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On 11.11.2013, 15:54

Eliminating the causes of overheating of the processor, video card, motherboard, etc.

Read about how to find a component that is overheating.

I will describe the causes of overheating in descending order of their likelihood, and solutions, starting with the processor.

Causes of processor overheating and their elimination:

1. The main reason for processor overheating is that the radiator becomes clogged with dust, air exchange becomes difficult and, as a result, overheating - it is necessary to clean the processor radiator from dust, you can do this with a vacuum cleaner, but very carefully and only when the computer is de-energized.

2. If the radiator shines, but the processor still overheats, then the thermal paste has probably dried out; you need to carefully remove the cooler from the processor, remove the old thermal paste from the cooler and processor, and apply new one. You need to apply very little new thermal paste, and keep in mind that coolers on motherboards with socket 775 are very difficult to remove, their legs break off, and it is difficult or impossible to install such a cooler back. Also, when installing a cooler, there is a risk that it will install crookedly (this is not visually noticeable) and the processor will overheat.

3. If after completing the first two steps the processor still overheats, then a slight reduction in the processor supply voltage in Bios will probably help; you will have to select it experimentally.

Causes of video card overheating and their elimination:

1. The main reason for overheating of video cards is the drying out of the thermal paste (relevant after 3-5 years of operation) and the entry of dust and lint into the radiator, as a result the fan operates at 100%, and the temperature does not decrease. Cleaning the radiator and fan blades from dust is the first thing you need to do; if this is not enough, replace the thermal paste.
2. The second fairly common reason for overheating of video cards is lack of cooling, video cards become more powerful every day, and their cooling systems are often not designed for high loads (this is especially true for inexpensive models); often, due to high loads, the standard fan fails (usually it starts to make noise) , but sometimes it jams), and the video card starts to overheat. This can be fixed either by replacing the fan with the same one - I have never done this, finding the same fan is still a problem, most often I take a large fan like this:

   And using rubber bands for money, I attach it to the video card, pay attention to the arrows indicating the direction of air flow, they should be directed towards the radiator of the video card. This results in quiet and reliable cooling of the video card, which has already been tested on more than one computer. It should look like the picture:

   This method has a slight drawback: after about six months to a year, the rubber bands begin to dry out and fall apart, so you need to change them occasionally, or replace them with something more reliable, for example, a piece of wire from an untwisted twisted pair.

Causes of overheating motherboard and their elimination:

1. On the motherboard, the southern or north bridge, this happens rarely, it can be solved by installing additional fans, usually a place is reserved for them on the rear wall system unit, they must be installed for blowing.

Causes of overheating hard drive:

1. Lack of cooling. It is advisable to install the hard drive in places where there is air movement and preferably in the lower part of the system unit; if this is difficult, then you need to install a special fan for hard drives.

2. High load on HDD, if you constantly use a hard drive, then take care of its additional cooling, in fact, the durability and reliability of hard drives greatly depends on their temperature during operation, hard disks Those that regularly heat up above 50 degrees are unlikely to become long-lived; it is optimal that the maximum temperature of your hard drive during operation does not exceed 45 degrees; ideally, the temperature of the hard drive is in the range of 35-40 degrees.

The main component of any computer is the motherboard. It is to it that all components of the system are connected; without it, the functioning of any personal computer- impossible. Therefore, if it malfunctions, the user is faced with a lot of problems, the most important of which is overheating. So, how to determine the source of trouble?

The first signs of overheating and its consequences

The most common symptoms of the motherboard is heating up the following:

• Abrupt reboot of the system, regardless of the user’s occupation;
• The computer turns off on its own;
• Games freeze, crash, the system freezes while playing (only rebooting the system helps).
• 15-20 minutes after turning on the computer freezes.

List of components that are most often subject to overheating:

• Video card;
• CPU;
• Power unit;
• Chipset on the motherboard;
• HDD.

In order to understand which of these overheats in one case or another, we will analyze each of them in more detail. But first, you should know which programs can be used to determine the temperature of each component.

Motherboard diagnostics

To obtain data on the temperature of all elements of the system, including the motherboard, you need to use convenient programs, which you can easily find on the Internet. For example, CPUID HWMonitor or AIDA64. You can use the program to monitor the processor temperature CoreTemp, for video card TechPowerGPU— Z. After installing these utilities, you can easily find out everything about the state of your system, voltage, temperature, and more.

