A pc I assembled myself is randomly dying
 

It just goes blank like someone pulled the power cord.

Would you guess it is from heat?

The first time it happened I turned it right back on and it happened again. I took the side panel off and waited. It didnt happen again for a few weeks. Then it didnt happen again for a few months and I noticed the side panel I had taken off was leaning against it almost closing it. I just got some heat monitoring software- I just wanted to know if you thought I was on the right track because I had been told in the past that taking the side of the case off might lower the overall temperature of the case but changes air flow in a way that causes the really hot components that need cooled to get even hotter. It is a coolermaster case but it has a quad core cpu and a nvidia 8800GTX video card too.

Thoughts?

Well, whats the temps?

http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

I'm using speedfan and right now it says the GPU is 73C, the CPU is 60C, and all the hard drives are between 46 and 53.

Unlike when it shut down this is with the case side completely open and I have not done any heavy processing since I turned it back on. They might have been higher.

i'd say either overheating or lose ram/cpu or drive could make it reboot spontaneously

Thanks! I'll make sure the RAM isn't loose. When you said "drive" did you mean the cable isn't connected well or the drive might be dying? I have a raptor for the system drive. I thought it might decrease the response time for some operations but its size is annoyingly small. Should I replace it?

Could also be a faulty power supply or not enough watts for all your components.

cpu 2 hot or bad ram is the first guess

Are you overclocking it? those seem a bit high for idle temps...

Hope you will fix that

grafix card getting too hot is my first guess.

If the power supply was faulty shouldn't it happen more often? It is 750watts. I have 3 hard drives, 2 optical disk drives, a big ass video card that needs two plugs, and normal crap like the mobo and fans.

This shit was pricey. I certainly don't want to replace the ram if that isn't the case. Any test in mind?


It wasn't exactly idle. I was browsing the web and the side of the case is off (like I said above I read that can lower the overall case temperature but increase the temp of some compnonents). I am not overclocking.


I'm thinking about making sure the ram is tightly in place, putting the side of the case back on, and watching the temp as I do some shit that requires more CPU and graphics. Any other thoughts before I do that?

Thanks to everyone!

"GPU is 73C, the CPU is 60C".

Is this your idle temps?

Sounds like Power Supply to me. I've built quite a few machines, and most problems of this nature usually lead back to the PSu. How many watts is it? Are you trying to run a bunch of extra components and a big 8800gtx on a small PSu? remember that those cards need 2 dedicated 12v rails with nothing else sharing, so your psu should have at least 4x12v rails.

The guy that taught me how to build stressed that above all else, never, ever skimp on power supply.

Also, 60c is pretty hot for idle temps. Mine never gets above 40 under full load.

When I first turned i on and hadn't started browsing the web yet the CPU was 4 degrees lower.


I think I might have found the problem... I have the Zalman 9700 CPU cooler pictured here:
http://www.jail.se/pictures/2007/new...alman_9700.jpg. In the back of the case near the top there is a fan blowing hot air out. The Zalman pretty much lines up with it to blow it all out... I mounted the Zalman backwards. The fan built into the case to blow hot air out probably isn't having an easy time with another fan right in front of it blowing the opposite direction (back into the case). Thoughts?

I read this GPU should be able to handle high 80's no problem and the CPU kicks off in the high 70's. Well, as soon as I started doing something intense the CPU jumped to 75 degrees. With the case shut and the fans blowing in, what seems to be, the wrong direction that would probably get it up a few more degrees don't you think?

Always make sure that the air flows from front to back.

You'll want fans sucking in from the front, and blowing out thru the back. I wouldn't worry about gpu temp that much. They can take a lot usually. Its the CPU you need to worry about.

What kind of thermal paste did you use, and did you follow the directions properly? Applying that stuff is no joke. If you don't follow what's spec'd out, you could have big overheating probs.

Not sure what paste I used but I have never used it on a CPU that wasn't new. What do I do now that I have to remove it and reapply it? Wipe the old stuff off and add new?

I bet your computer is overheated

Thermal paste type really does make a difference. They're not all created equal. Get Arctic Silver or OCZ Freeze(the best).

Use a coffee filter and rubbing alcohol to clean the old gunk off. With Arctic Silver, you put a thin line across the heat spreader on the CPU(google it).

OCZ freeze takes a squirt about the size of a grain of rice.

Don't spread it. You'll create pits and air pockets when it dries. Let the pressure of the fit between the cooler and cpu spread it. Your temps will get cooler as it breaks in over a period of a couple of weeks.

Be sure to go to the paste's website to look at any docs they have on application. It's really important you pay attention to what you're doing. Hope that helps.

Add up all your consumption and compare it to what your power supply is providing.

My thought would be that you should turn the CPU fan the right way. :)

BTW, "browsing the net" isn't going to work your CPU much anyway, compared to something like video encoding where the code is multiple core capable.

When I had a Zalman 9500 cooler and a Q6600 the idle temps were in the low 40s.

went with a cheap power supply huh?

Is it possible something occasionally shorts out?

Not interested in reading much of anything in the thread huh?

What brand/model is the power supply?

Thanks to emil, buyandsell, sagi AFF, smokey, woj, u-bob, RobertD, rowan, justin, and of course bronco67. I turned the fan around the correct way and used Arctic Silver 5 for my thermal paste. It lowered my CPU temperature to 41-43 while doing things that pushed it to 79-81 before. I know turning the fan around helped some because it even lowered the temp of the GPU 8 degrees but Arctic Silver must be the shiznit for a 38C degree drop. Thats about 70F. Only time will tell if that was my problem but I'm feeling pretty confident.

it should get even better over time. It needs to settle in to really perform.