DVD/Extracted DVD File(s) Heat Issue (?) Ack!

[siouxdax]

Hello all:
I know this is sort of off-topic, but I post this here because I trust each and every one of you and I know you'd never steer me wrong. So here goes:

I just recently have been dealing with playing DVDs on my desktop. Not just physical DVDs, but extracted ISOs and such as well. It seems that the ambient temperature of the room is making the video freeze up, forcing me to kill the process then try again later. I live in a third-floor apartment (getting all the heat from tenants below me), with all of my windows facing west, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. So I'm sure you can imagine that it gets a tad warm. I have a thermometer in my bedroom (where the PC is). If the temperature rises above 79 degrees Fahrenheit, the video freezes. Initially this was just when I played physical DVDs, so I tried extracting one to hard drive and play it from there. Same issue crops up.

So I dug around my program files (I don't have all my program files listed in my Start Menu), and found SpeedFan 4.34. It reports the hard drive as around 145 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

So my questions is this: is it really the temperature that's causing this (not just coincidence)? And is it the video card that's doing the freezing? My video card is NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 running on Windows XP SP3, Intel Pentium D CPU 2.66GHz 3.0GHz 1GB RAM. I've tried various programs to play the DVDs/Extracted files, including WinDVD 8 Platinum, VLC Player, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center.

As always, any help/input/suggestions are very much appreciated. Let me know if you need more info...

[MilesAhead]

Try asking on this site:
http://forum.digital-digest.com/

Put Attn: Chewy in the subj line.  I'm sure he could give some good ideas for system cooling as he's into overclocking. He's a mod on that site.  If he's not around there are other posters there who build their own rigs and they will help you out.

[4wd]

So I dug around my program files (I don't have all my program files listed in my Start Menu), and found SpeedFan 4.34. It reports the hard drive as around 145 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

79F = ~26C which is a pleasant day here, (Melbourne, Australia), I've never seen my HDDs running, (at the most), more than approx. 10C above the ambient temperature - and usually only 5C above.

Yours are indicating running at almost double the ambient temperature, which indicates some serious cooling problems, (or possibly HDD mechanical problems but one thing at a time).

One thing you can try is take the side panel off of the PC and sit a normal 12" room fan to blow into it and see if that helps.  If it does, you probably need to sort out better cooling for your case, video card, drives and CPU.

I see you mention a Pentium D 2.66GHz and then 3GHz: Does this mean it's overclocked and have you tried returning it to it's normal clocking?

When was the last time the PC was thoroughly cleaned of dust, (heatsinks, fans, PSU, everything) ?

And before someone jumps on me - I do not recommend cleaning it yourself, (especially the PSU), if you're not technically oriented and competent - the PSU can kill you even when turned off and disconnected from the mains.

Oh, if you do feel inclined to clean your PC internals, please don't hold the vacuum near a fan just to see how fast it will spin - it could mean a early death for something.

[Shades]

I would actually say that from all PC's I have repaired here, had problems because of the heat from the GeForce 5000 range. When I replaced the videocard on those machines with any model of GeForce (except the 5000 range) problems would disappear snow for the sun. Those cards are nice for standard office work, but nothing more than that.

Likely your card is passively cooled (without rotating fan), combined with high ambient temperature and reasonable heavy duty processing the card becomes a baking plate in seconds.

Spent some cash and buy a new or secondhand GeForce from the 6000/8000 range or go for ATI Radeon cards. Those are cheap and have quite some 'punch' for their price.

[siouxdax]

Hello all:
Thank you all so much for your input. I'll take a gander inside the case and see what's up, and check on the capacitors. About a year ago a friend of mine (who does most of the physical work on my PCs) installed a 'bitchin' fan into my desktop. Temperature has never been an issue until this month. I'll also ask him to look at things as well.

As far as a new video card is concerned, I did have an ATI Radeon card in, but my friend insisted that the GeForce 5200 was better for my needs. I use my desktop for video of all sorts, and some graphic-intensive gaming (The Sims). Looks like I'll have to totally re-evaluate the current configuration.

I asked my friend if he over-clocked the desktop; he said no. So that can be ruled out.

If I can get these things done in a timely fashion I will report back here to this thread with the results. Unfortunately I can't afford a new video card, but I'm sure I can work something out. I always manage to...

Thanks again, folks! You guys rock, as usual!