PSU Overheating Issue

[Richie Ricardo-1359559]

Its summertime and I don't have an air conditioner or vents so it goes up to 100 degrees fahrenheit sometimes in my house. My CPU normally runs at 29c when Its idle but now its up to 42c minimum. Anyway, I was playing Battlefield 3 for an hour or so and with no warning whatsoever, my computer shut down and wouldn't turn back on for a while. The GPU and CPU seemed fine since I didn't get any loss in fps or screen tearing beforehand. For the first time, my entire case was hot to the touch and my psu almost burned my hand.

PSU: Seasonic bronze certified 620watt modular.

I had to install it with the fan facing down due to a dent in the case. There is an opening for air to flow out on the bottom of my case but I'm guessing this might be the issue. Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[nostall]

Sounds like overheating simply due to excessive ambient temperature. Most components have a range in temperatures within which they will operate properly and safely. A really hot room (100F is hot) combined with the temps within the computer can put them over-temp and cause shut downs.
If your room was 95-100 degrees, I would bet the inside of your pc was close to 125-130, and some components were probably way beyond that and there specifications.
For instance a standard HDD is only rated to 140 degrees F (60C).

The fan facing down on the PSU is O.K. IF there is a way for it to draw cool(er) air into it; that fan should be an intake fan, and it will exhaust its heat out the back of your case.

Might want to open the side of your case and set up a fan to blow air into the case, see if that solves the problem.

 

[Richie Ricardo-1359559]

Sounds like overheating simply due to excessive ambient temperature. Most components have a range in temperatures within which they will operate properly and safely. A really hot room (100F is hot) combined with the temps within the computer can put them over-temp and cause shut downs.
If your room was 95-100 degrees, I would bet the inside of your pc was close to 125-130, and some components were probably way beyond that and there specifications.
For instance a standard HDD is only rated to 140 degrees F (60C).

The fan facing down on the PSU is O.K. IF there is a way for it to draw cool(er) air into it; that fan should be an intake fan, and it will exhaust its heat out the back of your case.

Might want to open the side of your case and set up a fan to blow air into the case, see if that solves the problem.

Thank you for the reply. I was wondering, If I have a 140mm fan blowing in from the side, will adding a 200mm fan blowing out the top help? Also, if the fan on the psu is an intake fan, it mustve collected a good amount of dust by now inside the psu. How can I get that out if I don't have access to an air can currently?

 

[nostall]

You might have to wait until you can buy a can of air for cleaning that PSU.
BUT
If you see that it is that dusty, how dirty is the inside of your computer?
You should probably do a good cleaning of the computer, inside and out, using a vacuum and some canned air.
Very gently and carefully use the vacuum to get out what you can: You don't want to be knocking parts off your mobo while your cleaning it. Use the compressed air to blow out under the mobo, the heatsink , blow off fans (hold the blades; don't let the air spin them. Bad for the fan and its bearings).
If it is really dirty, that will be part of the reason it shut down; dirt and dust insulate the equipment and keep them from cooling properly.

I can give you a better answer about adding fans if you can tell me what case you have.

 

[Richie Ricardo-1359559]

I learned that vacuuming the inside of the computer is dangerous due to static electricity. The inside of the case isn't very dusty at all. A light coating at most. I have wiped most dust off the fans (when the computer was off) with my fingers every now and then. Its not that I can't afford to buy a can of air. Its just that I've been told that the bitterants they started to add is harmful to the computers internals so I am hesitant to use it on my computer.

 

[nostall]

You will probably never use enough canned air in your pc to hurt it. You do want some ventilation when cleaning, though, because of the dust and the canned air - it really isn't air.
You say that it is just lightly dusty, does that include the CPU heat sink? And a little dust will not be a problem.
Vacuuming: yeah, I don't do it often for the same reason you don't. Usually the vacuum is needed when you open it up and there are dust bunnies clogging everything. So forget that.

What case, that is kinda important?

 

[Richie Ricardo-1359559]

You will probably never use enough canned air in your pc to hurt it. You do want some ventilation when cleaning, though, because of the dust and the canned air - it really isn't air.
You say that it is just lightly dusty, does that include the CPU heat sink? And a little dust will not be a problem.
Vacuuming: yeah, I don't do it often for the same reason you don't. Usually the vacuum is needed when you open it up and there are dust bunnies clogging everything. So forget that.

What case, that is kinda important?

Oh sorry i forgot to add that. The case I'm using is
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

 

[nostall]

That's a Great case. Your PSU probably isn't verydirty; You might want to carefully lay the case on its side and take off that bottom filter and clean it (I wash mine and then pat dry with a towel until there's no visible moisture). I am sure you have done the same with the front filter.
BTW, here is my case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119194

Back to solutions: Yes, installing the additional fans will probably help. Regardless of any other successes here, I would install the fans. Side fan as intake and top as exhaust.
Forgot to ask: Is the computer sitting on a rug or the carpet? If so, then place something under the four feet to raise it up so the PSU can get some air. I'm using a piece of 3/4 inch wood, but 4 small books (not magazines) will work too. That will assure air flow.

I don't know where you live, but obviously it is summer. Here, too. It's 100F right now at 8:20p.m.
So, if the computer will run, open up the side and set up a fan to blow into it and try gaming for awhile. Even if you have no fan, open it up and run it for awhile with some load.
I truly think your room temp caused the problem. If it won't run, or you can feel it getting to hot, I will link you to a monitoring program and we will go from there. Try this first.

If it shuts down right away, then it may be something was damaged. If it doesn't crash we know you have isolated the problem.
I'm signing off in about 10minutes, won't be back on until tomorrow morning. Look forward to hearing the results.

 

[Richie Ricardo-1359559]

I actually haven't cleaned the front of my case at all. The front doesn't seem to have any mesh screens but I'll try to find it next time I look inside. I like your case alot. I was going to get a nice one with led fans and a cool design but since I needed peripherals, I decided to get the best cheap case I could instead. Maybe next time I guess.

I have hardwood floors so thats not the issue. I actually suggested the same thing to my girlfriends kids with their xbox (she has carpets).

I ran a game for about a minute and my cpu went up to 67c pretty quickly. I'm using speccy from piriform.com to check but there doesn't seem to be a way to guage my psu temp. I think thats really whats causing the most problems. I guess I'll get to cleaning out the mesh screen on the bottom for now and see if that helps. Thanks for the help

Update: Ok so I decided to check what was going on and you were right. The psu screen at the bottom was clogged with dust and even a little baby spider that skittered away to parts unknown. Then upon further inspection, my cpu heatsink was extremely dusty. Incidentally my heatsink has been making a rattling noise. Everybody said it might be the ball bearing on the fan. I ultimately unclipped the fan, scooped up as much dust as I possibly could (which was a ton) and put the fan back on. Seems the rattling noise disappeared and my cpu is down to 38c on idle so I guess I killed two birds with one stone thanks to you.

 

[nostall]

Great!! A good cleaning job will further improve things.
Don't hesitate to use a vacuum; the trick is to leave the computer grounded (usually just plugged in with the power shut off at the PSU, if that is possible): then just try to avoid contact with parts as much as possible. It's o.k. to touch the case, optical drives, careful around fans, and the PSU.
I usually do my PC cleaning in the garage and when using the vacuum will keep my hand on the concrete floor in order to ground out static from the vacuum. So far, so good.
Game On Richie, glad I could help.