In most cases, the temperature norm for a motherboard can be considered 30-50 degrees, 60 is the limit. This is often true, and these are normal indicators. For each individual plan, the instructions indicate its operating temperature range. We strongly recommend that you clarify this indicative, since the ranges can vary significantly in various models plat.

Modern motherboards are equipped with temperature sensors, but there are also those that do not have them. In this case, even with the help of programs, you will not be able to determine the indicator of interest. It is still possible to check, but only using external thermometers, for example, an infrared non-contact thermometer.

The problem of overheating is most common in the warm season, when the air temperature begins to exceed 30 degrees, on hot days 35-40. Of course, this also greatly affects your system; many gamers have problems with overheating even on completely working systems; only air conditioners and fans save them. Because overheating can easily lead to a series of problems, and for online gamers this is a disaster. If the motherboard does not survive severe overheating, it can burn out most of the user’s other components; the processor almost always “dies” immediately. The video card can also follow it.

Problems with the motherboard

For regular user PC, testing the motherboard is not an easy task. But still, it is worth considering some signs that the computer is unstable precisely because of the motherboard.

The first thing you might think is that the board is dying, and this actually happens quite often. This process irreversible, and it is better to immediately discard the idea of ​​repairs, since even after it, its service life will remain unknown. It can work for a year or a week, but you will pay money for resoldering or replacing components. If your PC is not quite old yet, it is best to buy new board, preferably exactly the same, if it suits you. If your computer is more than 5 years old, you should consider a major upgrade. But this option is not profitable in a financial sense, since at the current dollar exchange rate you can buy a car for the price of components on a PC.

Another reason is microcracks in the board solder. In this case, it is better to immediately buy a new board and forget about the problem.

Does your computer turn off almost immediately after turning it on? The problem with this could be the failure of one or more capacitors on the motherboard. This case is quite tolerable, since they are easy and simple to re-solder. It’s better not to bother with resoldering yourself, since capacitors are different. It’s better to take your PC to a service center where they won’t charge you a lot of money for this procedure.

Problems with the cooling system

The processor needs good cooling, and the more powerful it is, the more serious it should be. For example, intelcorei3 of older generations is enough with a regular boxed cooler, but if you take one of the top i7 6900K, you won’t get away with a weak cooler; they usually install such processors water cooling. Also regarding video cards, the cooling of a powerful video card must be active, that is, equipped with a radiator and a cooler, or better yet, two or even three. Overheating of these components may be due to a cooling problem, perhaps one cooler has stopped working, or it has gotten caught in a wire. Situations are different. But what should always be the same is the stable operation of the cooling system, and this applies not only to individual components, but also to the system unit as a whole.

Poor ventilation

The motherboard can easily get warm when incorrect installation coolers in the case or their absence. Air flows should be directed to the back of the case, thereby blowing out all the heat from the inside; cables should not be a hindrance to this, so they must be laid correctly, fortunately, modern cases make it possible to do this.

Ideally, there should be several coolers, one for blowing, the other for blowing. Thus, air circulates evenly in the housing, cooling everything system components. If one of the coolers is not working well, there is no need to lubricate it; it is much easier to buy a new one.

When assembling a PC, you should not rush, all components must be properly secured, the board must be firmly and tightly attached to the case, all wires must be secured so that they do not interfere with air circulation. By the way, from the visual side it looks much more aesthetically pleasing; most likely, having seen your order in the system, many friends will be very surprised by this and will think about the same thing for themselves.

Dust in the case

Once every few months, be sure to pay attention to dust accumulations in the system unit. The radiator collects dust a lot, and it also collects on the cooler blades and on the board itself. Many people think that dust is completely harmless, but it is not. Its large accumulations significantly impair the performance of the cooling system. Of course, this causes the board and all parts of the system to heat up more. The average user will not be able to completely clean the computer from dust; we recommend contacting a service center.

Radiator not installed correctly

Is the board getting very hot? Does your computer turn off on its own? Does it freeze under load? Check if the heatsink is properly attached to the processor! The radiator must fit very tightly to it, and a layer of thermal paste must be applied for better heat dissipation.

If the radiator is not mounted correctly, you can forget about the normal operation of the PC. The same thing will happen if the radiator is not fastened correctly to the chipset of the board or to the video card. What kind of cooling can we talk about if the most important part of cooling is not adjacent to the component cover?

