could heat be the problem ?

[rlswick]

I recently put a nividia 9600 and a 680watt power supply in my computer for my cabinet.

If the machine has been on for a couple hours,wierd shit starts happening

game Ex main menu locks up or starts scrooling between options,or future pinball

speeds up where you cant even play it.I checked the fans they are all running,I even took off the side cover on the computer.

Ive got a wells garner 9400 and my computer is only about 2 or 3 inches below it.

When I first turn on the cabinet everything works perfect.

has anybody else ever experianced this

Ive never had a heat problem before,So I dont know if heat would be the reason.

[headkaze]

Do you have ventilation for your cab, as your PC can get hot in there there even if you have fans in the PC. Especially a big ass monitor like a wells garner. I have two fans at the back of my cab and a ventilation screen.

Here are some pics showing you what I mean. You could always open your PC up and have a big ass fan blowing in there just to see if it is a heat problem.

[rlswick]

Do you have ventilation for your cab, as your PC can get hot in there there even if you have fans in the PC. Especially a big ass monitor like a wells garner. I have two fans at the back of my cab and a ventilation screen.

Here are some pics showing you what I mean. You could always open your PC up and have a big ass fan blowing in there just to see if it is a heat problem.

I have three 3 inch holes at the top of the cab,I even took the back off the cab

My next move is to put the computer down on the bottom of the cab,I did go out today and buy a fan for this.

It almost has to be heat,Like i said in the fist few hours it runs perfect.

You would think when you pay 4000.00 for a machine they would have a good heat exchange design for it.

[headkaze]

Well, lets face it PC's aren't supposed to be locked inside a big wooden box. Having a few holes at the top of the cab IMHO would not be good enough. You really need air flow so you need fans to blow the hot air out of the cab and have some sort of air flow going through the whole cab.

Since the monitor generates alot of heat I put the grill behind it and with the fans below (just behind where the PC sits) it should create a cycle of air coming in through the grill to cool the monitor and the hot air being blown out the bottom.

[rlswick]

Well, lets face it PC's aren't supposed to be locked inside a big wooden box. Having a few holes at the top of the cab IMHO would not be good enough. You really need air flow so you need fans to blow the hot air out of the cab and have some sort of air flow going through the whole cab.

Since the monitor generates alot of heat I put the grill behind it and with the fans below (just behind where the PC sits) it should create a cycle of air coming in through the grill to cool the monitor and the hot air being blown out the bottom.

I agree with you Im going to put a heat exchange in it.

I dont want to burn it up and Have to go out a buy another computer

My wife would have my head!!!

[gryhnd]

In my cab, the CPU sits on the bottom (in its original case), and there are two 120mm fans blowing IN to the cabinet from the L&R sides. The monitor shelf has holes bored in it both for cabling and ventilation. At the top of the cab above the monitor is another 120mm fan blowing out this time. I get a nice airflow with this and haven't run in to any heat issues yet, even when running 100% CPU when stress testing.

[Mark32]

There is freeware that will monitor and send alerts based on your motherboard temp. I found this small little app (not freeware) called Sensors View that monitors your CPU temp, HD temp, CPU usage, NIC usage, and a few other settings. It is a nice little app that sits in the tray or has a small gui.

http://www.stvsoft.com/

[bkenobi]

Speedfan is free and it does pretty much all of this as well.

Taking the side off the PC could actually make heat problems worse... Without getting too geeky, the problem is the airflow. You need to get good airflow to convect the heat away from hot components. By opening the side of the case, you can actually slow down the flow over those components (if the case is designed well) and result in stagnant hot air cooling your equipment.

What I did was to take the side off the case, installed 2 fans aiming at the motherboard (the motherboard faces the back of the cabinet), installed cardboard "sealers" around the edge of the case, and added a flexible metal duct that connects to the back of the PSU fan and the top vent on the cabinet. Effectively, I am forcing flow over hot components and using the PSU fan to suck that hot air out of the case and directly up and out of the cabinet. I'm sure there are better ways to do this, but this was the cheapest and quietest way I could come up with on a shoe string budget (I already blew the rest of the arcade fund by then).

[rlswick]

Speedfan is free and it does pretty much all of this as well.

Taking the side off the PC could actually make heat problems worse... Without getting too geeky, the problem is the airflow. You need to get good airflow to convect the heat away from hot components. By opening the side of the case, you can actually slow down the flow over those components (if the case is designed well) and result in stagnant hot air cooling your equipment.

What I did was to take the side off the case, installed 2 fans aiming at the motherboard (the motherboard faces the back of the cabinet), installed cardboard "sealers" around the edge of the case, and added a flexible metal duct that connects to the back of the PSU fan and the top vent on the cabinet. Effectively, I am forcing flow over hot components and using the PSU fan to suck that hot air out of the case and directly up and out of the cabinet. I'm sure there are better ways to do this, but this was the cheapest and quietest way I could come up with on a shoe string budget (I already blew the rest of the arcade fund by then).

I installed speedfan and it says everything is Great EXCEPT my nividia core

is 57 degrees celisus at idle when I tried a game of Future Pinball within two minutes

it jumped to 65 degrees,I did put the cover back on the case.

Gonna have to do something

[bkenobi]

You might consider one of the after market coolers for the video card itself. Btw, what is the ambient temperature in the room? Since it's summer, you will definitely see the worst system temperatures now (unless you have A/C). The hotter the ambient temperature is, the less effective cooling you will get. If the air you are using to cool things is hot, then it can't absorb much heat so you must increase the flow rate or cool the cooling air in some other way.

[rlswick]

You might consider one of the after market coolers for the video card itself. Btw, what is the ambient temperature in the room? Since it's summer, you will definitely see the worst system temperatures now (unless you have A/C). The hotter the ambient temperature is, the less effective cooling you will get. If the air you are using to cool things is hot, then it can't absorb much heat so you must increase the flow rate or cool the cooling air in some other way.

Actually I have central air and usally is set between 65 & 69 degrees

Ive thought about one of the coolers,I was wondering do you have to take the stock fan off

Ive seen so many differnt designs I just have make sure I get the right one

[bkenobi]

They usually provide a compatibility list. If your card is on there, it should fit. Now, what they say "fits" may not be easily fits, but the holes should line up. There are 2 types of vga coolers though. You can go with the type that replaces the OEM HSF, or you can go with one that attaches to a expansion bracket next to the card. The first type should provide better cooling, but they cost a lot more. The second cost a lot less and they are universal, but you get what you pay for.

I've replaced the fan on one card when the stock one died and it did fit, but it wasn't a nice fit. On the other hand, I just purchased the cheapest thing I could on the day I needed it, so if you order online, you should be able to do better.