PC Overheating - Keep your PC cool!
Overheating can cause a multitude of PC problems, from hardware failures, crashes and general PC slowdown. Absolutely everybody should be concerned with this issue, from new PC owners to the tech savvy.
Why does overheating occur?
The are many causes to overheating, including:
1) Dust! PC's are like vacuum cleaners. In order to keep a PC cool, the heat must be extracted from the back of the PC. Many PC's have intake fans at the front of the PC which bring in cool air. Even without an intake fan, the cool air must be pulled in from somewhere, from air vents or even the cracks that hold the cover of the PC in place. These vents and fans can often be clogged up with dust, preventing the hot air from escaping.
2) Fan Failure. Fan failure can also be caused by dust, causing the fan to seize, however, as with all moving parts, a fan will eventually fail. All PC's will have fans placed on components which become extremely hot, such as your CPU (Central Processing Unit) and with high performance graphics cards, a fan for your GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). Without these fans, these processors will heat up at an alarming rate. Many have the ability to "throttleback" and reduce it's processing "clock" speed accordingly. Many do not, and you will start having PC slowdown, PC crashes and restarts and eventually the unit will burn out.
3) Overclocking. Many people decide to overclock their PC's and push their PC's beyond their limits for the sake of milliseconds faster response time. It is important to make sure that your temperatures before and after overclocking are well below the maximum temperature thresholds, otherwise overclocking can have the opposite affect.
How do I check my temperatures?
Your PC as a multitude of temperature sensors, so all you need is software that will help you check them. All of these tools are completely free. Speedfan is the most popular http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php for all round temperature and fan speed.
- HDD Temperature
The possibility of a crash of your HDD doubles at 40°c and quadruples at 55°c!
- GPU Temperature
Temperature of an NVidia card should ideally be below 60°c, but is ok up to 70°c. Your chances of a GPU crash dramatically increases after 70°c.
ATI graphics cards have their own temperature checking tool which can be downloaded from here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/ntune_5.00.11.06.html
- CPU Temperature
Maximum CPU temperatures range between 62°c and 100°c depending on the type of CPU.
My PC it too hot, what do I do?
First of all, don't be scared to open up your PC and give it a good clean. With most PC's, there is normally only 4 screws at the back holding it in place, with others, just two latches either side.
Where you find dust, use a non metallic brush or even better, and air duster. Look particular at areas of the PC's that look like vents, fans or heatsinks.
Where you PC is situated can also affect the amount of dust that your PC accumulates. For example, a PC which placed on a tiled or laminate floor will pick up much more dust than a PC which is placed on top of your desk.
Make sure that all of your fans are working. Turn your PC on when PC is open and make sure that they are spinning. If you cannot see the fan properly, then place your hand in front of it to see if you can feel the air on your hand.
Make sure that the air in your PC can escape. The air in your PC can often be obstructed by too many wires, make sure that they are tied up and out of the way as much as possible.
If you have a high performance graphics card, make sure that there is not another card placed in the slot directly in front of the fan. There should be a free slot in front of the fan for the hot air to be able to escape properly. You only really need to worry about this if your a gamer, where the GPU temperatures reach their hottest.
Make sure there is adequate cooling in the PC itself. There should be a fan at the back of the PC for the hot air to escape. There should ideally be an intake fan at the front of the PC to bring in cool air.
If you have the cash to spend, water cooling is another option you may wish to think about. Water cooling is effective and quiet.
Worried about noise?
Most modern PC's allow their fans to be regulated by the temperature of your PC. The cooler your PC is, the less speed your fan needs to run at, therefore making your PC quiet.
However, if you don't want any noise in your PC, then their a number of options. The first is water cooling mentioned earlier. Also take a look at this site, which specialise in high quality fans and heatsinks which are designed to keep your PC as cool as possible, whilst maintaining a minimum amount of noise: http://www.quietpc.com/
I have questions?
Sure,
If you have any questions about this particular article, advice or if you would like to know the specific maximum temperature of your particular CPU, then please ask them here.
