem

So this might seem like a "duh... install the cooler and see what happens" answer, but am I really running THAT hot? I think it might get up as high as 48/32... perhaps up to 50. Just looking for some advice from experienced cooler guys.

 

[RoBo]

Have you made sure your case is clean and free from dust?

 

[SDraconis]

Make sure all case fans are running too. If you experience a large difference in temps with case door off, it usually means you have airflow problems in your case.

 

[BigDan]

Both very valid points guys. I appreciate the responses. To answer your questions, when I opened my case up I found out that the rear fan was in fact not working! I have a homemade fanbus and a connection on it was a little loose but with some minor tweaking I got it back up to speed. The reason why I continue to run w/ the side panel off is because this case had a side grill which I covered w/ a piece of plexi. My reasoning then was, I upgraded the fans from 80mm to 120, and I wanted to:

A) augment the airflow so it would go through the front and out the back and
B) keep dust out cus we have a lot of dogs and things get dusty

Well its gonna be back to the drawing board on the side panel because the case still runs warmer w/ the panel on. I gotta figure out how to remove the plexi cus its on there good w/ double sided foam tape - I don't want to bend my door(already bent it a little trying to pull the plexi off - I'll try taking a blow drier to it).

I'm thinking of replacing the plexi w/ some sort of thin porous foam to help filter the dust. I have a dust filter on the front intake so to move to the next question - the case is not very dusty. There is some very minor dust which I will be sure to get rid of when I install this new cpu cooler - its gonna involve pulling the mobo and all of that so I'll just take care of it then.

So while playing a game last night I managed to alt tab and notice temps rose up to 49/32 (cpu/case) - this is too big of a difference right? I wonder how far my temps will drop w/ the new cooler. Should be here in a few days... I'll post what happens... get excited.