PC Overheating... Or Is It?

ixoy

I have an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2GHz Socket connected to a ABIT KN8-SLI motherboard. Lately, when I tried to play WoW (not something that should be particularly heavy for that machine), I very quickly got a 2-tone siren, which according to this site here, indicates a probable issue with overheating and/or voltage problems.

Suspecting that, I immediately quit out of WoW and opened ABIQ EQ, which displays CPU temperatures. It reported the CPU at 43C (normal operating temp. is about 31C). Now according to specifications I've found here, that's well within the maximum limit of 65C.

Obviously, there was a delay in exiting the program and opening ABIT EQ but would temperatures really drop that quickly? When I re-started my PC, I went into the BIOS and looked at the PC Health Status and the CPU alarm is set to 60C so a drop from 60-43 so quickly would seem odd. The BIOS there didn't report anything close to 60C either (again it would have had some time to cool further down - but that quickly?)

Given that it kicked off when starting a game, it would appear to be overheating but the temperatures I'm seeing in the monitoring software don't reflect that (I tried MBM5 but it couldn't detect the CPU). I'll readily admit that I've only got the CPU fan going and that airflow is merely okay but why would I see such a difference relative to what the alarm appears to indicate?

Ishindar

try reseating your graphics card and all the power connectors in your system. Its likely to be simply a bad connection.
if this doesnt do it then id suggest installing voltage and temperature monitoring software, this will usually come on your mobo install CD or if not go to the mobo manufacturers site support section and d/l it from there. u should be able to check your voltages and temps real time while running wow.

BigEejit

Ishindar wrote: »

try reseating your graphics card and all the power connectors in your system. Its likely to be simply a bad connection.
if this doesnt do it then id suggest installing voltage and temperature monitoring software, this will usually come on your mobo install CD or if not go to the mobo manufacturers site support section and d/l it from there. u should be able to check your voltages and temps real time while running wow.

Indeed, I got that siren thing once when i forgot to plug in the power into the graphics card .....

Are you using one of those black pads between the cpu and heatsink, or some "special sticky sauce :O"?

ixoy

Ishindar wrote: »

try reseating your graphics card and all the power connectors in your system. Its likely to be simply a bad connection.

I'll be opening it up sometime in the next couple of days to install a DVD-RW and more memory, so that will be a good chance to ensure everything is sitting right.
The fact that it only kicks off during games (high CPU or GFX card usage I guess) mean anything?

if this doesnt do it then id suggest installing voltage and temperature monitoring software, this will usually come on your mobo install CD or if not go to the mobo manufacturers site support section and d/l it from there. u should be able to check your voltages and temps real time while running wow.

I have ABIT EQ which displays CPU temps, fan speeds, and the voltages but I only checked them after exiting the game. I guess I need to play the game in a window and run it from there.

BigEejit wrote:

Are you using one of those black pads between the cpu and heatsink, or some "special sticky sauce :O"?

There's black pads?
I used special sticky sauce (I assume you mean cooling gel).

Ishindar

ixoy wrote: »

I'll be opening it up sometime in the next couple of days to install a DVD-RW and more memory, so that will be a good chance to ensure everything is sitting right.
The fact that it only kicks off during games (high CPU or GFX card usage I guess) mean anything?


I have ABIT EQ which displays CPU temps, fan speeds, and the voltages but I only checked them after exiting the game. I guess I need to play the game in a window and run it from there.


There's black pads?
I used special sticky sauce (I assume you mean cooling gel).

why wait, pop the side off it only takes 5 mins, dont forget to disconnect your power cable first
when u have high gpu and cpu usage u draw more power from the power supply some of which turns into heat ultimately.
the components in the powersupply have more current running through them and also heat up more and work harder so any marginal component may malfunction causing a votage control problem.
Graphics cards are notorious for becoming unseated which can also cause voltage or heating issues.
so u need to determine if its a voltage or heating issue but try reseating your graphics card and all the power connectors in your system first as its likely to be simply a bad connection.

ixoy

Just closing this off in case anyone is ever doing a search - when I opened up the PC (trying to fix another issue), I noticed that there was an extra socket for power on the motherboard down by the PCI-E slots. Examining my manual, it said that failure to connect here may cause unstable performance - exactly what I saw. Since connecting that up, I've no issues..