If you have any new questions, or questions about previous articles, then please feel free to ask.
Why does overheating occur?
The are many causes to overheating, including:
1) Dust! PC's are like vacuum cleaners. In order to keep a PC cool, the heat must be extracted from the back of the PC. Many PC's have intake fans at the front of the PC which bring in cool air. Even without an intake fan, the cool air must be pulled in from somewhere, from air vents or even the cracks that hold the cover of the PC in place. These vents and fans can often be clogged up with dust, preventing the hot air from escaping.
2) Fan Failure. Fan failure can also be caused by dust, causing the fan to seize, however, as with all moving parts, a fan will eventually fail. All PC's will have fans placed on components which become extremely hot, such as your CPU (Central Processing Unit) and with high performance graphics cards, a fan for your GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). Without these fans, these processors will heat up at an alarming rate. Many have the ability to "throttleback" and reduce it's processing "clock" speed accordingly. Many do not, and you will start having PC slowdown, PC crashes and restarts and eventually the unit will burn out.
3) Overclocking. Many people decide to overclock their PC's and push their PC's beyond their limits for the sake of milliseconds faster response time. It is important to make sure that your temperatures before and after overclocking are well below the maximum temperature thresholds, otherwise overclocking can have the opposite affect.
How do I check my temperatures?
Your PC as a multitude of temperature sensors, so all you need is software that will help you check them. All of these tools are completely free. Speedfan is the most popular http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php for all round temperature and fan speed.
- HDD Temperature
The possibility of a crash of your HDD doubles at 40°c and quadruples at 55°c!
- GPU Temperature
Temperature of an NVidia card should ideally be below 60°c, but is ok up to 70°c. Your chances of a GPU crash dramatically increases after 70°c.
ATI graphics cards have their own temperature checking tool which can be downloaded from here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/ntune_5.00.11.06.html
- CPU Temperature
Maximum CPU temperatures range between 62°c and 100°c depending on the type of CPU.
My PC it too hot, what do I do?
First of all, don't be scared to open up your PC and give it a good clean. With most PC's, there is normally only 4 screws at the back holding it in place, with others, just two latches either side.
Where you find dust, use a non metallic brush or even better, and air duster. Look particular at areas of the PC's that look like vents, fans or heatsinks.
Where you PC is situated can also affect the amount of dust that your PC accumulates. For example, a PC which placed on a tiled or laminate floor will pick up much more dust than a PC which is placed on top of your desk.
Make sure that all of your fans are working. Turn your PC on when PC is open and make sure that they are spinning. If you cannot see the fan properly, then place your hand in front of it to see if you can feel the air on your hand.
Make sure that the air in your PC can escape. The air in your PC can often be obstructed by too many wires, make sure that they are tied up and out of the way as much as possible.
If you have a high performance graphics card, make sure that there is not another card placed in the slot directly in front of the fan. There should be a free slot in front of the fan for the hot air to be able to escape properly. You only really need to worry about this if your a gamer, where the GPU temperatures reach their hottest.
Make sure there is adequate cooling in the PC itself. There should be a fan at the back of the PC for the hot air to escape. There should ideally be an intake fan at the front of the PC to bring in cool air.
If you have the cash to spend, water cooling is another option you may wish to think about. Water cooling is effective and quiet.
Worried about noise?
Most modern PC's allow their fans to be regulated by the temperature of your PC. The cooler your PC is, the less speed your fan needs to run at, therefore making your PC quiet.
However, if you don't want any noise in your PC, then their a number of options. The first is water cooling mentioned earlier. Also take a look at this site, which specialise in high quality fans and heatsinks which are designed to keep your PC as cool as possible, whilst maintaining a minimum amount of noise: http://www.quietpc.com/
I have questions?
Sure,
If you have any questions about this particular article, advice or if you would like to know the specific maximum temperature of your particular CPU, then please ask them here.
If you have any new questions, or questions about previous articles, then please feel free to ask.
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