New game makes my PC overheat...

[firepyre]

You could probably change a heatsink with help from a videocall. It's fairly easy to do. Most hardware stuff is. They practically slot together like lego.

The problem is, even if you change it, it may not fix it. If heat transfer to the internal heat spreader is the problem, you probably need to replace the CPU instead. In which case you have basically been royally screwed by intel, since upgrading the cpu, in your case, would mean almost starting from scratch.

[Beorning]

But if it's a heatsink problem, then why didn't it come up with other games? I have Pillars of Eternity and it's working fine. And it seems to have higher CPU requirements than Tyranny - if official specs are to be believed, at least.

Are there any stress tests over at the web where I could check how my CPU deals with high load?

[Oniya]

There are a few CPU benchmarking programs out there - not web-based, but usually a small download of a program that does a lot of calculations, like calculating a few million digits of pi, fast Fourier transforms, or Mersenne primes.  Combining one of these with a temperature monitor (like the one you've been using), and you should be able to see how your CPU is performing under stress.

http://www.pcgamer.com/the-best-benchmarking-tools-for-testing-your-cpu/

[firepyre]

The ariticle above is more focused on finding out how fast your processor is. That said, prime95 is mentioned which is pretty much the go to for stress testing. You'll want to look for the  torture test option and then small ftts, which will stress your cpu most. Below is the link for prime95, as well as a link that has a basic rundown of stress testing.

http://www.mersenne.org/download/

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2028882/keep-it-stable-stupid-how-to-stress-test-your-pc-hardware.html

[Nessy]

But if it's a heatsink problem, then why didn't it come up with other games? I have Pillars of Eternity and it's working fine. And it seems to have higher CPU requirements than Tyranny - if official specs are to be believed, at least.

Are there any stress tests over at the web where I could check how my CPU deals with high load?

Some games offload the work on to the GPU better than others do. Tyranny is a Nov 2016 release... which is fairly recent. They might have a problem that can be patched out too. I didn't think a game should access a CPU in that way to cause it harm.... To be clear, your CPU can handle heats at greater than 80C. It can actually do a fair bit more before physical damage occurs, but over time, running it like that is going to cause undo stress and wear. Software not running properly though and causing hardware issues... it's happened before just not common.

Stress testing is an excellent way to verify the problem though. We're doing educated guesses based on the symptoms provided.

[Beorning]

Okay, I'll try this. Any advice on stress-testing? How do these programs work - would they turn themselves off when the PC goes too hot? Or do I need to keep watch and stop the test manually?

[Nessy]

Okay, I'll try this. Any advice on stress-testing? How do these programs work - would they turn themselves off when the PC goes too hot? Or do I need to keep watch and stop the test manually?

Your CPU / BIOS should have a built in kill switch outside of the software. If you actually hit dangerous levels, the whole system should just shut down rather than burn up on it's own. I've had this happen to me a few years ago when I may have, slightly, accidentally not seated the heatsink properly. I've also overclocked my system too and had a similar result. It's an auto-shut-off mechanism that should be in place for every modern system.

summary: Aka, it shouldn't allow your hardware to heat to the point of actually melting and instead just shut off suddenly when it reaches a certain temperature.

[Oniya]

That said, it might not be a bad idea to keep an eye on it, so you know how long it can run without reaching 'bad' temperatures.

[Beorning]

Okay, what the hell?

I tried using that Prime95 thing. I chose the "small numbers" option (the one that's supposed to generate maximum heat). I started the test and my CPU temp app gave an overheat warning about 1 second! In about 3 seconds, the CPU reached 99 C!

What is that thing???

[Oniya]

The program is a mathematical search for a certain type of prime number.  The reason that it is used as a stress test is that it does a lot of calculations to do so.  This is purely CPU activity (your GPU isn't involved in the crunching.)

[Beorning]

That I know - but the instructions say to have it run for a few hours. So, I gather that it shouldn't be overheating my PC in a matter of a few seconds..?

[Nessy]

That I know - but the instructions say to have it run for a few hours. So, I gather that it shouldn't be overheating my PC in a matter of a few seconds..?

Nope it certainly should not.  Do you have anyone near who is comfortable with opening your computer and looking at your hardware. I only ask because i get the impression you're not. I have questions about your heatsink... thermal paste should not just wear away, but I am wondering if something got knocked loose or maybe the fan isn't spinning. Did you happen to see if the fan was spinning? Aka it's not the test I'm sure.