Processor defect or malfunction

There have been cases when the board gets very hot, but the cooling system works perfectly. This may be due to a defective processor, or it may have worn out over years of use.

Also, one of the options for overheating may be an increase in voltage in the power supply, in which case it needs to be replaced and a voltage stabilizer purchased. Unstable power supply can cause many malfunctions, so the power supply should be of high quality and branded.

Sometimes the problem of overheating can be in incorrect settings bios Experts in the field can easily deal with all this. service center. Without computer knowledge, there is no point in doing independent repairs!

The operation of various components of a personal computer (PC) is ensured using special control circuits. The current level of development of component miniaturization makes it possible to combine such control circuits in one microcircuitry product, called a chip.

There may be several such chips on the motherboard (MB); they are called bridges, by analogy with the transport function of bridges. Traditionally, the chip that works with high-speed PC components is called the north bridge (NS), and all other components are connected to the south bridge (SB).

In this article we will look at what the north and south bridges are, what role they play in the operation of a PC, where they are located and how to diagnose them.

These devices have their own role in ensuring the operation of certain PC nodes; let’s look at what each of them does.

Northern

The answer to the question, what is the north bridge on the motherboard, is essentially the answer to what kind of motherboard we have. The main functions of the motherboard are contained in it. It provides data exchange between the processor and memory, as well as high-speed external devices connected to PCI buses and PCI-E.

The functions of the north bridge on a laptop motherboard are similar to its function on a PC board, with the only difference being that a laptop video card can also be built into it.

Southern

The functions of YUM are to ensure the correct operation of all other devices that are part of the PC or connected to it. These include:

• USB devices;
• hard disks;
• various information storage devices;
• input and output devices;
• sound cards;
• etc.

Where are they located?

These devices are located close to the locations of the components they support. In the place where the CPU is located, there is also a north bridge, where the periphery is located - the south bridge.

South Bridge

The YuM is located in the lower right part of the motherboard, as close as possible to the SATA, USB connectors and places where other peripherals are connected.

North Bridge

The north bridge on the motherboard is located in its upper part, as close as possible to the processor and its power supply circuit.

Important! About 10 years ago, almost all CM functions were moved to the processor. All modern processors have a built-in memory access controller and system bus driver. The need for a special chipset, placed in a separate microcircuit on the MP, disappeared by itself.

A complete diagnosis of UM is quite complex and requires the use of special equipment, but preliminary diagnostics can be carried out at home.

Let's look at how to check UM using a minimum of available tools. As such a tool, you can use an ordinary Chinese multimeter. Most common cause failure of the YuM is the burnout of the power circuits, in which the power signal is “shorted” to the common wire.

You can check this by measuring the resistance of the power circuits coming out of the YuM. The best way to do this is to USB connectors. We switch the multimeter to resistance measurement mode and measure the resistance between the 1st and 7th, as well as between the 2nd and 8th legs of the USB connector. These legs are always signed, so there shouldn't be any problems.

If the YuM is in order, the resistance should be on the order of several hundred Ohms; if it is significantly less (a few Ohms or even 0), then the YuM is out of order.

Northbridge check

Any malfunction of the SM is critical for the operation of the PC, so its diagnosis is elementary: if the computer starts up and begins to boot, then the SM is working, in otherwise- No. Naturally, the remaining components (processor, memory, video card, etc.) must be guaranteed to be in good working order, so as not to mistake their malfunction for a false malfunction of the SM.

Why bridges get hot and what to do

Any semiconductor components heat up when the current flowing through them exceeds the normal value. This may be due to an increase in the number of connected devices, the use of both software and hardware overclocking, poor case ventilation conditions, etc.

We should talk separately about emergency situations. For example, excessive load due to incorrect connection external devices(too much power consumption on SATA or USB ports, short circuits in these ports, connection errors, etc.). When

In the event of such a situation, time is counted in minutes, and often in seconds. Therefore, it is better to simply not allow them.

The south bridge is heating up

This situation arises quite often, since it is the YuM that is responsible for the operation of the entire periphery; moreover, unlike the northern one, to which only the processor, bus and memory are connected, everything else is connected to the southern one.

The best way to reduce the temperature of the UM is to reduce the load on it by disconnecting additional devices, for example, from the USB bus. However, if the PC’s tasks include working with big amount periphery, this, of course, cannot be done.

