LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited April 2006
That IS a problem! You should only use a very, very thin layer. The intent is to provide an thermal interface only where there is is not a direct metal to metal contact, meaning that you only need to fill in the nearly microscopic imperfections. I don't know what brand of thermal paste you are using. If it's a silver based paste, take a look at Arctic Silver site's excellent application instructions. If you use too much paste, you are insulating the GPU (or CPU) from it's heatsink, trapping the heat in the heat producing component, not allowing it to dissipate.
That'll get most of it off, but you want to make sure that the surface is very clean before you reaply. Rubbing alcohol (and some q-tips or clean, soft cloth) is the way to do this.
Use LCD screen wipes or a baby wipe. Yes...a baby wipe! LCD screen wipes work the best as they have an alchohol solution in them that will help disolve that thermal compound.
Head to best buy and grab some Dynex silver compound for $12 (just as good as anything else for what your gonna be using it for.) then put an amount of paste on the GPU that equals the size of a grain of rice, or half a metal BB. Use a piece of plastic (old credit card) or a CLEAN razor blade and smooth the thermal compound across the top of the GPU.
Also...make sure before you put your GPU fan back on, make sure that you use a lint free cloth or wipe and clean off the botton of the heatsink very well. Make sure you dont use anything that will scratch its surface when you do this, as that will defeat its purpose all together.
I'm not sure if it's new, but my Arctic Silver 5 came with an application tool. It was one of those specially designed things use to spread the paste... BTW, I suggest that you out even a bit less than a rice sized grain, bcause I used less and I covered my whole (CPU) and had to wipe some off, and I haven't had any heat issues since... Actually I've noticed it's been running cooler...
0
LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited April 2006
Rice grain sized dab of AS5 is enough for a CPU. A GPU, as you said, needs even less.
ok
i got arctic silver cost me $10 god damn lol
im about to do it,
wish me luck
0
LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited April 2006
Wish you luck? You don't need luck. I have confidence you will perform the operation without problem. The temptation will be to use too much. Trust us, you only need a paper thin layer. Let us know how it goes.
ok,
its done and last night i kept playing games all fine =D
so i THINK it worked, however, being a negitive guy i think maybe cause the air tempreture right now in sydney australia is really cold so it maybe a contributing factor,
the chip had heaps of silver grease on it! even the green area around the actual chip and i cleaned it as best i could then i put a tiny grain of rice size and spread it over the chip only, and yea,
dont close this topic just yet cause its still in ites testing stages =)
thanks for you guys help so far!! and in the future possbily!
be back soon to give updates on how its going
0
LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited April 2006
air tempreture right now in sydney australia is really cold
Obviously, your definition of "cold" and mine are continents apart.
thanks for you guys help so far!!
Your success is our success. Thank you for the feedback. Your assignment is to stay here, learn more, and help others when you can. Fair enough?
It does look like you've fixed the problem. Before warm weather returns, take the opportunity to explore the airflow within and outside your computer case:
- intake and exhaust volumes are approximately the same?
- case is positioned so that cool air reaches it, and so that exhaust air does not linger around the case?
- cool air entering the case does not bypass the CPU fan and northbridge heatsink?
If you adequately address those questions, your computer's cooling should not be a problem in the future.
yea
!!!
its really good
no stuff ups at all and the general tempreture of the graphics card is much lower than previously,
and even when it reaches around 75 it never goes higher than 76 and doesnt crash!!
sooo gd
im gnna start playing more games now
haha
thanks for all u guys help
looks like i spoke too soon,
my comp just frooze while playing game=(
today or right now isnt as cold as the past few days aswell!
ive noticed something,
sometimes th e entire computer freezes and i have to press reset automatically from my tower,
othertimes,
it restarts itself but when its in the dos loading thing, it stays there then i gotta reset anyway
i just made some alterations to my fans, the one above the video card was around 10 cm above, and now its about 5 hopefully it will bring relief !
something else ive noticed,
since i fixed teh grease thing, i notice this,
whenever i play games, i alt tab alot to check other things and when i go back in the game around 10 seconds in the monitor will go on standby for about 1 second and automatically go back to normal,
since i fixed the thing this doesnt occour anymore
I have a feeling that this could be power related, and not thermal based on everything you've tried so far. Could you provide some information on your power supply?
Also, if you don't already have it installed, please install a temperature/voltage monitoring application (like MBM5 or asus pc probe if you have an asus). Let us know what your +5, +12 and +3.3V rails are reading.
