Overheating Problem

[Not Bman]

So, my record of uptime was 1 day and 23 minutes, longest without problems, normally it happened alot sooner then that.

Since underclocking, I am at 2 days and a few minutes, I have done everything I normally do and have yet to see the same problem happen. Now this don't really mean 100% it was the overclock, but so far that is what was doing it. Now I know many people who overclocked this chip from 2.4 to 3.0, why am I having problems and how to I accomplish it without problems?

 

[LeeJend]

Overclocking is a crap shoot. It depends on your CPU, RAM, MB CHipset, case and ambient temperatures, quality of your PSU, coolng solution, quality of the power the electric company provides, how you use your system (surfing vs folding vs gaming), any add on cards in the system, etc.

Best I ever got out of a CPU was 20% then dropping to 15% after it aged for a while. Video overclocking was always a disaster followed by early video card failure. Including with "factory" overclocked video cards.

I saw all the stories about people getting 30-50% overclock speeds but could never duplicate them. Personally I now question any such claims for stable operation, especially stable operation after a few months.

 

[Not Bman]

My overclock was 35%, and I believe if I play with the voltages and update my PSU (which i plan on) i will be able to keep that overclock. I just don't understand voltages and how I change them, by what measures I need to..

 

[American Zombie]

I have just underclocked, back to default 2.4Ghz

If your running at default then that is not underclocking. Underclocking would be running a 2.4 chip at 2.0 or something else less than default speed.

 

[Sazar]

What video card and what OS and what drivers are you using?

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

A lot of people who do extreme overclocking use water cooling. You can spend all sorts of $$$ on expensive heat sinks and fans or water cooling to get your system as frigid as possible. As a general rule, the cooler you can make your computer components, the more you can overclock it.

35% overclock is amazing, but you can't expect the exact same cooling technique that works at stock speeds to work at overclocked speeds unless you built the system to be overclocked from the beginning, using very expensive heat sinks and such.

Also faster than standard RAM helps overclocking. In other words, if your system handled 800 MHz DDR2 and you bought 1000 MHz DDR2, then it would still (normally) run at 800 MHz, but as you overclock your system your RAM would better be able to handle the additional stress the rest of the overclocked system is putting on it. Plus if your motherboard has the capability, you can on purpose give the RAM more voltage than the default and possibly lower it's timings as well. Not recommended, by the way, unless you are really careful. You can kill your hardware with any sort of overclocking. You can even damage it. Even if it's still working, that doesn't mean it wasn't damaged.

 

[Not Bman]

What video card and what OS and what drivers are you using?

Nvidia Geforce 8800GT and the very lastest, from a week or 2 ago.

If your running at default then that is not underclocking. Underclocking would be running a 2.4 chip at 2.0 or something else less than default speed.

I know that, but there was no term for what I did, except for saying I went back to defaults, so I just used underclocking.

 

[American Zombie]

I have the same card (8800GT) and never have any problem with heat.

Bman, I wonder if yours is the first version with the small fan that was replaced in the second version with a bigger one.

Mine is the second version with the bigger fan so maybe that is why I do not have heat problems. Although, my Lian Li case helps too I think.

 

[Not Bman]

Well, everyone says that the temps I was getting and are getting, anywhere from 70 to 100 is not acceptable. At the same time Nvidia themselves say that the 8800GT can run fine at degress at 100C.

Obviously the issue has been solved, and it had nothing to do with the Videocard, though it helped the issue. I am still going to replace the paste and mod the card to get the temps down a bit. Oh and yes, I have a small fan on this videocard.

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

Just be careful not to "fix something that ain't broke".

 

[Not Bman]

So wierd thing,

I have been 4 or more days uptime without problems, a week in total without problems, restarting because of other reasons. Anyways, all of a sudden it does that good old weird lines through video, freeze, have to restart problem.

Now before I underclocked we came to conclusion to try to underclock and see if that helps or not use the certain codec pack. I was thinking about that and I have seen it done within PowerDVD, which that does not use that codec pack that could be having a problem, so that meaning I don't think it's a codec problem.