Therefore, you will have to look for another solution. The simplest thing is to replace the radiator located on the YuM (and sometimes, not replace it, but install it, since the low heat generation on the YuM often does not require a radiator at all).

For this purpose, it is necessary to find a radiator of suitable dimensions and install it on the YuM chip using hot-melt adhesive.

Attention! Using thermal paste, as is the case with a processor or video card, is not enough, since there are no clips in the mounting mechanism of the bridge cooling system, and the adhesive properties of the paste are not enough to hold the mass of the radiator.

The north bridge is heating up

Very often you have to read on forums and social media. networks: “Help! The north bridge is getting very hot, what should I do?” The answer to this question is very simple: in 90% of cases, nothing needs to be done. For SM, working at elevated temperatures is the norm.

Another thing is when the temperature rises so much that it triggers internal protection and turning off the bridge, and with it the entire PC.

There can only be one solution in this situation: improve the cooling system of the bridge. This can be done in two ways: by converting a passive cooling system or installing an active one.

Rework passive system cooling consists of replacing the radiator with a more massive one or one with a larger dispersion area. This difference is noticeable even visually. The old radiator should be separated from the chipset, the remaining connecting compound should be removed, and the new radiator should be glued using hot glue.

If you replace the radiator with a cooler (radiator-fan combination), you can significantly reduce the temperature of the microcircuit. For this purpose, you can use any cooler with a fan diameter from 30 to 60 mm.

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Overheating is one of the main reasons why laptops and desktops slow down.

Overheating: symptoms and consequences

The most typical symptoms of overheating computers and laptops:

1. Games freeze and crash some time after they are launched.
2. Unexpected computer shutdown.
3. The computer freezes or turns off some time after turning it on.

The hottest components are the processor, video card, hard drive, power supply and chipset on the motherboard. Let's consider each case separately:

CPU overheating

Symptoms: Program freezes, unexpected reboots, unexpected computer shutdown, and the appearance of a “blue screen of death.”

Consequences: CPU overheating threatens degradation(destruction) of the chip (processor). In this case, the processor may work, but unstablely, with errors, which will cause constant problems. A processor that has undergone degradation cannot be repaired - it will have to be thrown away.

Video card overheating

Symptoms: freezing while playing games and watching videos, rebooting the computer after several minutes of playing, the appearance of a “blue screen of death”, graphic artifacts on the screen (disappearance of textures, the appearance of stripes and dots), disappearance of the image on the monitor both during operation and immediately after turning on computer, the message “The video driver has stopped responding and has been restored” appears.

Consequences: As with the processor, prolonged overheating can cause video card components to degrade.

Hard drive overheating

Symptoms: unexpected computer freeze, clicking sound from the system unit, Windows will not load, read/write errors.

Consequences: Usually, symptoms of an overheated hard drive appear only when overheating has done its dirty work. In this case, if you want to recover data from your hard drive, there is only one way - to the service center. The hard drives themselves cannot be repaired, but there is a chance to “pull” data out of it.

Power supply overheating

Symptoms: burning smell while the computer is running, does not turn on or turns off immediately after turning on, unexpected reboots and shutdowns, freezing while playing games or watching videos.

Consequences: overheating threatens the failure of the power supply components; repairs at a service center are not expensive.

Overheating of the chipset on the motherboard

Symptoms: unexpected disconnection of the keyboard, mouse, failure USB operation, connection to the hard drive, disk drives is lost, the computer freezes, spontaneous shutdowns, reboots.

Consequences: like a processor, a chipset (what it is, see Wikipedia) can also degrade. If you don’t keep track of the temperature of the motherboard, you will have to buy a new one, because... repairs are very expensive.

Overheating of other computer components

Various batteries scattered around the motherboard also heat up. In the photo above, radiators are installed on and near them for more efficient cooling. Unfortunately, manufacturers often save money and do not install the required cooling, counting on the fact that the motherboard will only operate in “normal” operating mode (without overclocking the processor), relying on air cooling. Therefore, there is always at least one fan in the case must be installed to cool components through air movement.

Of course, the matter is not limited to all these symptoms. I have listed only the most popular ones.

Why does your computer slow down due to overheating?

The most common symptom of overheating is “brakes” while the computer is running. Usually they do not appear immediately after turning on the computer, but after several minutes or even hours of operation (when the processor heats up to a critical temperature).

