I think I've let my stupidity allow my PC to overheat to its death. I now want to know how to revive it.

[Smilesallround]

NOTE: Feel free to skip the following 2 paragraphs and jump to the "so basically" part. The paragraphs are not essential but just give more background info.

So, I bought a pre-built gaming PC around 4 years ago (I was and still am very much a noob in this field). I have used it on and off but a general idea would be 2 hours gameplay every day playing games ranging anywhere from Minecraft to Fallout 4.

In the past few months I've been trying to play Fallout 4 and Overwatch and noticed I've had serious problems with overheating. When I made Fallout 4 as ugly as possible, I still couldn't keep the game running for more than an hour of my pc whirring incredibly loudly and finally crashing. Instinctively, I wanted to fix this issue and discovered I've done very little in terms of caring for my pc. I have cleaned it 2 or 3 times total, and never replaced the thermal paste. I now want to know what steps will be necessary to bring my PC back tou its glory days. If this involves spending money, so be it.

Specs:
Fractal Design Define R4 Case 
Intel Core i5 3450 "Ivy Bridge" Processor 
Akasa Nero 3 Cooler 
Asus P8H61-M LE Motherboard 
8GB PC3-10666 DDR3 Memory 
Chillblast GeForce GTX 550Ti 1GB Graphics Card 
500GB SATA III 7200rpm Hard Disk 
500GB SATA III 7200rpm Hard Disk 
Sony 24x DVD-RW Drive 
Corsair Ultra Low Noise 600watt PSU 

So basically: I've cleaned my PC 2 or 3 times only (had it for 4 years now) and never replaced the thermal paste. It won't run Overwatch or fallout 4 reliably on decent graphics and I want it to. What action should I take?

Thanks in advance for taking time out of your day to help someone as stupid as me.

[Smilesallround]

I don't know where the spacing went, I had lovely paragraphs set up. Sorry

 

[Chasem121]

1. Clean it

2. Replace thermal paste

3. Upgrade GPU

 

There you go, thats what you need to do

[Smilesallround]

Just now, Chasem121 said:

1. Clean it

2. Replace thermal paste

3. Upgrade GPU

 

There you go, thats what you need to do

Ok! I wasn't sure if step 3 was going to be necessary or not, that was the main answer I was looking for. If I may ask, what gpu should I replace it with, and will it be bottle necked by the current other specs? I have a budget of maybe €300 give or take 

[Chasem121]

56 minutes ago, Smilesallround said:

Ok! I wasn't sure if step 3 was going to be necessary or not, that was the main answer I was looking for. If I may ask, what gpu should I replace it with, and will it be bottle necked by the current other specs? I have a budget of maybe €300 give or take 

An i5 3450 wont bottleneck most GPUs in most games. Obviously it depends as even a 6600k can be a bottleneck in something like Cities Skylines.

 

I'm not sure what Europeon country you are from so I'm going to go off Germanys prices on pcpartpicker for the gpu.

 

Just pick out of one of these.

Sapphire RX 480 Nitro 4 GB              €239.79

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 6GB     €275.08

 

 

[Smilesallround]

7 minutes ago, matzeesch said:

First of all what components are overheating ?

What kind of cooler do you use ?

If its only the cpu just get a cheap 3rd party cooler. Something like the 212 evo for example.

I can't be certain on what component is overheating, it is definitely either the cpu or gpu or both.

 

The cooler is the Akasa Nero 3 cooler, as seen in the specs.

 

Ive also just reached the conclusion that it is overheating by myself, based off the fact that the games would run fine for 30ish minutes but the PC would be whirring incredibly loudly the whole time and eventually crash once what I assume was the heat became too much.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Smilesallround]

2 minutes ago, Chasem121 said:

An i5 3450 wont bottleneck most GPUs in most games. Obviously it depends as even a 6600k can be a bottleneck in something like Cities Skylines.

 

I'm not sure what Europeon country you are from so I'm going to go off Germanys prices on pcpartpicker for the gpu.