[Beorning]

Hmm. I do know how to open the PC, I do it occassionally. What I'm not comfortable with is fidding with the inside too much, as these components look so fragile...

What would you like to know about the heatsink?

[Nessy]

Hmm. I do know how to open the PC, I do it occassionally. What I'm not comfortable with is fidding with the inside too much, as these components look so fragile...

What would you like to know about the heatsink?

When your PC is on, the fan is spinning right?

If the heatsink is not seated properly, or for some weird reason the thermal paste is not there (been building systems since 2000, haven't seen this yet), the heat won't be distributed properly, aka the heat won't distribute.

I mean your idle temperatures (when you're not gaming, watching videos and stuff), should be maybe... 10 above room temperature, maybe more depending on your airflow and case crowding... for your CPU to hit 99C though it seems like you need someone to help you make sure that heatsink is doing it's job... and if it's not you can replace it.

[Beorning]

Argh. I really don't know what's going with this PC anymore. It seems to hit 60 - 70 C when visiting sites with many animated banners, like Wikia. And even when it's relatively cold, it still is working loudly...

I have no idea what to do with it anymore...

BTW. I'd be interested in your opinion, guys: let's say I was to buy a completely new PC. I would like the new PC to run games at 1920 x 1080, on high settings. I'd like to run current games and remain viable in that respect for the next few years. What configuration should I be looking for?

[firepyre]

Did you end up trying anything with the heatsink yet?


As for the new PC:

What's your budget, and do you have anyone to build it for you, or are you needing a prebuilt one? What do you tend to use your PC for? Do you want new, or can it be a second hand machine?

[Beorning]

Did you end up trying anything with the heatsink yet?

Not yet. I'll be trying to remove it and apply thermal paste to it on Tuesday or so...

As for the new PC:

What's your budget, and do you have anyone to build it for you, or are you needing a prebuilt one? What do you tend to use your PC for? Do you want new, or can it be a second hand machine?

Well, technically, I don't have a budget yet, as I still need to secure funds for this hypothetical new PC. The reason I'm asking is, in part,  to see how much money I'd need to buy the PC I need.

As for your other questions, I think I'd prefer to buy a new, prebuilt PC. I'd like to use for gaming - well, not only that, but I want this PC to run modern games and to do it well.

[Nessy]

Well, technically, I don't have a budget yet, as I still need to secure funds for this hypothetical new PC. The reason I'm asking is, in part,  to see how much money I'd need to buy the PC I need.

There are a lot of affordable options to do what you're asking for. You're basically looking for Blu-Ray kind of quality graphics while the top end is obsessed with 4K and VR. The nVidia 1060 cards can do what you're asking for in most cases, and if at any point the GPU is your limit, you can replace it without doing the whole machine... it's just a card.

Having said that, it might be early to feel you HAVE to buy a new system. If you're CPU is overheating, it's going to do so 100% of the time.... but it's not going to work very hard always so it won't be noticeable always. If you hit those temps often enough... you risk damaging you're hardware too.

Budget system approximate 600-700 ; Midrange maybe around 1400-1500, top tier is around 3k. This is just for the box itself in USD and not likely using any super slick deals... aka you're building it yourself at roughly retail price. Again rough estimates, RAM prices are currently on the rise but that's not something to be too alarmed about.

please note: pre-built systems could be a lot higher or even lower too.

[Beorning]

Ha! Let's say, then, then I buy GeForce 1060 and expand RAM to 8 GBs. Would that be enough for me to play modern games in good quality?

Regarding the overheating issue - uhm, so... I faced my fears today and applied new thermal paste to the CPU today. The result is that the base temperature dropped to 35 - 40 C and the animation - intensive webpages aren't overheating the PC anymore. As for Tyranny - it... also seems to run at acceptable temperatures! Around 55 C, actually. Although the cooler does start working louder when the game is on, so I'm still not sure if it's okay to run the game...

Anyway, it seems that I need to recant every curse I issued at the Paradox and Cenega techs: I did have a cooling problem after all...

[Nessy]

Ha! Let's say, then, then I buy GeForce 1060 and expand RAM to 8 GBs. Would that be enough for me to play modern games in good quality?

Regarding the overheating issue - uhm, so... I faced my fears today and applied new thermal paste to the CPU today. The result is that the base temperature dropped to 35 - 40 C and the animation - intensive webpages aren't overheating the PC anymore. As for Tyranny - it... also seems to run at acceptable temperatures! Around 55 C, actually. Although the cooler does start working louder when the game is on, so I'm still not sure if it's okay to run the game...

