My current PC specs:
Windows XP Home Edition
512 mb PC2700 RAM
Asus A7V8X-X Motherboard
Inno 3D Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 128 mb. (I know this is a shitty mistake but I’m a noob, so I’m sorry)
Athlon XP 2500 (2 gigs)
I’m having problems with my processor. It overheats ridiculously. What’s more irritating is, it needs to run at an underclocked 1.8 gigs to be more stable, otherwise my PC will auto shutdown after a few seconds.
Now, I’m not familiar with processor overheating, but is this already expected from my processor who’s 3 years old at least and is barely beyond the 2 gig mark?
I’ve done preventive measures such as putting some fans (now, I have 2 exhaust fans at the back, 1 that’s mounted on top of the processor, blowing it directly, and another one at the left side of the ATX case, blowing air towards the processor).
It’s now more stable but it still shuts down when I do processor extensive routines such as video encoding.
Somebody told me to put a thermal paste (which I’m barely aware of) to the processor. But since I’m so pissed off with the Athlon XP alerady, I’m planning to overhaul almost my entire PC specs:
Anyway, I just replaced my old combo drive with a new DVD writer since its DVD reader can no longer read newer DVD-R formats. It works fine but I noticed that my PC shuts down more often after its replacement. I dunno if the DVD writer demands more power or processing load from the CPU. Anyway, I’ve already replaced my 350W power supply with a 500W power supply so the new power supply couldn’t be the culprit.
It’s probably the CPU and it needs major overhauling. Yeah sure, it doesn’t have a thermal paste and my room is not air-conditioned but the number of shutdowns I’m experiencing is a bit brutal for a CPU that’s underclocked to 1.8 gigs.
Anyway, my plan for replacements.
Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 gigs
512 MB DDR2 RAM
MSI P4M900M-L Motherboard
Palit Nvidia Geforce 7300GT 256 MB 128 bit PCIE
Some questions:
- How’s Intel Core 2 Duo’s heat generation compared to Athlon XP 2500?
- Is the use of a thermal paste mandatory for this one?
- My motherboard choice is a random one. What are your thoughts on this?
Some notes:
Anyway, I live in the Philippines so pardon me if you’re not familiar with some of the things that I listed, e.g., INNO3D.