# How to determine if my PC has a heating problem?



## spoinkquest (Oct 4, 2012)

My 10 year old computer is slow. Or atleast gets slower the longer it has been since startup. To try to make it faster I removed everything that is not important and also changed the graphics theme to the oldest windows but it is still pretty slow.

Now I found out that pc's automatically slow down if they get too hot to prevent damage. And my PC constantly sounds like the fan is spinning it's hardest. So could it be a problem with some hardware or software that is causing the slowness.

Or could it be other things? I wanted to figure that out. Help me please.


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## kendallt (Feb 21, 2007)

Could just need to be cleaned out, canned air is the most convenient if you don't have an air compressor.


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## spoinkquest (Oct 4, 2012)

I already cleaned it. Could the fans be malfunctioning in any way?


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## VividProfessional (Apr 29, 2009)

hve you tried running the PC with your case open - are the fans running properly without make rumbling noises? if they are they may need replacing


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Did you check how much space is available on your hard drive.


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## Deejay100six (Nov 24, 2007)

To answer your original question, look in your BIOS to check temperatures.

For a more thorough investigation, read this, How to check your system temperatures - Tech Support Forum

Speccy will also give your basic temp readings and may also show us if you're running anything that might be causing the issue.


Please download Speccy System Information Tool and save it to somewhere convenient such as your desktop.

Close any programs that may be running including your browser and double click *Speccy.exe* to run the tool.

Watch out for any offers to install other programs such as google chrome and untick the box(es) if you don't want them.

Speccy will very quickly scan your pc and create a report.

Top left of screen click file and select *Publish Snapshot...*

Click *Yes* to proceed.

Copy the URL to your clipboard and paste it into your next reply.


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## Bill_Bright (Dec 17, 2004)

Speccy is a nice tool too because you can have it sit in your system tray and constantly monitor your temps. 

What version of Windows are you running on this 10 year old computer? How much RAM is installed? And as joeten asked, how much free disk space? 

Note it is essential to have decent security running these days so along with Windows itself, a nice amount of RAM is needed just for adequate performance. And Windows needs a nice big chunk of free disk space just to operate in as it opens and closes files and creates and uses temporary files. 

I am not too keen on just opening the side panel to see if temps go down because that side panel is actually used to channel the air into a desired front to back flow through the case. So by all means, open the side panel to inspect for heat-trapping dust build up and to make sure your fans are all spinning. But then blast a desk fan in there for cooling. 

Have you scanned for malware? Have you cleaned out the clutter with Windows Disk Cleanup or CCleaner (from the same makers as Speccy)?


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## spoinkquest (Oct 4, 2012)

Dave Cummings said:


> hve you tried running the PC with your case open - are the fans running properly without make rumbling noises? if they are they may need replacing


I will try this tomorrow


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## spoinkquest (Oct 4, 2012)

joeten said:


> Did you check how much space is available on your hard drive.


Yes out of 80 GBs, 75 are available.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Thank you, that is fine on space, please see post 7 for some other points to check.


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## spoinkquest (Oct 4, 2012)

I can't run either of those programs you suggested because a few hours ago I replaced windows with linux. That did make the pc a bit faster but still the fans make noise and I want to make sure there's no heating issue


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

Boot in to the BIOS, it should show the system temps in there under Health or similar.


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## Bill_Bright (Dec 17, 2004)

I agree the BIOS should show PC health, but I note running the BIOS Setup Menu is probably the least demanding task we can ask of our computers. If the temps are high in the BIOS, you definitely have heat problems. But if they are low in the BIOS, you still don't know how effective your cooling is when the computer is being tasked. 

As far as monitoring temps with Linux, I have too limited experience. I recommend Google or visiting a Linux oriented site - unless others here have suggestions.


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

Bill_Bright said:


> I agree the BIOS should show PC health, but I note running the BIOS Setup Menu is probably the least demanding task we can ask of our computers. If the temps are high in the BIOS, you definitely have heat problems. But if they are low in the BIOS, you still don't know how effective your cooling is when the computer is being tasked.


My error, I meant after running the system for a period of time doing normal tasks, then reboot and enter the BIOS to check the temps.
I guess thinking and writing that are two different things :facepalm: :uhoh:


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## Bill_Bright (Dec 17, 2004)

> My error, I meant after running the system for a period of time doing normal tasks, then reboot and enter the BIOS to check the temps.


