PC Fan advice

[El Moose Monstero]

Ok, heres the situation - occassionally, once a week on average, my computer will slow and eventually stop, requiring a reset, it used to do it all the time, but I changed something and it stopped (cant remember what it was, think I changed drivers, anyway...) I think the problem is heat, its the only thing I can think of -

I have

ASUS S7333 motherboard
1.2 GHZ Duron
64 MB Geforce 4
128 MB DDR ram
56 CDRW
Generic 56K Modem
Ethernet Network Card
Hauppage WinTV card

The motherboard has a fan on, but the casing has no fans on it at all, only a couple of vents, the CPU runs at a constant 49 degrees and the motherboard at 37 - Should I upgrade the casing to include one with a couple of fans in it?

[Shinova]

Looking at your temperature ratings, I don't think it's a cooling problem.

My cpu sometimes runs into the 55+ celsius range and it never slows down or resets or whatever. I do have one case fan though.



But anyway, I don't think it's a cooling problem.

[phongn]

What operating system are you running?

[El Moose Monstero]

XP. It used to do it all the time, I couldnt go an hour without it happening, someone said it was to do with the Geforce and the Athlon taking too much power on my old 200W supply, but I bought a 550W and replaced it, so thats not the problem any more - if it ever was...

[Thunderfire]

128 MB is nothing. You need atleast 256 MB otherwise swapping will
slow down your comp alot.

[phongn]

Something is seriously wrong and it's unlikely to be heat.

Run Memtest86

[Coaan]

Ok, heres the situation - occassionally, once a week on average, my computer will slow and eventually stop, requiring a reset, it used to do it all the time, but I changed something and it stopped (cant remember what it was, think I changed drivers, anyway...) I think the problem is heat, its the only thing I can think of -

I have

ASUS S7333 motherboard
1.2 GHZ Duron
64 MB Geforce 4
128 MB DDR ram
56 CDRW
Generic 56K Modem
Ethernet Network Card
Hauppage WinTV card

The motherboard has a fan on, but the casing has no fans on it at all, only a couple of vents, the CPU runs at a constant 49 degrees and the motherboard at 37 - Should I upgrade the casing to include one with a couple of fans in it?

Usually processors these days can function quite happily at a temperature of about 60-75 before they start to overheat...in some extreme cases...it's taken a thunderbird to get to 90 before it started to melt...heat really isn't a problem there....it'll most likely be another problem.

To be reassured, you could check the temperature cut off on your motherboard in the bios if you aren't satisfied about the temp.

You will need a shit load more memory though....iirc 128 is the bare minimum to have xp run as it should...

Any extra cooling certainly couldn't hurt though

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Ok, heres the situation - occassionally, once a week on average, my computer will slow and eventually stop, requiring a reset, it used to do it all the time, but I changed something and it stopped (cant remember what it was, think I changed drivers, anyway...) I think the problem is heat, its the only thing I can think of -

I have

ASUS S7333 motherboard
1.2 GHZ Duron
64 MB Geforce 4
128 MB DDR ram
56 CDRW
Generic 56K Modem
Ethernet Network Card
Hauppage WinTV card

The motherboard has a fan on, but the casing has no fans on it at all, only a couple of vents, the CPU runs at a constant 49 degrees and the motherboard at 37 - Should I upgrade the casing to include one with a couple of fans in it?

For an AMD chip that old, you're running cool as a cucumber. Heat isn't your problem. What OS are you running? If you're running Win 98SE or Win ME, then go out onto Google and look for a package called "Rambooster." Both of those OSes have memory leaks in them the size of a small continent. Occasionally cleaning out your RAM will improve system reliability.

You should also really consider upgrading to 512 MB of RAM. RAM is cheap.