Question (Beginner) Overheating PC. What Should I Do? Help/Tips?

[Jebeansprout]

(Hi, I'm pretty new to PC maintenance and have never built a PC before so apologies for any noob moments in advance. )

PC specs I could find -
G6 Fusion 600 X2 - 6 Core AMD Gaming PCCase: G6 Vantage Red (ATX)
Processor (CPU): AMD FX 6300 (6x 3.50GHz) AM3+
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE - AM3+, USB 3.0, SATA3 (ATX)
Memory (RAM): 8gb Kingston DDR3 1600mhz
Graphics (1): 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti - DVI, HDMI, DP, 3D
1st Hard Drive: 500gb SATA3 Hard Drive (UDMA600)
Power Supply: 500w Aerocool Integrator
Processor Cooling: Standard CPU Cooler
PCI-E Slot 1: None
PCI SLot 1: None
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Edit: I should note I don't overclock my PC)
I bought a gaming PC pre-built 4 years ago but it's now overheating up to 80C when playing games and shuts down. Even on idle it can sit at 50C - 60C.
I downloaded SpeedFan and noticed it's the core over-heating. When I opened my PC to clean it previously, I took the heatsink out and put it back in but didn't know about thermal paste at the time (I'm that new lmao). Here's the heatsink I have now for reference: (At the moment it has no paste on it)
https://www.amazon.com/DK8-7G52C-A1-GP-Socket-1207-Aluminum-Heat/dp/B00BFZSB3W

So some very noob questions I have are:

• Do you think thermal paste on the heatsink will be the solution?
• Would replacing the heatsink w/ paste be a better idea? How do I know which cooler/heatsink will fit and be best for my PC?
• What is the difference between a heatsink and a cooler? Can I use any?
• Are there any general tips on what you should know as a beginner before buying new components or opening up the PC?

Thanks to anyone who's read this. I can see I must look like an absolute goon but, I s'pose you've got to get the stupid questions out of the way.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

The board has no heatsinks on the VRM , probably will continue to overheat.

 

[Jebeansprout]

The board has no heatsinks on the VRM , probably will continue to overheat.

Ey thanks for replying. When you say VRM do you mean these?
http://prntscr.com/nig63l

I could try looking towards buying VRM heatsinks if that's the case

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Those are the vrms. Generally, if the Vrms don't have a heatsync, they aren't meant for a power hungry CPU like a 6300. Don't bother with vrm heatsyncs. You can't just add those after the fact.
My first step would be to apply the new thermal paste for the CPU. Something like this would work. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

 

[aldan]

agree,reinstall thermal paste.also check that your cpu cooler fans are working.as long as you arent overclocking you dont need a motherboard with heatsinks on the vrms.the 6300 isnt all that power hungry either.

 

[iMatty]

Add some case fans for extra airflow

 

[Jebeansprout]

Those are the vrms. Generally, if the Vrms don't have a heatsync, they aren't meant for a power hungry CPU like a 6300. Don't bother with vrm heatsyncs. You can't just add those after the fact.
My first step would be to apply the new thermal paste for the CPU. Something like this would work. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

agree,reinstall thermal paste.also check that your cpu cooler fans are working.as long as you arent overclocking you dont need a motherboard with heatsinks on the vrms.the 6300 isnt all that power hungry either.

Aah I see, this is good to know thank you. I'll focus on getting the paste and will give an update on how things go.
I've not been delving into overclocking so it's good to know I won't need heatsinks for the vrms

Add some case fans for extra airflow

Hmm, at the moment my case has 4 fans (1 in the front, 2 on the side, 1 at the back). If the paste doesn't seem to help things I'll try looking into the fans more. Ty for tip!

 

[rubix_1011]

Those are the vrms. Generally, if the Vrms don't have a heatsync, they aren't meant for a power hungry CPU like a 6300. Don't bother with vrm heatsyncs. You can't just add those after the fact.

Sure you can. https://modmymods.com/air-cooling/ram-vrm-heatsinks.html

These are available on nearly every PC parts or customization site...in a variety of different colors, sizes and mounting methods. Most are thermal tape adhesive, though.

