GPU fan gets very loud when playing Skyrim

[FMod]

Vacuums aren't really smart for cleaning a computer. You could accidentally suck out a jumper on the motherboard.

You have to be very careless to do that, actually strike that jumper mechanically. A vacuum cleaner actually develops less pressure than 'canned air' or other blowing cleaners. The good part is that it doesn't cover your home, hair and clothes in that pound of dust, and another is that you can do cleaning through holes and be sure the dust is actually out.

Of course using both an air compressor and a vacuum is best.

[Dubnoman]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I'll have to buy some compressed air (low pressure), and a natural 1/2 inch paint brush.

 

Also, I used HWMonitor. I played Skyrim for a little bit while it was running, and it kept track of the GPU temperature. Oh, btw, the GPU is a Radeon HD 5750 1 GB. I forget which brand. I'll see what it is when I clean the PC. So the max temperature recorded after 45 minutes of playing Skyrim was 63 degrees Celsius, or 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Is that bad? When I stopped playing, I immediately checked the temperatures, and the current temp was in the mid 50s (degrees Celsius).

 

What temp should my CPU be at? I have a Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (Quad core, 3.2 GHz). Neither my CPU or GPU are overclocked.

[FMod]

No, 63C is actually very low. Your card is actually so low-power that you might not bother undervolting.

Rather, after cleaning it, make a better fan curve (slower fan) via MSI Afterburner. Up to 75C is fine, try not to go over 80C, but even that is OK.

[Dubnoman]

It might be my CPU fan that is working harder. Someone wrote this on another message board: "Max operating temp on the Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition is 55°C - 62°C". I played Skyrim and looked at my temps and GPU was fine but the CPU had a max temp of 67 degrees Celsius. So I'll have to clean my CPU fan. That CPU has a fan, right? It must, I would imagine that any higher end CPU has a fan.

[Erik005]

That is high for a CPU and at that temperature the cpu-fan will be on its highest setting so that might be causing the problem.

[FMod]

55C-62C is high?

It's a perfectly fine temperature for any CPU even for partial load.

70C is OK.

80C is high and you should try lowering it below that.

[Erik005]

I am used to Intel and good heat-sinks so my temps never go over 55C :biggrin:

 

The CPU-fan might be going at full speed at that temperature though.

 

Maybe you can set a different fan-profile in the BIOS.

[FMod]

If your temps never go above 55C, you either never tried fully loading it, have faulty sensors or a poorly performing monitoring tool, live in Iceland with your windows open, or keep your CPU at much lower clock than it's capable of and run your fan much louder than necessary.

 

There's no other option, the very best coolers (short of open-loop water systems or chillers) at full speed in professional testing with properly applied thermal grease without a case provide about 70C on a reasonably clocked 3930K CPU, for home systems with high-end coolers 80C is typical without A/C or 75C with A/C.

[Dubnoman]

Okay, I haven't been playing Skyrim for awhile. Turns out the max temp for my CPU is 62 degrees Celsius.

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274612-28-what-safe-core-temperature-phenom-processor-fami

 

I was getting a max temp of 68 degrees Celsius before I stopped playing Skyrim. I don't play any PC games now until I solve this problem. I delayed on cleaning the inside of my PC until this weekend, but I don't know if dust is really causing these high temps.

 

Do you think dust build up could lead to such high temperatures? I think it might be something more than that. The fan isn't as loud as often anymore (for when I was playing Skyrim). I delayed cleaning the inside of my PC since I stopped playing PC games. I monitor temps with HWMonitor. Temps for the CPU while not playing PC games are safe temperatures.

 

This last paragraph has some important questions. What should I do to help my computer? Also, if I need to lower the voltage, I think I can do that (no experience with that, but shouldn't be too hard), but putting in a better cooler or removing paste and putting new paste on it; I have no experience with those things. Should I try to learn to do them on my own, or should I bring my computer to a computer shop? I know they will charge more than they should, but would that be a good idea for someone with no experience on these things? Do you think at a computer shop, they could diagnose my problem? I'd like to solve these problems as soon as possible. Is going to a computer shop a bad idea? Would it just cost too much money?

Edited June 9, 2012 by Dubnoman

[FMod]

68C is fine. If you look carefully, 62C is max Tcase, not Tjunction. These low temperatures are a holdover from the times when they were measured by a sensor on the motherboard, which naturally could only measure the colder processor case. What you are looking at comes from internal sensors which report the real die temperature. As much as 80C is still perfectly safe for it.

 

You don't have a problem. It's about the million-and-first time an Athlon/Phenom owner got worried for nothing, these temps are fine.

 

However you need to take a vacuum and clean the inside of your PC and all its air intakes. An air duster for the heatsink itself and the harder-to-reach parts can help too, both are best. Dust buildup can easily raise the temps by as much as 10C and more.

 

 

Installing a better heatsink is normally a good thing. It can be done at home, pretty easy as long as you do it carefully and after thoroughly cleaning the PC (so that you don't get dust everywhere).

 

edit: But you have the Black Edition, right? They come stock with nice coolers with 4 heatpipes, check if you have one just in case. That cooler is pretty good and doesn't need replacing (except with something expensive and only if you overclock).

Edited June 9, 2012 by FMod