Wow, looks like my suspicions were correct. Those powersupply rails are far too low. The 5V and 3.3V rails are well below the ATX specification of +/- 5%. I would purchase a new power supply immediatly.
I'd suggest a name brand such as Antec, Enermax, OCZ, Superflower etc. I can almost guarantee your issues will go away with a new PSU.
You should verify those readings with a multimeter if you have one just to be 100% sure. If you have another PSU you can swap as well, that would be a good test.
umm
seriously have no idea what ur trying to say apart from get a new one
my computer knowledge isnt that good,
how much is a new power thing?
another thing::
my video card is radeon 9800
NOT PRO
it was o'/c'd to pro but its not and ive put it back to normal
Bottom line is that you need a new power supply. They are not overly expensive. A quality PSU will cost you about $50-60. I'd recommend something like the Antec Truepower II 380. It should do the job nicely for you. Don't pay attention to the 'wattage rating' as there is much more to a power supply than just the overall wattage. If you dont mind spending a bit more, I can recommend some much better models for you.
if you wouldnt mind could u goto ebay.com.au and find one for me? and just link me??
also,
how sure are you this is the problem?
when i made the comp about 1.5 years ago, it was fine and it was in the winter aswell and then when summer came the problems started and now its the begining of autum coming to winter,
gives u kinda background to the tempreture
if you wouldnt mind could u goto ebay.com.au and find one for me? and just link me??
also,
how sure are you this is the problem?
when i made the comp about 1.5 years ago, it was fine and it was in the winter aswell and then when summer came the problems started and now its the begining of autum coming to winter,
gives u kinda background to the tempreture
I'm pretty confident it is the power supply. Based on those voltages you posted earlier, it appears your power supply is either on it's way out, or defective.
A properly functioning power supply should have voltages within the following range:
+12V = 12.6 max, 11.4 min
+5V = 5.25 max, 4.75 min
+3.3V = 3.47 max, 3.13 min
It appears that your +5V and +3.3V rails are well below the minimum specification at 4.19 and 2.23 respectively. Could you verify those for me? Did you mean 3.23 for the +3.3? or is it really 2.23?
The only way to be 100% sure if those readings are accurate is to use something called a multimeter. I wouldn't recommend poking around with one if you are not too comfortable working with computer hardware. You can check out some instructions here: http://www.ochardware.com/articles/psuvolt/psuvolt2.html that may help. Dont worry about testing the 3.3 as it can be tricky to do. If the 5V is really that low, that is enough of an indication to replace the power supply. If you are not comfortable doing this, you could bring it to a computer repair shop, and they could do it for you.
It could be possible that it is a thermal issue, but warmer temperatures will probably also have an impact on your power supply. It may not be as bad when cold, and slowly get worse as the temperature increases. I believe CBDroge here on the forums had a very similar problem which turned out to be power supply related as well.
Just so that we can recommend a suitable power supply, could you provide your full system specifications?
0
LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited April 2006
I think your computer had/has two problems. One problem was heat buildup with the video card. We seem to have fixed that - the computer problems lessened, but did not go away. The other problem, which did not manifest itself in cooler weather apparently, was sub-par voltages from the power supply unit. It could be that cooler room temperatures when you built your computer masked the PSU problem, and now that it is warmer, the symptoms are revealed. Electronics can be that way, in that increased heat in combination with undervoltage causes instability. It could also be your PSU's performance has degraded, previously having had better voltage "rails".
The brands that were mentioned above are good. Just look for those brands, minimum rating of around 400 Watts. To be honest, the voltages you listed above are really very bad. It's either a very poor quality PSU or it's failing prematurely.
Why don't you scan EBay Austrailia for those brands we listed, and also for others. Open a new thread in Case Physics, and provide links for what you've found. We'll be happy to comment.
ok umm..
according to cpu.z i have the following,
processor :
P4
codename : northwood
2.60ghz
mother board is 8Ik1100 gigabyte technology
DDR 512 ram
the rest are a bunch of numbers
if u guys want that ill list them but yea they constnatly change some of them..
if i were to sell this comp? how much u think i can get??
after i fix this problem??
and how long till that new windows is coming out? i think ill get a new comp then
0
LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited April 2006
I have no idea what the used computer/computer components market is like in Australia. If I were you, I'd look at Ebay and try find comparable PCs for sale and see what they go for. Also check out Australian tech forums' trading areas.
reading back on this forum , i noticed someone said use a lint free cloth, sorry i didnt i used q tips and cotton balls
the green part of the chip thing had heaps on it and its all gone
however there were tiny metal things which were part of the card thing and they had some stuck inbetween i got like 99.99% of it away
i doubt its a problem as weve seen great improvements in tempretures
AND
when i alt tab during games the monitor sleeps for a few seconds again and comes back
LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited April 2006
I really, really doubt it. I've never heard of that brand. That doesn't make it bad, it just doesn't seem like a quality unit. The seller doesn't even post the data from the power rating label. That's not a good sign. Do an Internet search and see what comes up for "Juster."
