I think I may have an overheating problem with my computer

[Temjin]

Before I go on, I would just like to admit that I absolutely suck with computer hardware. Everything I know comes from three classes of Computer Systems. I'm mentioning this so that if I'm asking a stupid question, the laughter will be kept to a minimum.

Anyway, I was playing Knights of the Old Republic recently and I was noticing that it was going kind of slow. On a whim, I felt the side of my computer and it was very warm. It was as if someone had taken a very hot plate full of food from the microwave and left it on the side of my comp for about a minute.

Exiting the game, I went to the scan hardware from the game's autorun menu. Turns out I failed both the ram requirement (it said I only had 247 megs instead of 260 (running winxp)) and the graphics card requirement (60 megs instead of 128 (even though it says I only needed a 32 meg on the box)).

I attributed the heat coming form my computer coming from the fact that I did not meet the minimum req's.

But I was recently playing Medieval: Total War and I noticed the same heat coming from my comp. Now, my comp completely blows away the min req's for this game.

So, I'm wondering, did I screw up my comp by playing KotOR for the past week? Or is it supposed to be that hot.

[Crayz9000]

If your computer is overheating, you should be experiencing random lockups during gameplay. A warm case is generally nothing to worry about, although you may want to consider installing an extra ventilation fan inside the case.

[White Haven]

If you know how to get into the BIOS, check the hardware monitor there and tell us what the CPU temp is. If not, don't worry about it, the last thing you need is someone new (you crashing around in there.

[DaveJB]

What processor are you using? If it's a P4, then it could be going into throttle mode (particularly if it's an "E" model). Some Athlon 64s also do throttling, depending on what motherboard you use.

[Temjin]

It's a Celeron 2.7GHz manufactured by Hewlett-Packard (What can I say, it was cheap).

[DaveJB]

Celerons are based on the P4's design, so it could well be throttling at work.

Best bet is to open the PC, and make sure that nothing is obstructing the flow of air within the PC. Also, make sure the CPU fan is working properly. If you don't feel confident doing this, get someone to do it for you.

[General Zod]

you may also want to check the fan itself to see if it has any excessive dust buildup that might be causing problems. do you clean the case regularly, if at all? getting some compressed air to remove any excess dust could prove useful.

[Vertigo1]

Anyway, I was playing Knights of the Old Republic recently and I was noticing that it was going kind of slow. On a whim, I felt the side of my computer and it was very warm. It was as if someone had taken a very hot plate full of food from the microwave and left it on the side of my comp for about a minute.

A warm case is nothing to worry about, but you might want to try popping the case open and let it run like that for a while. This is a classic indicator of poor ventilation. Next time you go to a local computer shop, buy a couple of 12V 80mm case fans.

Exiting the game, I went to the scan hardware from the game's autorun menu. Turns out I failed both the ram requirement (it said I only had 247 megs instead of 260 (running winxp)) and the graphics card requirement (60 megs instead of 128 (even though it says I only needed a 32 meg on the box)).

I generally don't trust games to scan hardware correctly. Just for example, the original Freespace picks up my Athlon XP 2800+ as a 2GHz Pentium 2. Dig up the documentation for your computer and go by that instead.

I attributed the heat coming form my computer coming from the fact that I did not meet the minimum req's.

Heat has nothing to do with whether or not you meet or exceed the minimum requirements for anything. Heat has to do with dissipation. See, every modern CPU, motherboard (what periphrial plugs into), and video card has a heatsink. They produce so much heat that they need a way to cool off. Thats where heatsinks come in. They pull heat off of whatever they're mounted to and rely on airflow to evacuate it out of the computer. Some of them even require fans to blow ontop of the heatsink to evaculate hot air faster. They're not 100% effecient by any means, but its better than nothing. At any rate, thats where your heat problem is coming from. All that warm air has to go somewhere. Since your computer has poor ventilation, its just sitting there getting warmer and warmer.

[Pu-239]

/me laughs and points to my passively cooled PII-450 with uber large heatsink(unfortunately makes stealing my sister's PIII-550 and replacing it with mine rather difficult) and no CPU fan, and one very quiet case fan.

[White Haven]

Meanwhile, the rest of us will laugh at the idea of still using a 450.

[Shinova]

Meanwhile, the rest of us will laugh at the idea of still using a 450.

Indeed. We can always count on Pu to make even the lowliest of us computer users feel mighty.



And if you do end up needing a new CPU cooler, you can't go wrong with one of those Zalman ones, especially the AlCu version. Very, very quiet, very, very cool (even with my 3 GHz P4 blasting at it from time to time)

[Crayz9000]

A Pentium II is nothing to sneeze at... when it's running Linux. My webserver is a 450MHz Pentium II.

If it's running Windows, however, forget it.