At high temperatures, the processor slows down its performance, causing its temperature to drop or at least not rise higher permissible limit. This process is called "throttling". The “permissible temperature” of the processor can be anything - 65 degrees, 70, 80, etc., depending on the model.

Throttling works on both modern processors and video cards. Therefore, if games freeze or slow down a few minutes after launch, it is almost certainly overheating.

Why does the computer restart due to overheating?

Windows is difficult software package. If somewhere the processor produces an incorrect result in calculations (and they will certainly be due to overheating), then everything “collapses”. The consequence of such a failure will be BSOD (from the English Blue Screen of Death - “ blue screen of death").

You can download the program for free from its home page (the size is less than half a megabyte).

About temperature measurement errors

The sensors in the computer are not calibrated. This means that the actual temperature may differ by several degrees. Example: the video card heats up to 60 degrees, but the limit for it is 70. However, games begin to slow down after some time. This means that the sensor clearly does not display the real temperature and overheating occurs.

Checking CPU Temperature

Depending on the processor model, the number and location of temperature sensors may differ.

For example, let's measure the processor temperature Intel Core i7-2600K. This processor has 4 physical cores, so we have 5 temperature sensors: one for each core and the remaining one on the motherboard nearby:

In the screenshot CPU Core- sensors showing the real temperature of the cores, CPU Package- sensor near the processor on the motherboard. Thus, to find out the temperature of the processor, you should look at “CPU Core” (if there is such an item). For the processor from the screenshot above, the maximum permissible temperature is as much as 90 degrees (). However, this temperature is not acceptable for all processors. Sometimes 65 degrees Celsius is the limit after which processor degradation begins.

To detect overheating you need to load the processor with a heavy task and measure the temperature under the load. For example, games will do, preferably newer ones. Play the game for half an hour, then watch the column Max in the program window. To find out the maximum permissible processor temperature, search for information on Google or Yandex specifically for your model: “maximum processor temperature ( processor model)».

For those who don't know what processor is installed in your computer: the model will be written in the Open Hardware Monitor program opposite the green processor icon:

Checking the video card temperature

As with the processor, the temperature of the graphics card components can vary depending on the load. Measurement only maximum temperature will help calculate overheating. Therefore, the video card needs to be loaded with something. The simplest way- launch any game and play a little (half an hour is usually enough) with running program Open Hardware Monitor. In a collumn Max The maximum temperature will be recorded:

The screenshot shows that this computer The temperature of the video card under load did not exceed 53 degrees, which is very good result. Typically, a video card temperature of up to 60 degrees is considered normal. In certain cases it can even reach 90 degrees, but this moment needs to be clarified, by typing into Google a query like “maximum video card temperature ( video card name)».

It may turn out that it is the overheating of the video card that is the cause of the computer’s brakes and unexpected reboots.

Checking the motherboard temperature

Temperature sensors are displayed in the section dedicated to the motherboard. Here is a screenshot, pay attention to the icon:

Everyone's motherboard is different, the names and number of sensors vary. No sensor should exceed 50 degrees Celsius. Although in some cases 50 is already a lot.

The instructions for the motherboard often indicate the maximum permissible temperatures for the chipset. If you do not have instructions, download them from the official website of the motherboard manufacturer.

Checking the power supply temperature

If there are sensors in the power supply, they are only for automatic control of the fan rotation speed so that it does not make noise without load. Therefore, programmatically measure the temperature of the power supply it is forbidden. You need to touch the body of the system unit with your hands in the area of ​​the power supply - usually from the top back or bottom back. The power supply is connected to a cable from the outlet, so you can’t go wrong with the location. If the case is hot to the touch in this place or there is a smell of burning plastic coming out from there, this is overheating.

What to do if you overheat

There is only one answer: Clean the dust and change the thermal paste!

This matter must be approached wisely. If you do not have experience in this matter, consider contacting a service center:

Laptop with valid warranty: An authorized service center will clean it from dust free of charge (under warranty). If there are no authorized (branded) service centers, you can take it to the store where you purchased it with a complaint about overheating. In this case, the store itself will take care of it, sending it to its service center for diagnostics and (if dust is detected) cleaning. It is advisable to copy all important data from the laptop, because the service center can format the hard drive (of course, this is a “severe” case, but it happens). Also, be sure to document the transfer of the laptop for diagnostics - you cannot return the product to the store without clear documented reasons.

