Odd computer problem

tberry6686

I meant to update this thread a few months ago with the solution (not sure if it correct but it has fixed the problem).

I changed out the PSU for a 1000w corsair but still had the same problem. Removed the RAM chips and tested with only 2 at a time (changing them around so that it was never the same 2 chips in the 2 banks at a time) with no improvement. My next thought was CPU cooling so downloaded and ran a temperature monitoring program and the CPU was running a bit hot for my liking (can't remember the actual temps) so decided to upgrade the cooling to a Zalman liquid cooler. Result is that since then the computer has been rock solid so I suspect it was a temperature issue with the CPU.

poppellerant

I would question what is labouring your CPU so much that it overheats. I would be also be questioning if you are installing the CPU fan correctly.

I can labour my PC in this heat for hours at a time and it won't overheat or crash. I'd be surprised if my temperatures went about 60c, let alone 50c, when loaded. My point is that you shouldn't need liquid cooling solutions. If you have a decent amount of heatsink with a big 92mm fan blowing across it (which is what I have), the CPU should never overheat.

Ben84

I'm inclined to agree with poppellerant, liquid cooling is rather exotic and not really needed by the majority of computer users. I would still recommend a high quality heat sink and fan, they tend to be quieter and I like keeping an expensive CPU a bit cooler to be sure, but even a plain OEM heat sink and fan should work ok. They're designed by engineers to do their job. What does seem to cause problems over time however is the thermal paste. Even in expensive, otherwise well built computers, I've seen it fail after a few years, so perhaps that was the source of the problem? My computer started overheating at about three years old, and after eliminating other possibilities (broken fans, dust build up), I cleaned and re-pasted the original heat sink and fan on the CPU, and it fixed everything.