 

[DavidM012]

The aerocool integrator has a 13% doa/failure rate (and counting) on amazon alone. I had a 850w fail after 3 weeks the fuse in the plug blew so at the first sign of trouble I removed it from my pc and switched it on and it popped with a flash and a bang (rather than replace the fuse and keep trying to switch the pc on) luckily I was able to get a refund on it so now I'm gonna have to pay uk prices for a seasonic or antec 650w.

If you overclock with the integrator I'd be looking at it dying fairly quickly along with the board that has no vrms where were you reading you don't need vrm heatsinks take a look at the specs of something like the 990fx sabertooth if it weren't needed why did Asus go to the trouble of military grade Ceram!x tuf heatsinks on the vrm, north bridge and south bridge? The heat sink (or cooler) on that board is one chunky unit connected by a heatpipe that covers about 25% of the area around the cpu socket.

That is not the same thing as the CPU cooler. You might be able to work around the lack of vrm heatsink by employing a chunky aftermarket CPU cooler like the scythe fuma rev b or the noctua nh-d15 but that only takes care of heat. There is also voltage to consider. Boards like the sabertooth(990fx) and some 970fx chipset boards have more power phases to distribute the load over the vrms so that each single one does less work. A large cooler & the 4 phases on your board can't compensate for the additional voltage. I'd be looking at those frying if overclocking cpu in any case.

So far psu & mobo predicted dead dunno what else might go down with the ship and that psu might take down the entire system anyway without any overclock bottom line, you're taking risks without a clue and your luck is about to run out.

If you replace PSU with a decent one (doesn't have to be an expensive 650 quality one only a slightly less expensive 500w quality one) AND add some dinky vrm heat sinks along with then your system will probably live a bit longer and it will solve your current problem of overheating (low quality psu still at risk of spontaneously frying) but it still won't enable you to safely overclock the cpu.

Something like the antec earthwatts 650w has a 7 year warranty so for about $10 a year to power your pc safely isn't all that a terrible a price to pay, when you think about it for a moment. vs. cheap psu taking out board, gpu, drives, ram and possibly cpu when it goes.

Besides which you can easily transfer a new quality psu to a new build when you upgrade in the next few years. The 6300 is power hungry when overclocked it will start to pull similar watts to an 8350 it would be highly surprising if the system didn't become unstable.

So buying vrm heat sinks would be a pointless waste of money since you can't overclock and won't be able to use them on anything else later. A large cpu cooler would mitigate things at default clock speed and that's the limit of what you should be trying to do, just solve the current problem don't add any more load to the system.

A straw will break the camel's back.

 

[Jebeansprout]

Ey folks sorry for the lul in response, thank you all for your answers!

A friend told me to download TechPowerGPU-Z to test the GPU temps and get a log from it while I'm playing a game. The GPU got to 60C before shutting down, so we ruled the GPU out for now.

Next step was to test the CPU, so I downloaded Prime95 to do a stress test and Core Temp to record the temp log. The PC shut down only a couple minutes into the stress test at 87C 😨, so we concluded the CPU was the problem; or at-least... 1 problem.

So I think applying paste is definitely the first step even if it's a small one. I'll do the stress test again after the paste to check for any improvements. If there's still problems, I'll look to replacing the cooler altogether and see where we can go from there. I know PSU was mentioned, but I've seen ways to test that include sticking paper-clips into live wires and I don't quite want to jump into stuff like that unless every other option has been exhausted

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Yea 87c on an FX is a bad thing. I would reapply paste and maybe get a new cooler. You could buy a Hyper 212 or the even cheaper Hyper T2.

 

[Jebeansprout]

Sure you can. https://modmymods.com/air-cooling/ram-vrm-heatsinks.html

These are available on nearly every PC parts or customization site...in a variety of different colors, sizes and mounting methods. Most are thermal tape adhesive, though.

Ooo interesting differing opinions here. Atm I definitely know there's a problem with the CPU temp so I'll focus on the cooler/paste for now but ty for this info it's good to keep in mind.

