Asus 4850 1GB overheating

[udprod]

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This is my system:
ATI 4850 1GB
Intel (R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9300 @ 2.50 GHz (4 CPUs)
Win XP 32 Bit
3 GB RAM
2 Harddrives @ 7200 rpm
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Dear TH community,

I am writing here today because my 4850 is overheating and I am (obviously) very desperate for help.

The crash
This has never happened outside graphical applications, such as games. When playing, my screen suddenly turns black, or is filled with horizontal lines of color, and the sound played the last ½ second before the crash starts looping like a machine gun. My computer does not respond at all at this point, so I have to reboot it by holding the power button down.

I've had the crashes happen at anywhere from 69 degrees. Mostly happening 69-80 (because it doesn't have time to get hotter).


How can I tell it's overheating?
Actually I'm not even sure it's overheating, but I am 99% sure it is.
I recently tried doing a stability test via Furmark. My pc did the weird crash after one minute and eighteen seconds. Which didn't surprise me, so to be sure I did a stability test again, but this time with my case open to let the card get colder. It took 1:21 for the second test.
In the first test, my starting temperature was 57 degrees.
In the second test, my starting temperature was 62 degrees.

And just as the computer crashed during the second test, I noticed the upper LED on my card was lighting red. Now, I googled a bit, and I discovered that the first led (which has some special name starting with D) lighting up means critical overheat / shut down to prevent overheating.

Oh, and the airflow in my case is pretty bad; the case is small and filled with cables (I can install an extra fan if needed though)


So, is this a bad card or just a bad case in need of an extra fan / misc?

Thanks for taking time to read my post, any help, or tips, are greatly appreciated. I also apologise for any spelling or grammatical errors if found.

 

[udprod]

I have a corsair 520hx which should be more than fine I believe.

I'll boot up my main pc (writing from laptop) and test HWmonitor now.

 

[udprod]

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/6012/hwmonitorresults.png
My HWMonitor results.

 

[udprod]

It's usualy between 62-67 idle, as said on the piccie, that is one minute after boot (having been turned off for an hour with the case open even).

 

[udprod]

Hm, my CPU? I've tried using my old 8600 GT with almost as demanding tasks as I gave the 4850, and I've had no problems while using that card.

What temperatures are normal for the q9300 then?

Thanks for all of your answers and thanks in advance.

 

[udprod]

So it's my CPU and not my GPU that's overheating? And the reason it works with the older card is because it creates less heat than the 4850? If that is true (please confirm I thought right), you've finished 2 months of work.

Thanks in advance.

 

[udprod]

I just read that when the CPU crashes, you get a blue screen, which I've never got.
I'm confused now :\

 

[coozie7]

@ Udprod: Your CPU is overheating.
It looks from the temperatures as if the heatsink is not attached properly-two cores are 10C higher than the others, it's common for multi-core CPUs to have some variation from core to core, but not that much.
Not every CPU fail will cause a BSOD, that will only happen if the CPU executes one or more instructions incorrectly, on the other hand it may simply shut itself off without warning if it gets too hot too quickly.

 

[udprod]

@ Udprod: Your CPU is overheating.
It looks from the temperatures as if the heatsink is not attached properly-two cores are 10C higher than the others, it's common for multi-core CPUs to have some variation from core to core, but not that much.
Not every CPU fail will cause a BSOD, that will only happen if the CPU executes one or more instructions incorrectly, on the other hand it may simply shut itself off without warning if it gets too hot too quickly.

Hi.

First of all, thanks for your answers.
I'm about to install an extra fan that will cool down both the CPU and the card. I'm just curious on why the LED, that only lights up when critical errors occour, lights up on my graphics card when it crashes.

If anyone could answer that I will be even more grateful than I am right now, and then the topic could be closed as solved.

So yeah again, thanks deeply for your replies, I'm hoping the fan will do the trick!

 

[coozie7]

Perhaps the CPU is not the issue, but then again it will become one if the high temperatures are not resolved, and quickly. I suggest you remove the heatsink and refit it. If you do not know, the thermal compound must also be replaced, remove it with pure alcohol before applying new material.