 

Just pick out of one of these.

Sapphire RX 480 Nitro 4 GB              €239.79

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 6GB     €275.08

 

 

I'm from Ireland, thanks for the suggestions of GPU's

 

one last question, in your suggestion of replacing the thermal paste, are you saying to replace the thermal paste on my current gpu and if it still doesn't help then move on to step 3?

I feel like it could also very well be that the cpu is the component overheating, so I don't want to jump straight to buying a new gpu. Please let me know if I'm wrong there and it sounds like it's definitely the gpu.

 

Thanks again for your great help.

[Biggerboot]

Did you actually check what temps you were getting on your CPU/GPU?  (hwmonitor)

[Chasem121]

57 minutes ago, Smilesallround said:

I can't be certain on what component is overheating, it is definitely either the cpu or gpu or both.

 

The cooler is the Akasa Nero 3 cooler, as seen in the specs.

 

Ive also just reached the conclusion that it is overheating by myself, based off the fact that the games would run fine for 30ish minutes but the PC would be whirring incredibly loudly the whole time and eventually crash once what I assume was the heat became too much.

 

Thanks for your help.

Use MSI Afterburner to see what is overheating

 

It will look something like so

[Smilesallround]

Just now, Biggerboot said:

Did you actually check what temps you were getting on your CPU/GPU?  (hwmonitor)

Agh, I feel even more stupid now having to explain just how awkward of a situation I am in, but I'll do it anyway.

 

I currently don't have a functioning mouse or keyboard available to me (using my phone atm), and so I cannot give accurate temperature figures. I did take them at one point maybe a few months ago where the same problem applied, using what if I remember correctly was MSI afterburner.

 

I don't want to pluck random numbers out of the air, but if I try very hard to remember the temps. I got I think the gpu was somewhere around 70 and the cpu somewhere around 55-65.

 

Sorry again, I know this is a very hard situation to work with, and I thank you for trying to help.

[Chasem121]

58 minutes ago, Smilesallround said:

I'm from Ireland, thanks for the suggestions of GPU's

 

one last question, in your suggestion of replacing the thermal paste, are you saying to replace the thermal paste on my current gpu and if it still doesn't help then move on to step 3?

I feel like it could also very well be that the cpu is the component overheating, so I don't want to jump straight to buying a new gpu. Please let me know if I'm wrong there and it sounds like it's definitely the gpu.

 

Thanks again for your great help.

I was referring to the thermal paste on your CPU.

 

However you could attempt doing it on your 550Ti, though that is much harder to do than the cpu. And With the 550Ti you are barely meeting the minimum specs required for the games you are wanting to play. I would recommend eventually upgrading regardless.

[Biggerboot]

I'm willing to bet it is the GPU cooling even though it does pay to have to check the temps.  You could try opening your 550 ti up and cleaning it if it's the case (it's a relatively old card now anyway).

 

You don't even need to go up to a 1060/480 for a significant upgrade.  

 

EDIT: Disregard that, I saw your later post.

[Biggerboot]

2 minutes ago, Smilesallround said:

Agh, I feel even more stupid now having to explain just how awkward of a situation I am in, but I'll do it anyway.

 

I currently don't have a functioning mouse or keyboard available to me (using my phone atm), and so I cannot give accurate temperature figures. I did take them at one point maybe a few months ago where the same problem applied, using what if I remember correctly was MSI afterburner.

 

I don't want to pluck random numbers out of the air, but if I try very hard to remember the temps. I got I think the gpu was somewhere around 70 and the cpu somewhere around 55-65.

 

Sorry again, I know this is a very hard situation to work with, and I thank you for trying to help.

70c on a GPU isn't high at all (if this is under load), but 60c on a cpu is very high.  Double check when you get the chance so you're not potentially replacing parts for no reason.

[Smilesallround]

1 minute ago, Biggerboot said:

I'm willing to bet it is the GPU cooling even though it does pay to have to check the temps.  You could try opening your 550 ti up and cleaning it if it's the case (it's a relatively old card now anyway).