Laptop with expired warranty: Once the warranty has expired, it means your laptop is already more than a year old. Over such a period of time there will be a lot of dust in it. You can take it to any service center for cleaning. The service is relatively inexpensive - the most greedy service center charges no more than a thousand rubles for cleaning a laptop from dust.

With desktop computer under warranty the situation is similar. The store where they sold you the system unit must deal with overheating issues. Whether there is dust in the system unit or not, overheating must be eliminated to avoid damage.

Desktop without warranty(or expired) can also be cleaned for you at the service center. Of course, for money.

You can clean your desktop computer yourself - here are good instructions. However, remember - without proper knowledge and care, there is a high risk of breaking something. There are also good instructions for cleaning laptops from dust. The design of laptops varies from model to model, so most likely you will also have to look for disassembly instructions for your specific laptop model.

These tips are “cries from the soul.” A situation often occurs when a novice user starts cleaning a computer without understanding some of the subtleties. So I advise you to read and gain knowledge:

1. If you do not know where each computer component is located, it is better not to disassemble the computer. In the event of a breakdown, you will still have to contact the service center, but you will have to pay not only for cleaning, but also for repairs.
2. Carefully read the article about cleaning at the link above, and also look for other articles on the Internet.
3. If you want to remove the cooler, you will definitely need to apply thermal paste between the processor and the radiator. Not toothpaste(there are advanced cases), and the thermal interface. You can buy cheap KPT-8, sold in any store. computer equipment. And the fan is not lubricated with thermal paste (these are already advanced cases with acute exacerbation). The same applies to the video card, only there it is advisable to use better thermal paste.
4. When removing the cooler, there is no point in collecting and reapplying the thermal paste that was there - firstly, over time, the thermal paste loses its ability to effectively conduct heat, and secondly, when removing the cooler, dust falls on the thermal paste, which greatly worsens its thermal conductivity properties. You'll have to apply a new one.
5. The layer of thermal paste should be thin and not leak beyond the surface of the processor cover. You can’t apply too much either - if it doesn’t spread over the entire area of ​​the processor cover when it comes into contact with the heatsink, there won’t be high-quality heat dissipation. Understanding how much thermal paste to apply comes with experience. Useful links: one, two, three.
6. Instead of thermal paste, manufacturers can use thermal pads (“thermal rubber bands,” as some call them). In some cases, a thermal pad works more effectively than thermal paste - for example, if the distance between the radiator and the processor cover is more than a millimeter, they cannot press against each other. This is a common case in laptops. Useful link.
7. To cool the hard drive, you can place a fan of any size in the area of ​​the front panel of the system unit - usually there are mounts there. If not, fans are sold with mounting under the hard drive. Unfortunately, cheap models are noticeably noisy, so they are useful only as a last resort. It is easy to install - the screws are included, the fan is connected to the outputs from the power supply - Molex.
8. If the fan is noisy, it can be fixed, but not always. There are many instructions on the Internet for cleaning and lubricating fans.
9. Vacuuming computers and laptops is not recommended. Firstly, this is simply ineffective, and secondly, due to the powerful air movement, the dust will get into such hard-to-reach places that you won’t be able to get it out with a brush or cloth.
10. I also recommend that you familiarize yourself with this catalog of links: Air cooling (main topics) - a guide.

Useful information about fans and coolers

Cooler- this is a radiator plus a fan. This technical solution removes heat much more efficiently than if only the processor was blown fan. Coolers are usually installed on processors, video cards, and motherboard chipsets.

Fans(without a radiator) are placed in the case and power supplies. Some components simply require air movement to cool, i.e. banal airflow.

Cooling of components can also be passive- only a radiator is installed, the heat from which is lost due to the movement of air inside the system unit. On low-power video cards this common solution. Modern motherboards also have only passive cooling on their components.

An important point: passive cooling is useless if there is no air movement inside the computer case. Therefore, with passive cooling, at least a pair of fans - one for injection, the other for exhaust - must be installed in the case.

Of course, the pictures above do not show all possible models of cooling equipment. Human imagination is inexhaustible. There are also cooling using water, oil, liquid nitrogen, etc. All this is covered in the guide to cooling systems, the link to which I have already given above. If there are any points in the article that are unclear to you, write in the comments, I will try to answer and supplement the text.

