My most profound apologies to Carenado. My problems were absolutely NOTHING to do with them. It turned out that my overclocked i7 920 got too hot and rightfully decided it was best to revert to 2.7Ghz instead of the 4.2Ghz it has been very happy with for the last 2 years!

Why the sudden dislike of the o/c? A look inside at the CPU cooler (Noctua something) I noticed an inordinate amount of FILTH! :blush2:  Checking the temperatures showed a high of 85C when running FSX and a low of 60C when sitting on it's thumbs.

So, a bucket of warm soapy water, an industrial strength scrubbing brush and a determined glint in my eye I set to for a bit of spring cleaning. :rolleyes:

Half an hour later I fired 'er up. Idling temps now 45C and with FSX running an average of 63ishC and she never went over 71C. Oh, she's back to 4.2Ghz. :good:

Lesson learned. Keep it clean and don't jump to conclusions.

Now that sounds like a scenario that I can immediately relate to...

 

Good you got it fixed - and happy flying!!

I periodically soak my CPU in a warm bath overnight, then put it out on the black asphalt roof for a few hours to dry it out....

 

Hint: this is a joke. Knowing the Internet, I just realized someone might read this and actually do it.

 

 

Hint: this is a joke. Knowing the Internet, I just realized someone might read this and actually do it.

Yeah, sad ain't it? :rolleyes:

I recommend the use of compressed air every few months. While it may feel a bit uneconomical to buy canned air, it works really well as long as you don't let too much dust build up.

 

Another thing is to use dust filters. I removed my side panel fan because all it did was spray fine dust particles all over my video and audio cards. Now I just have the front and bottom fans for intake which have filters. Temps didn't increase either. Also make sure you have a positive air pressure (more intakes than exhausts), otherwise dusty air will get sucked in through vents etc.