If an ad has to brag that it has a P4 connector, that's like a used car salesman telling you the vehicle for sale has tires that don't leak. Oh, wow....
Also, the wires look very narrow gauge - probably ultra cheap quality. There is no on/off toggle switch - another sign of bottom of the barrel quality.
Do an eBay Aus. search for Antec, OCZ, Fortron, Superflower, and Enermax.
the other brands couldnt find anything really that seemed promising and in terms of PSU
im gonna check out local computer stoers aswell for those brands,
is there anytrhing else i should know
eg wattage, compatability etc
specifications if possible!
Comments
Second posting: good, clear instructions are here
let me stress that again.
MAKE SURE YOU USE A LINT FREE CLOTH!!!
Use LCD screen wipes or a baby wipe. Yes...a baby wipe! LCD screen wipes work the best as they have an alchohol solution in them that will help disolve that thermal compound.
Head to best buy and grab some Dynex silver compound for $12 (just as good as anything else for what your gonna be using it for.) then put an amount of paste on the GPU that equals the size of a grain of rice, or half a metal BB. Use a piece of plastic (old credit card) or a CLEAN razor blade and smooth the thermal compound across the top of the GPU.
Also...make sure before you put your GPU fan back on, make sure that you use a lint free cloth or wipe and clean off the botton of the heatsink very well. Make sure you dont use anything that will scratch its surface when you do this, as that will defeat its purpose all together.
Your cards should be nice and cool after this =)
i got arctic silver cost me $10 god damn lol
im about to do it,
wish me luck
its done and last night i kept playing games all fine =D
so i THINK it worked, however, being a negitive guy i think maybe cause the air tempreture right now in sydney australia is really cold so it maybe a contributing factor,
the chip had heaps of silver grease on it! even the green area around the actual chip and i cleaned it as best i could then i put a tiny grain of rice size and spread it over the chip only, and yea,
dont close this topic just yet cause its still in ites testing stages =)
thanks for you guys help so far!! and in the future possbily!
be back soon to give updates on how its going
It does look like you've fixed the problem. Before warm weather returns, take the opportunity to explore the airflow within and outside your computer case:
- intake and exhaust volumes are approximately the same?
- case is positioned so that cool air reaches it, and so that exhaust air does not linger around the case?
- cool air entering the case does not bypass the CPU fan and northbridge heatsink?
If you adequately address those questions, your computer's cooling should not be a problem in the future.
!!!
its really good
no stuff ups at all and the general tempreture of the graphics card is much lower than previously,
and even when it reaches around 75 it never goes higher than 76 and doesnt crash!!
sooo gd
im gnna start playing more games now
haha
thanks for all u guys help
my comp just frooze while playing game=(
today or right now isnt as cold as the past few days aswell!
ive noticed something,
sometimes th e entire computer freezes and i have to press reset automatically from my tower,
othertimes,
it restarts itself but when its in the dos loading thing, it stays there then i gotta reset anyway
something else ive noticed,
since i fixed teh grease thing, i notice this,
whenever i play games, i alt tab alot to check other things and when i go back in the game around 10 seconds in the monitor will go on standby for about 1 second and automatically go back to normal,
since i fixed the thing this doesnt occour anymore
I have a feeling that this could be power related, and not thermal based on everything you've tried so far. Could you provide some information on your power supply?
Also, if you don't already have it installed, please install a temperature/voltage monitoring application (like MBM5 or asus pc probe if you have an asus). Let us know what your +5, +12 and +3.3V rails are reading.
Thanks.
not sure what those numbers are, but ive got speed fan 4.28 which has similar numbers so this is what it says
vcore 1 - 1.74V
vcore 2 - 2.62V
+3.3V - 2.23V
+5V - 4.19
+12V - 12.22v
hope that helps
and my power supply,,
its an omni
model is :
ATX 400W
hope that helps!!
game just crashed.soo angry!
i really think its a tempreture issue
I'd suggest a name brand such as Antec, Enermax, OCZ, Superflower etc. I can almost guarantee your issues will go away with a new PSU.