Anyway, it seems that I need to recant every curse I issued at the Paradox and Cenega techs: I did have a cooling problem after all...

If you mean the fan starts spinning when you're playing Tyranny, that's normal! The fans are "smart" so to speak. They're only going to go fast when they need to, so you don't normally hear the video cards fan spinning much outside of gaming or something like graphic design. CPU fans you don't normally hear too often if you get dusty or you have a big one. Anyway hearing your fans is often a sign of a cheaper (plastic) or thinner case (metal), not an issue with the fans themselves.

As for 1060, the 1060 is a modern card. I built my system in 2012, just slapped a RX480 in it a few weeks ago. That's the AMD competitor to 1060. I did have to do a firmware update for the card, but otherwise it should keep me going a year or two so long as everyone else holds up. 55C and 60C are fine, perfectly acceptable. If you're still concerned about that you can run the test again and   it should never hit 99C.

It's always hard to recommend what people should buy, but a 1060 isn't just a good budget card, it's just good overall for anything but 4k gaming, anything higher is going to hit you around $400. More ram is good, and if you're at 4GB, i would think 8 will give you noticeable improvements, not just in gaming.

[Beorning]

What about the CPU, though? I asked around and I was told that with i5-2300 and with a 5 y.o. motherboard, I would better off simply buying a completely new PC...

BTW. Speaking of new CPUs: do you guys happen to know what's the difference between i7-6700 (3.4 GHz) and i7-76700K (4.0 GHz)? I understand that the latter is better, but how much better?

[Nessy]

What about the CPU, though? I asked around and I was told that with i5-2300 and with a 5 y.o. motherboard, I would better off simply buying a completely new PC...

BTW. Speaking of new CPUs: do you guys happen to know what's the difference between i7-6700 (3.4 GHz) and i7-76700K (4.0 GHz)? I understand that the latter is better, but how much better?

The CPU is okay. You're going to run into some trouble with the games that have some beefy requirements like Conan Exiles. It's all a matter of do you want to spend the money now or just patch it up for another year or two and do it later.

Usually the most notable difference between the Intel XXXX CPUS and XXXXK CPUS is overclocking ability, aka the K version usually lets you do more and has more unlocked settings than the non-K version. Based on our conversation, I doubt you'll be doing  much overclocking. If the price is close though it could be worth it if you ever decide to do it later.

[Beorning]

Hmm. I've looked at the requirements for some games and I really don't think my CPU is okay anymore... I certainly won't be running Witcher 3 with it, even if I got the best graphics card.

I guess it *is* time to buy a new PC. I mean, what's the point of buying GeForce 1070 + more RAM for $700 now and spending the same amount of money later, if I could buy a whole PC with i5-6600 + GeForce 1070 + 16 GB RAM (which, from what I've read on various benchmarking sites, should be a really good modern PC able to run anything) for $1400?

[Nessy]

Hmm. I've looked at the requirements for some games and I really don't think my CPU is okay anymore... I certainly won't be running Witcher 3 with it, even if I got the best graphics card.

I guess it *is* time to buy a new PC. I mean, what's the point of buying GeForce 1070 + more RAM for $700 now and spending the same amount of money later, if I could buy a whole PC with i5-6600 + GeForce 1070 + 16 GB RAM (which, from what I've read on various benchmarking sites, should be a really good modern PC able to run anything) for $1400?

I would not recommend buying 1070 and more RAM. That's why I mentioned the 1060.  You'd be better off with a new system and a 1060 over an older system than a 1070 because... you can always replace the 1060 later. All of this based on the assumption you don't want to spend 1200+ today. If you do, or more like, if you are ready to spend that much then it's a matter of spending some time on reading about what you want and see if there are any changes in technology around the corner.

I just assumed you'd rather spend say 300 now and take your time with deciding about a new build, but if you've got it then by all means spend some time reading about what's out there. I assume this will be a prebuilt system of some kind and a desktop. The laptop route is a different animal and a little bit more.

I often use PC Gamer as a guide, not an authority, to give you an idea of where things are at right now:

http://www.pcgamer.com/best-gaming-pc/

[Beorning]

Admittedly, I don't quite know what I want at this stage... I haven't been planning to buy a new PC this year. On the other hand, all this madness I went through with Tyranny really made me realize that my PC is getting old and may soon not to be able to run anything new. I mean, I was hoping to get Tides of Numenera, but I checked the game's system requirements and I'm not sure my PC even fits the minimum requirements...

Argh. Decisions, decisions :(