In most cases, overheating of computers and laptops is manifested by the following symptoms:

Most important components- processor, hard drive, video card, power supply, motherboard

1. Diagnosis of the causes of overheating of a computer and laptop

1.1. CPU overheating

Signs of a problem: programs freeze, unexpected reboots or computer shutdowns, blue screen. The consequences of this condition are degradation of the chip; the processor may work, but with errors. If the processor has undergone degradation, it cannot be repaired, only thrown away.

1.2. Video card overheating

The computer freezes while watching a video; after a few minutes of playing, the computer restarts, a blue screen appears, graphic artifacts appear on the screen, the image disappears during operation, and a notification may appear.

As a result of this condition, the video card components are at risk of degradation.

1.3. Hard drive overheats

If the hard drive overheats, the computer suddenly freezes, clicking sounds are heard from the system unit, and the system does not boot. Typically, these signs appear when overheating has caused irreparable damage. If you want to restore data that was recorded on your hard drive, this can only be done through a service center. The hard drive itself cannot be repaired, but the information can be copied to another medium.

1.4. The power supply is overheating

Dangerous symptoms appear: a burning smell is felt during operation, it turns off immediately after startup, an unexpected reboot occurs, games or videos freeze. The consequence may be failure of the components of the power supply, but repairs to a service center will cost you little.

1.5. The chipset on the motherboard is overheating

If the chipset on the motherboard overheats, it manifests itself as follows: the keyboard and mouse turn off, USB refuses to work, there is no connection to the drives and hard drive, the computer freezes, and unexpected reboots occur. As a result, the chipset may degrade. If you do not monitor the temperature of the motherboard, you will subsequently have to buy a new one, since repairs are very expensive.

1.6. Overheating of other computer components

In addition to the above, various batteries on the motherboard heat up. For effective cooling, radiators must be installed on them. But some manufacturers, in order to save money, do not do this, expecting that the motherboard will work exclusively in normal mode. Therefore, at least one fan must be running to cool the components through natural air movement.

1.7. Reasons for computer slowdown due to overheating

Most often, overheating of a computer is manifested by its braking during operation. Usually this symptom is not visible immediately, but some time after turning on the computer. At very high temperatures, the processor does not work efficiently as it tries to lower the temperature. This process is called throttling. Depending on the model, the permissible processor temperature ranges from 65 to 80 degrees.

Throttling works on both modern processors and video cards. So if games freeze or slow down, it’s most likely overheating.

1.8. Reasons for computer restart due to overheating

Windows is a complex system. If one day the processor produces an error during calculations, then everything is disrupted. As a result, a BSOD failure will occur, or, more understandably, a “Blue Screen of Death.”

BSOD is a serious error that cannot be ignored. By default, the system is configured in such a way that when a BSOD is detected, the PC itself reboots. Thus, if overheating occurs, a blue screen appears and the computer restarts. However, it may just be a “blue screen of death”. The reboot process after the BSOD appears is disabled as follows: through the Control Panel, go to the System, then to Advanced system settings. In them, open Boot and Recovery - Settings, from the item Perform automatic reboot, you need to uncheck the box and confirm your decision.

In fact, there are many reasons for BSOD - malfunctioning drivers and programs, errors on the hard drive. 1.9. Over time, your computer gets hotter - why?

One of the reasons is depreciation of cooling components and dust. To clean radiators and other computer components, it is advisable to use fans that suck up settling dust. Overheating occurs also due to large accumulations of dust.

Over time, fans wear out and as a result they may become constantly noisy, spin at a slower speed, or stop altogether. The thermal conductivity of the thermal interface deteriorates. Thermal pastes and thermal pads, which ensure high-quality heat transfer from the processor to the heatsink, require cleaning and replacement.

2. We measure the temperature

There are many sensors inside the computer. They measure component temperature, voltage, and fan speed. Their exact amount varies depending on the components and their connection options. For example, a cooler with a rotation speed meter can be connected to both the motherboard and the power supply unit (PSU). Otherwise, the speed cannot be measured.

2.1. Open Hardware Monitor

The most convenient utility for determining the temperature of computer components is Open Hardware Monitor. It is capable of identifying many sensors and can show the temperature of the computer hardware, voltage and frequencies.

You can download the program for free from its home page.

