Thirith on 14/6/2013 at 06:27
Thanks for the tips, guys! The heatsink is a Corsair water-cooling system (not installed by me - done professionally, ~2 years ago), and I wouldn't know how to check if there's something wrong with it. The case fan might still be too dusty; I'll make sure to dust the entire system out with an air compressor before I switch it on. Here's hoping that'll resolve it.
Al_B on 14/6/2013 at 06:43
I'm not an expert on water cooling but I was always under the impression that they needed periodic maintenance. Are you sure the water pump is working correctly and that there is sufficient fluid in the system?
june gloom on 14/6/2013 at 06:54
Also, stuttering seems to be more of a GPU thing. If a CPU gets too hot the usual response is to shut off.
Thirith on 14/6/2013 at 07:15
Quote Posted by Al_B
I'm not an expert on water cooling but I was always under the impression that they needed periodic maintenance. Are you sure the water pump is working correctly and that there is sufficient fluid in the system?
Frankly, I don't know. Will look into it, though.
Al_B on 14/6/2013 at 07:35
Quote Posted by dethtoll
Also, stuttering seems to be more of a GPU thing. If a CPU gets too hot the usual response is to shut off.
That is true, although I've seen CPU throttling doing something similar. In any case, a CPU temperature of 100 degrees C is far too high and needs investigating along with any possible GPU problems.
Thirith on 14/6/2013 at 07:49
It wasn't the usual graphical stuttering you get - it's like the entire system was stuttering. Audio, video, the way the game controlled... Since the CPU temp was up at 100°C, I'm certain it's that; the GPU wasn't even particularly hot.
june gloom on 14/6/2013 at 09:47
Well, when my 7600 blew up about 5 years ago, the whole shebang started choking hard, audio, video, all of it.
Thirith on 14/6/2013 at 09:54
Shudder... Having just spent a bit on wedding rings, I hope I won't also have to fork out for a new computer... I'm thinking that if the great de-dusting doesn't work, I'll get a new cooler and case fan to see whether that helps. Does that sound reasonable?
Edit: Nope, getting rid of the dust didn't help. I hope it's the cooling unit - if not, I'm pretty much stumped.
faetal on 14/6/2013 at 12:34
Thirith, try running it with the case open for a few hours - see if that improves it. If so, then it may be worth buying new fans, de-dusting the whole unit and probably replacing the thermal grease. If you can, spend the extra few euros and get silver-based thermal grease. Maybe get a better fan+heatsink while you're at it.
Thirith on 14/6/2013 at 13:10
Well, I've gone and ordered a new heat sink (Corsair H80i), which should arrive on Monday. Keeping my fingers crossed that this will solve the problem. Till then, no PC time for Thirith...
