Hey guys, I am running fsx on q9550 no OCing along with the gts250 512mb. Its summer time here but my room temp is not more than 35C. I have had no problems whatsoever and fsx runs smooth 25fps on my chosen settings. While on cruise in a flight I decided to run core temp and gpu-z and checkout the readings and I was puzzled and shocked at the same time (screenshot). I can hear the fan whirring up when switch to fsx. wasnt expecting cpu to get so hot with stock speeds and stock cooler. Should I believe these readings? strangely gpu usage is 0% with vid mem usage of only 300mb. Is gpuz incorrect too or is there unused potential in my card?

Dust in the cooler? Crappy or too little cooling paste (I

Dust in the cooler? Crappy or too little cooling paste (I

On a closer look I felt air in the cabinet was stagnant so I taped a missing funnel to left side wall towards the cpu fan to release fresh air closer to it. Now the max temp is not crossing 75C. Is it under safe limits now? also I was wondering if this temp can possibly affect performance and if lowering it further give me some more fps.

Yes it's safe! As long as the CPU temp stays below 90C you'll be safe and performance won't be affected. The CPU won't throttle down below 90C. When OC:ing you aim to not have CPU temps above 80C, which will give you a margin for hot summer days when the ambient temp goes up.Running the CPU OC:ed with high temps might shorten the lifespan with a year, so you might have to replace it within 9 years instead of 11 :( I'd recommend you to use OCCT to stress test your system to make sure it's stable. Keep the temps below 80C. I would guess that the CPU temp will go way over 80C with OCCT :(

You say your room temp is not more than 35 C. Is this a misprint? That's 95 degrees Fahrenheit! Having your PC in a cabinet is a bad idea. You're going to overheat it. I run the same CPU @ 4GHz and my temps only hit 70 degrees C running the most demanding CPU stress-test on the planet. FSX temps only reach the 50's.

You say your room temp is not more than 35 C. Is this a misprint? That's 95 degrees Fahrenheit! Having your PC in a cabinet is a bad idea. You're going to overheat it.

35C is in the worst case, mostly its like 27C-30C. the current outside peak temp is 40C. by cabinet I mean the cpu case itself. b4 adding the funnel cpu fan was mostly getting the hot gpu air.The card is dual slot design but its fins on the upper level (pic) are throwing air inside the case itself causing most of the heat. any suggestions on how to fix that?

35C is in the worst case, mostly its like 27C-30C. the current outside peak temp is 40C. by cabinet I mean the cpu case itself. b4 adding the funnel cpu fan was mostly getting the hot gpu air.The card is dual slot design but its fins on the upper level (pic) are throwing air inside the case itself causing most of the heat. any suggestions on how to fix that?

Sorry, I have no idea what you mean about using a funnel in your PC.The combo of high ambient temps plus the notoriously crappy stock fan isn't a great one. You might try opening up the side of the case and using a small house fan to blow into the case interior...if it helps significantly, then poor cabinet airflow is also a contributory culprit, and you might consider adding fans or putting the PC into a different case...or leave the side off and run it that way in the summer months. Bad airflow, if it exists, also is bad for other components of the system that have no temp monitoring--the hard drives and power supply in particular.A decent aftermarket CPU cooler wouldn't be a bad idea, either.Bottom line, 75 deg C is liveable, but could be an indicator of more far-reaching thermal stress in your PC. I'd look a little deeper into it.CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Sorry, I have no idea what you mean about using a funnel in your PC.The combo of high ambient temps plus the notoriously crappy stock fan isn't a great one. You might try opening up the side of the case and using a small house fan to blow into the case interior...if it helps significantly, then poor cabinet airflow is also a contributory culprit, and you might consider adding fans or putting the PC into a different case...or leave the side off and run it that way in the summer months. Bad airflow, if it exists, also is bad for other components of the system that have no temp monitoring--the hard drives and power supply in particular.A decent aftermarket CPU cooler wouldn't be a bad idea, either.Bottom line, 75 deg C is liveable, but could be an indicator of more far-reaching thermal stress in your PC. I'd look a little deeper into it.CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

its not a funnel exactly, duct maybe the right word. Here's the situation in the pic, its mouth is over the fan when the side is set. the duct is helping it a bit to avoid hot gpu air from below. smart values showing current idle hdd temp 46C and worst 55C.the only thing I am able to zero on is those openings on the card (pic in previous post) blowing hot air in. right now its idling at 64C, CPU at 45C.

Very innovative, making the most of what you have! If you can keep those temperatures where they are now, and if potential noise from stock cooler isn

I

Uhmmmm. Is that just a really poor quality picture, or are all the components just caked in dirt and dust?

Uhmmmm. Is that just a really poor quality picture, or are all the components just caked in dirt and dust?

YIKES!! You have what amounts to a thermal blanket on your components with all that dirt in there...no amount of case airflow can effectively cool off a board covered in that much dust!You need to unplug the PC from any path to ground (power outlets, connections to other powered components), take a clean paint brush and dust off the interior, then finish with compressed air or a powerful fan. If there is dirt collected on your CPU heatsink fins anything like what's on the video card and the rear exhaust fan, it's no wonder at all that your temps are high.Also, if that homemade shroud doesn't have an exhaust fan inside it, it's probably not helping cool the CPU at all.RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

I admit the image quality is bad. Its not that much dust, those are grains from my crappy cell phone camera I used for taking a quick pic.I tried fitting the fan for inward flow on the side but it was really noisy in that position. so I installed it on the rear instead, hoping the draught will cause some flow through the duct.