The aerocool integrator has a 13% doa/failure rate (and counting) on amazon alone. I had a 850w fail after 3 weeks the fuse in the plug blew so at the first sign of trouble I removed it from my pc and switched it on and it popped with a flash and a bang (rather than replace the fuse and keep trying to switch the pc on) luckily I was able to get a refund on it so now I'm gonna have to pay uk prices for a seasonic or antec 650w.

If you overclock with the integrator I'd be looking at it dying fairly quickly along with the board that has no vrms where were you reading you don't need vrm heatsinks take a look at the specs of something like the 990fx sabertooth if it weren't needed why did Asus go to the trouble of military grade Ceram!x tuf heatsinks on the vrm, north bridge and south bridge? The heat sink (or cooler) on that board is one chunky unit connected by a heatpipe that covers about 25% of the area around the cpu socket.

That is not the same thing as the CPU cooler. You might be able to work around the lack of vrm heatsink by employing a chunky aftermarket CPU cooler like the scythe fuma rev b or the noctua nh-d15 but that only takes care of heat. There is also voltage to consider. Boards like the sabertooth(990fx) and some 970fx chipset boards have more power phases to distribute the load over the vrms so that each single one does less work. A large cooler & the 4 phases on your board can't compensate for the additional voltage. I'd be looking at those frying if overclocking cpu in any case.

So far psu & mobo predicted dead dunno what else might go down with the ship and that psu might take down the entire system anyway without any overclock bottom line, you're taking risks without a clue and your luck is about to run out.

If you replace PSU with a decent one (doesn't have to be an expensive 650 quality one only a slightly less expensive 500w quality one) AND add some dinky vrm heat sinks along with then your system will probably live a bit longer and it will solve your current problem of overheating (low quality psu still at risk of spontaneously frying) but it still won't enable you to safely overclock the cpu.

Something like the antec earthwatts 650w has a 7 year warranty so for about $10 a year to power your pc safely isn't all that a terrible a price to pay, when you think about it for a moment. vs. cheap psu taking out board, gpu, drives, ram and possibly cpu when it goes.

Besides which you can easily transfer a new quality psu to a new build when you upgrade in the next few years. The 6300 is power hungry when overclocked it will start to pull similar watts to an 8350 it would be highly surprising if the system didn't become unstable.

So buying vrm heat sinks would be a pointless waste of money since you can't overclock and won't be able to use them on anything else later. A large cpu cooler would mitigate things at default clock speed and that's the limit of what you should be trying to do, just solve the current problem don't add any more load to the system.

A straw will break the camel's back.

Jesus! Had no idea about the integrators' failure rate. I must've been pretty lucky to have it running for 4 years.
I've had a look at ways to test whether your PSU's working, and found the 'paper-clip method' seems to be a thing but... I'd best stay way from paper-clips and live wires for the time being until I've exhausted all options haha. Ah also I haven't been over-clocking at all, doesn't seem like a good idea for a beginner to mess with.

After some testing with help from a friend, we've figured out the CPU is definitely the source of overheating so we're focusing on the paste and possibly new cooler (ty for cooler recommendations btw). Voltage is something new I'm learning about so ty for mentioning it. Looking into buying and installing a new PSU and motherboard does sound quite intimidating atm, but if the cooler doesn't fix this then I'll definitely look into what you've mentioned. All in all ty for the response!

Yea 87c on an FX is a bad thing. I would reapply paste and maybe get a new cooler. You could buy a Hyper 212 or the even cheaper Hyper T2.

Aye definitely, I think my friend said the max temp FX can handle 70C. Ty for re-affirming what step to take next and the cooler suggestions!

 

[DavidM012]

Right now the answer isn't to keep stressing the system it's to reduce the load on it. I assume you're talking about it hitting 87c at default clock speed. It's also possible that the fan being 4 years old is on the way out. You should be kind of trying to add more air flow over the cpu cooler (heat sink). Dunno how 'don't add any more load' translates to 'stress it with prime 95'. I'm scared. When I first got my fx I was all over how to reduce temps to the point where I've got it to idle perfectly (2%, no more than 10c above ambient), even when overclocked. I researched the mobo & built a custom cooler for it. At the time I had about a dozen other fans from previous builds lying around and attaching all of them to my system was just about enough to do an overclock.