You should verify those readings with a multimeter if you have one just to be 100% sure. If you have another PSU you can swap as well, that would be a good test.
Best of luck to you..
seriously have no idea what ur trying to say apart from get a new one
my computer knowledge isnt that good,
how much is a new power thing?
another thing::
my video card is radeon 9800
NOT PRO
it was o'/c'd to pro but its not and ive put it back to normal
Bottom line is that you need a new power supply. They are not overly expensive. A quality PSU will cost you about $50-60. I'd recommend something like the Antec Truepower II 380. It should do the job nicely for you. Don't pay attention to the 'wattage rating' as there is much more to a power supply than just the overall wattage. If you dont mind spending a bit more, I can recommend some much better models for you.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103927
also,
how sure are you this is the problem?
when i made the comp about 1.5 years ago, it was fine and it was in the winter aswell and then when summer came the problems started and now its the begining of autum coming to winter,
gives u kinda background to the tempreture
I'm pretty confident it is the power supply. Based on those voltages you posted earlier, it appears your power supply is either on it's way out, or defective.
A properly functioning power supply should have voltages within the following range:
+12V = 12.6 max, 11.4 min
+5V = 5.25 max, 4.75 min
+3.3V = 3.47 max, 3.13 min
It appears that your +5V and +3.3V rails are well below the minimum specification at 4.19 and 2.23 respectively. Could you verify those for me? Did you mean 3.23 for the +3.3? or is it really 2.23?
The only way to be 100% sure if those readings are accurate is to use something called a multimeter. I wouldn't recommend poking around with one if you are not too comfortable working with computer hardware. You can check out some instructions here: http://www.ochardware.com/articles/psuvolt/psuvolt2.html that may help. Dont worry about testing the 3.3 as it can be tricky to do. If the 5V is really that low, that is enough of an indication to replace the power supply. If you are not comfortable doing this, you could bring it to a computer repair shop, and they could do it for you.
It could be possible that it is a thermal issue, but warmer temperatures will probably also have an impact on your power supply. It may not be as bad when cold, and slowly get worse as the temperature increases. I believe CBDroge here on the forums had a very similar problem which turned out to be power supply related as well.
The brands that were mentioned above are good. Just look for those brands, minimum rating of around 400 Watts. To be honest, the voltages you listed above are really very bad. It's either a very poor quality PSU or it's failing prematurely.
Why don't you scan EBay Austrailia for those brands we listed, and also for others. Open a new thread in Case Physics, and provide links for what you've found. We'll be happy to comment.
according to cpu.z i have the following,
processor :
P4
codename : northwood
2.60ghz
mother board is 8Ik1100 gigabyte technology
DDR 512 ram
the rest are a bunch of numbers
if u guys want that ill list them but yea they constnatly change some of them..
if i were to sell this comp? how much u think i can get??
after i fix this problem??
and how long till that new windows is coming out? i think ill get a new comp then
hope it helps!!
if u guys need anymore items please tell me in order to ensure i fix my comp =(
does pretty much everyone agree i need new power supply?
new info:
on the back of my power supply has this tiny switch
currently its on 230 V
i can change it to 115 V
does that help?
the green part of the chip thing had heaps on it and its all gone
however there were tiny metal things which were part of the card thing and they had some stuck inbetween i got like 99.99% of it away
i doubt its a problem as weve seen great improvements in tempretures
AND
when i alt tab during games the monitor sleeps for a few seconds again and comes back
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-JUSTER-400watt-ATX-POWER-SUPPLY-16-99-Inc-Gst_W0QQitemZ6874526936QQcategoryZ111429QQtcZphotoQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
If an ad has to brag that it has a P4 connector, that's like a used car salesman telling you the vehicle for sale has tires that don't leak. Oh, wow....
Also, the wires look very narrow gauge - probably ultra cheap quality. There is no on/off toggle switch - another sign of bottom of the barrel quality.
Do an eBay Aus. search for Antec, OCZ, Fortron, Superflower, and Enermax.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/RETAIL-BOX-SuperFlower-Silent-520-WATTS-TT-520SS_W0QQitemZ6874522084QQcategoryZ44949QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
the other brands couldnt find anything really that seemed promising and in terms of PSU
im gonna check out local computer stoers aswell for those brands,
is there anytrhing else i should know
eg wattage, compatability etc
specifications if possible!