Now it seems to run very well, it's almost does not do it, I have only seen it once since putting it back to 2.4Ghz and it was awhile after, so not the biggest problem but I would like to figure it out. Is there anything else this could be? Vista itself?

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

The variables are virtually endless as to what all could be causing the issue. It could be just about anything. You mentioned you have the version of that video card with a small fan, so maybe the video card still needs to be cooler.

One free possibility to try is that you could actually underclock the computer as opposed to running at the stock speeds and see if that helps.

For that matter you could probably underclock your video card itself. Not through the BIOS, you'd have to use a Windows-based tool to do that. I haven't used this but Riva Tuner is one that should work. Normally it's used to overclock but you may be able to underclock as well. There may be other software and methods that would work, too.

 

[David_L6]

I find it hard to believe that overclocking your CPU was causing the problems unless it was getting way too hot. Sound to me like it's a video card problem.

All of the below run 24/7 and 100% CPU usage. They do put out a good deal of heat. I have them in three seperate rooms to spread out the heat and the load on the breakers.

Q6600 B3 / 680i SLI / 2X1GB Ballistix DDR2 1066 - 3.2GHz (33%)
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme CPU cooler, Enermax 600 watt PSU, Vista Business 32 bit
3.2GHz is all I can get out of this motherboard.


Q6600 G0 / D975XBX2 / 2X2GB G.Skill DDR2 1000 - 3.24GHz (35%)
Will take this one up a notch or two as soon as I'm able to buy a better CPU cooler and power supply. Currently using a PSU that I robbed from an old Dell computer and a Zalman 9700 CPU cooler. Server 2008 64 bit


Q6700 / D975XBX2 / 2X2GB G.Skill DDR2 1000 - 3.6GHz (35%)
TRUE CPU cooler / Antec SpotCool blowing on memory / PC P&C Silencer 750
Vista Ultimate 64 bit

QX6700 / D975XBX2 / 2X1GB + 2X512MB Ballistix DDR2 1000 - 3.5GHz (31%)
TRUE CPU cooler / Antec SpotCool blowing on memory / PC P&C Silencer 750
I can run this one at 3.6GHz but it gets hotter than I prefer for running 24/7.
XP Pro 32 bit

 

[Not Bman]

I agree David, I don't think it was the overclocking. I actually don't think it's the heat either. The card originally was very high, 100's and such. Now at the highest it is around 70 (not including full running). Yes I know the card could be lower in temps and might help many things, but I don't think it's causing these problems.

My system should be able to be overclocking (video,cpu,ram) without a hitch. I believe if it is possible that my 550 PSU along with everything else that could cause this problem is what is causing it. If I get my 880W PSU I don't think I will have a problem. But, there is no way to test that.

Just to update my specs, currently...

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 running at 2.4Ghz
EVGA 780i SLI Motherboard
Nvidia Geforce 8800GT 512MB OC - small fan
4GB Dual Channel OCZ 8500 1066MHz RAM - running at 1066
2x 500GB SATA2 WD Hard Drives
550W PSU & Cooler Master Elite Midtower Case

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

You could try pursuing having the video card replaced under warranty. You don't want to mod it (by adding a different heatsink and/or fan to it) and then try to have it replaced under warranty.

 

[Not Bman]

Well that would be a last step, since I need my computer and don't have another videocard to use.

Seems to be doing it quite often again, at least the last 2 times. Starting to REALLY make no sense to me. How can it go for so long without issues and then start up again...wtf

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

I understand. It's frustrating these almost randomly reproduceable issues. I've had experience with some of them; just not the exact same one you're going through now.

 

[Temperal]

Haven't used it in a while but what about a program like Speedfan to check voltages? I'm not sure what the new standard is but back a couple of years ago speedfan was a good program to diagnose psu problems.

 

[Not Bman]

I can see voltages with Everest, but they don't say much to me?

 

[Not Bman]

Still confuses me.

I have only seen this happen during video, and not just one player all players and items.

I have played and ran high end videogames for 3 hours or more straight, without a single problem.

So how can it only be random times when watching videos. Weirdest problem I have ever came across.