In your case no amount of cooling will improve the quality of the psu or vrms on the board. It's gonna die.

If you feel inclined to try and operate the system in it's current state I would go into the bios and switch off 2 cores until you've sorted out the cooler.

This isn't noob it's noob from beyond the galaxy. Get me wrong but I thought 'psu' flash bang and death was scary enough to kind of take some remedial action immediately.

 

[Jebeansprout]

Right now the answer isn't to keep stressing the system it's to reduce the load on it. I assume you're talking about it hitting 87c at default clock speed. It's also possible that the fan being 4 years old is on the way out. You should be kind of trying to add more air flow over the cpu cooler (heat sink). Dunno how 'don't add any more load' translates to 'stress it with prime 95'. I'm scared. When I first got my fx I was all over how to reduce temps to the point where I've got it to idle perfectly (2%, no more than 10c above ambient), even when overclocked. I researched the mobo & built a custom cooler for it.

I s'pose my friend saw stressing the system not as a fix, but as a one-off test to give us a log in Core Temp which will determine whether or not the CPU is a problem. Now that we have the log and know the CPU is a problem, we can look towards options of airflow, reducing load, applying paste etc. Stressing the system won't be a regular thing so no worries. At the time, I hadn't yet read your reduce the load comment, so that answers that mystery. Don't be scurred man you're makin me scared

But yea ty for mentioning airflow as-well as reducing the load I'll definitely look into that. This is the current case I'm using + fans.
The reviews say there's no room to fit more fans, and... it looks like a new cooler won't fit. Hmm...

Also 10c above ambient is great, I can tell you've done that because you've put in the research and time. At the moment I'm very new to all of this, never built a PC, never replaced parts so I appreciate everyone's patience even through the fear (lmao).

 

[DavidM012]

Well I've never seen an fx at 87c on default clock speeds even with the stock cooler so it's probably down to the vrms on the board as the first responder says. There's been a fair bit of chatter on the boards (in the past) about fx chipset boards that don't have vrm heat sinks being unstable with a lot of gpus so it's basically an anomaly. I don't get any problems on my sabertooth 990fx, that's all I know, and I've seen a few gigabyte 990fx boards fall by the wayside.

As far as the psu (and mobo) is concerned sometimes the budget option isn't the economical one when they don't work properly or fail. It's the first time for me buying a quality psu now after my aerocool integrator blew up, I got by because I was only running low end systems, but the world for psu's went wooly when multi core cpu's were introduced. And when 100watt+ tdp gpus were introduced.

Now is also a really bad time to have a problem with the fx platform since the cost of the replacement parts is often much of the way towards a new build. So it's like, fix it cheap as you can, and buy parts you can re-use on a new build. So a decent psu & cooler are re-usable.

Replacing the mobo with a 990fx wouldn't be economical compared to an upgrade to ryzen.

 

[aldan]

ok,lets go back to the beginning.i take it that the overheating problem is recent?that rule out vrms with no heatsinks for sure,and unless you have case fans that have quit working that leaves that out as well.a 6300 is far from power hungry by the way.as was suggested reapply the thermal paste on your cpu.

 

[DavidM012]

One they discussed earlier suggests a power consumption of between 148-227watts when stressed with prime 95.

This article (which is only one among many) says Tomb Raider at 1080p Ultimate settings 4xSSAO pulled 400watts. On their overclock.

No way does the aerocool integrator live to tell the tale.

The one thing you could do immediately is switch off 2 cores in the bios and treat the 6300 as a 4300 and see if the problem stabilizes any, next to replacing the fan.

If you need to replace the fan a good replacement is the AAB Cooling Super Silent Fan you can get 3 for £8.99 or 1 for £4.99 what's nice about it is you can run it at full speed all the time without any noise. It will do something for your heatsink & cpu cooling and it fits 2.75inches is 70mm. That is about the extent of what you can do cheaply.

Replace cooler and psu with more quality ones can be ported to a new build later on. Replace mobo cannot. If you are considering that might as well get a new ryzen cpu board and ram. Entry level ones will perform better than your current system but won't be the top performers or most upgradable in the ryzen ecosystem.