Hot Computer - Cooling Solutions Needed!

Hello everyone.  Looking for an economical solution to keeping my computer cooler.
 
I just installed a new nVidea card, and the sucker gets pretty hot.  I get the BSOD if the computer gets too hot.  So right now I'm compensating by opening up the case and pointing my small fan into it.  This really helps, so I know that this is the problem.  I was getting it before, and it was a bad video driver from my onboard card; so this solution worked but it created another!  LOL.
 
So anyhoo, What should I do to keep her cool?
 
Thanks!!

The 8400GS is a relatively "old" low end video card.  I had an 8600GT for many years with an old Dell.

Best suggestion is to install a better video card and one with a built on fan. 

Best suggestion is to install a better video card and one with a built on fan.

 
FWIW, Passive cooled video cards are absolutely fine (if you choose the right model)...
If the OP's video card is overheating, he needs to get it swapped out for a unit that works (well).
 
@OP:
Opening the case and blowing a huge fan into it is not a good long-term solution.  
Swap out your current (defective) video card
 

Bummer, I just got this one (the video card) like 2 weeks ago.  I just bought a fan which mounts right above it, and will try this solution first.  I'm keeping receipts and boxes for both.  I wish I was able to read this thread earlier, but we had a tornado come through our neighborhood last night and we lost power.  Typing this from a hotel as we speak!  Fortunately no damage to our house, but some of our neighbors didn't fare so well.  Power is out.

Anyway, unless you all think this is beyond redemption with a fan just over it, I'm going to try this route and monitor temps accordingly.  If you all think there could be long term repurcussions in the negative sense, than I'll pack both up and take 'em back to the store.

It's amazing, so much to learn here!  I'm glad I diagnosed my BSOD problem, but it seems my solution created another problem. At least I know what the deal is though.

Thank you all!!

My new video card... a Gforce 210 IIRC had a fan on it.... I have checked inside and it runs pretty cool... I will check into that app to monitor the temps.

Jim Roseberry

9800GT

 
FWIW, the passive cooled 9800GTs run hot as hades. 
The newer series of Nvidia cards run cooler...

You're of course absolutely right Jim, although they do  tend to come equipped with great big heat sink and cooler combinations these days and while it's still a pretty good card I'm a few generations behind with the 9800's, the newer 2 and 4 series cards would be a much better bet and the 2's start out at very reasonable prices if blistering frame rates on 3d games isn't a requirement, which of course it won't be on a DAW... 

Looks like it's working....

that reminded me of a true story about some friends that had a band.... they had some sort of electrical issue that blew out all their power amps except one Crown.... and they had a big club to play on Friday & Saturday night... biggest club in town.... if you screw up that gig... you don't ever get another chance to play there again. So they showed up with their PA and that one Crown. They hooked up as many of the full range cabinets as they dared, on each channel.  The load was well below the minimum on the nameplate. They popped off the top cover.... hung the amp from some rope between 2 chairs and put a 20" box fan running on high aimed right into the guts.... they were able to play both nights... at a slightly lower volume than usual. The amp was hot enough to cook on but it held for both nights.

Quite a testament to Crown power amps.

could be software issues causing the BSOD?

Now the search begins.

I don't know much about them but if the new video card is causing interrupt problems that can be the cause of BSOD. DOn't ask me how to check that...IDK.

History: I have a dell lappy running Vista 32. It was crashing alot. I finally exhausted all my options for fixing the root problem with out success. One guy I spoke with said it sounded like a corrupted OS causing the crashes. It was doing a bunch of goofy things besides crashing. His remedy was to reinstall the OS and Apps after formatting the HD.   I resisted, knowing the work involved. But eventually, it became so bad there was really no other option.

In the Dell Vista 32.... I had the optionto "restore to a previous point" OR return to factory setup. I chose to return to factory setup. pushing that button was the hardest thing I ever clicked on.... because I knew all the data was going to be erased and I was starting from scratch. I had previously saved all my data to disk or USB external drives, I had all my original install disks for my apps, so I was ready.

After the reinstall was complete... maybe 30 minutes... the computer was just like new again. reinstalled all my apps and was up and running in a day. 


All that to say that might be the best option for you... if there is some sort of OS problem. If the computer is used online, it picks up all sorts of stuff that will slow it down, and eventually, that stuff can cause BSOD issues.
During the reinstall of the OS and drivers and such, the new video card should take it's proper place if that's the issue.

Either way, you start again with a new clean OS and a fast running computer.  Somebody on here actually said that they routinely format and reinstall the OS on a yearly basis for the simple reason of cleaning up the system so it runs fast.


Update on the dell lappy, it's been on the new OS install for a year... it has slowed down some on start up, but it is not crashing yet. I am careful what I use it for online.... as little as possible.

The 10D error, according to a thread on the Windows 7 forum, is most likely a Firewire issue.  Do you have any firewire devices connected?

If there are any BIOS updates for the motherboard I would try that.  You could also try resetting the BIOS and see what happens.  On most, removing the CR2032 CMOS backup battery on the motherboard for about 10 minutes will reset the BIOS.

OK, apparently it WAS my firewire card.  My guy changed cards and ran it for 20 hours after the install, as well as running a number of tests, including loading all the drivers on startup prior to loading the windows drivers, it blue screened on the 3rd party.  Further tests indicated a firewire problem.

This all makes sense because my problems started soon after I changed to this new firewire card.

Oh well, I'm still not getting my hopes up.  LOL.  Even though everything is probably cool.  I'm typing from this machine now.

Well, my intuition was unfortunately proven to be VERY STRONG yet again . . .

Woke up this morning to a BSOD.  I had left it on all night.  The only program open was CD Architect.

Back to the drawing board! 

Are your BSOD's the same every time?  If they are different, then you definitely have a hardware problem. 

Your system should not blue screen from interrupt conflicts, maybe glitches in audio but not blue screens.  Win7 is smart sharing IRQ's, not like the older operating systems.

Jim

On the BSOD there is an area with the STOP code.  Is this the same Stop code every time? 

I'm sure the issue is not with the OS but is most likely either a hardware issue or a bad driver.

Jim

OK, I think I may have this licked.

Talking with my guitarist yesterday, we discovered an important feature of these BSOD's. 

They were only happening HERE.  With my AI plugged into my firewire card.

I remembered that I was using the 2.0 driver because the interface was better, and it seemed stable.

Well, I decided, interface or not, it was worth a try.  Went to Focusrite's website and they had a NEW driver which states:

Saffire Mix Control 2.2
-Added support for Saffire Pro 14
-Updated driver to version 3.5.3
-Resolved some rare blue-screens which could occur in Windows 7
-Improved driver performance in Windows 7
-Resolved issue where MIDI driver would not load when using Mac OS X in specific languages.

I downloaded it and updated it, and was happy to see the interface was the same too.  I've had the computer on for over 13 hours, AFTER my recording session, which occurred with no BSOD's last night.  I'm keeping the computer on for good measure.  It was nice to come down to a screensaver for a change!! 

I'm hopeful, for the first time in WEEKS!!

PS, "Rare" blue screens?! 

I hope to god this is it!! 

YES YES YES
It's running GREAT!