 

You don't even need to go up to a 1060/480 for a significant upgrade.  

 

1 minute ago, Biggerboot said:

70c on a GPU isn't high at all (if this is under load), but 60c on a cpu is very high.  Double check when you get the chance so you're not potentially replacing parts for no reason.

Okay, yes that's sounds like very sensible advice. I may be able to look for an old mouse and keyboard somewhere in my house  now and hope to have temperature measures soon enough!

[Smilesallround]

8 minutes ago, Chasem121 said:

I was referring to the thermal paste on your CPU.

 

However you could attempt doing it on your 550Ti, though that is much harder to do than the cpu. And With the 550Ti you are barely meeting the minimum specs required for the games you are wanting to play. I would recommend eventually upgrading regardless.

Okay, I am going to try get back to you with accurate temperature readings ASAP!

[Smilesallround]

5 minutes ago, Smilesallround said:

Okay, I am going to try get back to you with accurate temperature readings ASAP!

I got temperature readings! 

 

Resting with just chrome and MSI afterburner running: 

CPU -25-35 ^C      

GPU- 35-40^C

 

With discord running and Overwatch playing:

CPU- 40-45^C          

GPU- 77-80^C

 

Note: simply while trying to update Overwatch the CPU temp went up to 45-50^C

 

[Smilesallround]

23 minutes ago, Smilesallround said:

Okay, I am going to try get back to you with accurate temperature readings ASAP!

I got temperature readings! 

 

Resting with just chrome and MSI afterburner running: 

CPU -25-35 ^C      

GPU- 35-40^C

 

With discord running and Overwatch playing:

CPU- 40-45^C          

GPU- 77-80^C

 

Note: simply while trying to update Overwatch the CPU temp went up to 45-50^C

[Smilesallround]

24 minutes ago, Smilesallround said:

 

Okay, yes that's sounds like very sensible advice. I may be able to look for an old mouse and keyboard somewhere in my house  now and hope to have temperature measures soon enough!

I got temperature readings! 

 

Resting with just chrome and MSI afterburner running: 

CPU -25-35 ^C      

GPU- 35-40^C

 

With discord running and Overwatch playing:

CPU- 40-45^C          

GPU- 77-80^C

 

Note: simply while trying to update Overwatch the CPU temp went up to 45-50^C

[Chasem121]

1 hour ago, Smilesallround said:

I got temperature readings! 

 

Resting with just chrome and MSI afterburner running: 

CPU -25-35 ^C      

GPU- 35-40^C

 

With discord running and Overwatch playing:

CPU- 40-45^C          

GPU- 77-80^C

 

Note: simply while trying to update Overwatch the CPU temp went up to 45-50^C

From those temperatures it seems like the cpu is running fine (still a good idea to replace the paste on it), but the gpu is running pretty hot for how little time it spent running Overwatch.

 

It comes back to you needing to clean, and replace the paste on the gpu or upgrade to a new gpu. And as @Biggerboot said, you dont need to go all the way up to the ones I suggested. Going to something like a 380 would be a hefty upgrade for you.

[Smilesallround]

3 minutes ago, Chasem121 said:

From those temperatures it seems like the cpu is running fine (still a good idea to replace the paste on it), but the gpu is running pretty hot for how little time it spent running Overwatch.

 

It comes back to you needing to clean, and replace the paste on the gpu or upgrade to a new gpu. And as @Biggerboot said, you dont need to go all the way up to the ones I suggested. Going to something like a 380 would be a hefty upgrade for you.

Ok, I will take all your advice on board. You have been an enormous help, thank you so much. Is there any review or +rep or something along those lines that I can give you? The same applies to bigger boot also. 

[Chasem121]

56 minutes ago, Smilesallround said:

Ok, I will take all your advice on board. You have been an enormous help, thank you so much. Is there any review or +rep or something along those lines that I can give you? The same applies to bigger boot also. 

No problem. And naw, we do these things just to help usually. Just send a message or something if you have any more questions.