2.2. Temperature measurement errors

The sensors that the computer is equipped with are not calibrated. Accordingly, the error between temperatures can be several degrees. For example, a video card heats up to sixty degrees, but the maximum for it is seventy. Games start to slow down only after a while. Consequently, the sensor does not display the actual temperature, and there is overheating.

2.3. How to check CPU temperature

Temperature sensors can be located in different ways. Their location is related to the processor model. For example, Intel processor The Core i7-2600K has four physical cores, so there are five temperature meters: one for each core and motherboard.

To find out the processor temperature, look at the CPU Core item, if available. To detect overheating, you should load the processor with a serious task and check the temperature under the load. New games are ideal for this. Play for half an hour and then look at the Max column in the program. To determine the maximum temperature of your processor, look for information in Yandex or another search engine. If you don't know what processor you have, the program shows the model next to the processor icon.

2.4. How to check the temperature of a video card

The temperature of the video card elements can be different, depending on the load. Measuring the maximum temperature will help determine overheating. Therefore, the video card must be loaded. An easy way is to launch the game and the Open Hardware Monitor program at the same time. In the Max column you can see the maximum temperature.

Typically, a video card temperature of up to sixty degrees is considered normal. In some cases, it can reach ninety degrees, but specific indicators need to be clarified. The reason for overheating of the video card may be braking and unexpected reboots of the computer.

2.5. How to check motherboard temperature

Temperature sensors can be found in the section dedicated to the motherboard. All computers have different boards, and the number and names of sensors also differ. But none should exceed fifty degrees.

And in some cases this is a lot. In the motherboard manual you can find information about the maximum permissible temperature for the chipset.

2.6. How to check the temperature of the power supply

The power supply may only have sensors to check the fan speed so that it does not make noise without load. Therefore, it is impossible to measure the temperature of the power supply programmatically. You should touch the body of the system unit with your hands. If it is hot or smells of burning or burning plastic, it is overheating.

3. What to do if you overheat

If it overheats, you need to change the thermal paste and clean the computer from dust. This needs to be done correctly. If you do not have relevant experience, it is recommended to use the services of a service center. Under warranty, the laptop will be cleaned of dust at an authorized center for free. If there is no service center, you can return it back to the store with a complaint about overheating. In this case, they will do the cleaning themselves. It is advisable to copy all the data from the laptop, as the service center can do this hard formatting disk. In addition, document the transfer of the laptop for diagnostics.

It's the same with a desktop computer. The problem of overheating should be dealt with by the store where the system unit was sold to you. Whether there is dust or not, overheating must be eliminated to avoid damage. In addition, you can clean the computer yourself, but without the appropriate knowledge and care, there is a high probability of breaking something.

3.1. Cleaning your computer yourself

If you have little understanding of the layout of computer parts, you should not disassemble it yourself. If a fault is detected, you will still have to take it to a service center.

If you remove the cooler, you must apply thermal paste between the processor and the radiator. You can use cheap KPT-8, which is sold in any specialized store. You should not collect and reuse the paste that was there, firstly, over time it loses its ability to effectively conduct heat, and secondly, when you remove the cooler, dust falls on the paste. Therefore, you will have to smear a new one. The layer should be thin and not flow beyond the surface of the lid and processor. A lack of paste will not allow for high-quality heat removal.

Instead of thermal paste, developers can use thermal rubber bands. In some cases, they are much more effective, for example, if the distance between two elements is more than a millimeter, the parts cannot press tightly against each other. This is especially common in laptops.

To cool the hard drive, you can place a fan on the front panel of the system unit; there are usually mounts for this. Vacuuming computers and laptops is not advisable. One reason is inefficiency. Also, due to the strong air flow, dust gets into hard-to-reach places and it will be impossible to get it out.

4. About fans and coolers

A cooler is a symbiosis of a radiator and a fan. This device removes heat more efficiently. Its location is video cards, processors, motherboard chipset. Conventional fans (without a radiator) are located in the case and power supply. Since certain components for cooling are simply enough air flow.

Cooling can also be passive - only the radiator works, the heat from which is lost due to the movement of air inside the system unit. This is often used on low-power video cards. Modern motherboards also only have passive cooling. But it is useless if there is no air movement inside the computer case. Therefore, with passive cooling, at least two fans must be installed in the case - one for exhaust, the other for injection.