Except, sadly, that still will not work. 

Note a CPU can go from cool to over heated in just a few clock cycles. And with ~3 billion clock cycles per second with your typical 3GHz CPU, that's pretty darn quick. 

Conversely, a CPU can cool down just as quickly - especially since the fans will still be spinning during that reboot.

So the only way to really measure temps while the system is under load is to actually measure them while the system is _still_ under load.


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## spoinkquest (Oct 4, 2012)

An off topic question but soon a processor I ordered is going to be delivered. Do I have to put any glue or paste on top of it when correctly fitting it because that's what I heard?


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## Bill_Bright (Dec 17, 2004)

You must ALWAYS have a proper layer of TIM (thermal interface material) applied between the processor and the heatsink. This is critical!

If your new CPU is coming with a HSF (heatsink fan) assembly, it will most likely have a TIM pad already applied to the heatsink. You just remove the protective cover first. 

If you will be reusing your current cooler, you MUST thoroughly clean off the old TIM. NEVER EVER reuse TIM. I use 91-93% isopropyl alcohol with a lint free cloth. Then apply a fresh new layer of TIM. Remember, the purpose of TIM is to fill the microscopic pits and valleys in the mating surfaces to push out and prevent any insolating air from getting trapped between the device and its heatsink. Any excess TIM is actually in the way and counterproductive the most efficient transfer of heat. So you need to apply as thin a layer as possible while achieving complete coverage of the CPU die. I snip off the end of a plastic shaft cotton swab, then bend over about 1/2 inch to form a hockey stick applicator. Then apply a small rice size dab of TIM and spread it over the die like icing a cake. 

Be sure to unplug the computer from the wall and touch bare metal of the case interior BEFORE (and frequently thereafter) reaching in to discharge any static in your body.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

No one has asked the age of the hard drive and an 80Gb hard drive still in use which might have been warranted for 3 years is still running and you don't understand why the pc is running slow? Is the hard drive original? 
BTW is it still running slowly on Linux? That would be really strange.


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## spoinkquest (Oct 4, 2012)

Rich-M said:


> No one has asked the age of the hard drive and an 80Gb hard drive still in use which might have been warranted for 3 years is still running and you don't understand why the pc is running slow? Is the hard drive original?
> BTW is it still running slowly on Linux? That would be really strange.


Yes it's still running slow on linux. And I thought only SSDs got worse with time and HDDs remained as they were. Or is it the other way around?

And thank you everyone, I found tons of dust and webs in the metal sheets between the fan and the cpu and now it is not making noise anymore. But it's still slow and I'm still sad.


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## Bill_Bright (Dec 17, 2004)

> And I thought only SSDs got worse with time and HDDs remained as they were. Or is it the other way around?


All electronics age with time. Today's generation SSDs do not suffer from the aging problems like first generation SSDs do. This is why some SSDs are warrantied for 10 years! 

All drives (regardless of type) will degrade performance when they run critically low on free disk space - hard drives more than SSDs because HDs suffer from fragmentation issues where SSDs do not. One of your problems is the HD is just 80GB. That is very small by today's standards.

Did you format the drive before installing Linux? If you did (or at least delete all the files to ensure you have lots of free space) I suspect your 10 year old computer is slow because it made with 10 year old technology components.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Like he said and because your ten year old hard drive is 7 years beyond the warranty date and it is truly amazing it runs at all. Replace it and you will be happy not sad.


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## -WOLF- (Jan 17, 2009)

If your hard drive automatically runs a S.M.A.R.T. test at boot, what are the results? If it doesn't, you can usually download a diagnostic software from your hard drive's manufacturer that will test the S.M.A.R.T. health which is a good indicator of overall longevity. I've had brand new drives degrade from 'healthy' (the optimal result) to 'functional' (the minimum) in 6 months or less. 

Also, with a hard drive over 5 years old, the chances of bad sectors and cylinders increase faster by the week. You can get a reading of said sectors and cylinders. To check the system for errors in Linux, open up the Terminal and write the following: 


```
# fsck -y
```
and make sure to include all hard drive partitions, it may look like */dev/sda1* or similar, so add that to the end of the fsck parameters. It would for example, look like this: 

```
# fsck -y /dev/sda1
```
.

This will run and resolve any errors on the disk and can save you some headache whilst you replace your HDD, which we strongly recommend. You can pick up decent 120Gb drive for less than $100 on Newegg or Amazon.


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