Ok so when im playing high spec games on my comp (FEAR, Oblivion, BF2) after a while ive started to notice the fans would speed up...at first i thought it was the PSU fans goin hell for leather but it turns out its the exhaust fan (connected to the Mobo) and i think the CPU HSF that speed up. The problem is when this happens whatever game im playing stutters...

Am i right in thinking the P4's getting to hot and 'throttling down' to cool itself?

I know P4's have thermal protection circuitry and that they run hot anyway, im gonna check the temps tonight during gaming as im 'working' at the mo :) (any good programs for this?)

Will the problem be solved by replacing the stock HSF....or am i missing something here?

Cheers as ever guys!

I REGISTERED WITH COMPUTING.NET AN ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOWSY SIGNATURE!!

P4 3.6 Prescott
ASUS PTGD1-LA Mobo
2x160GB Samsung SATA
2x 512MB Infineon DDR400
Tagan 420W PSU
X850XT PE

I'd say it's your PSU, if your other fans need more energy to cool down your processor then your PSU maybe struggling which would cause your pc to do what you mentioned. If you have a nice grpahics card and cooling fans with a processor that needs a lot of power plus all your other hardware and you are running them on a not so powerful graphics card then you will run in to problems. How many amps is on your 12 volt rail on your PSU? You should at least have 18/amps on an ATX 1.0 PSU for the rig you are running. If not then that maybe your problem.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
2GB Dual Channel DDR 3200
Nvidia 6800GT
SATA II 250gig 7200rpm 8mb cache
Gigabyte Nforce 4 SLI

Not so powerful PSU*

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
2GB Dual Channel DDR 3200
Nvidia 6800GT
SATA II 250gig 7200rpm 8mb cache
Gigabyte Nforce 4 SLI

Cheers for reply, im running a 420w Tagan PSU with 22A on the +12v rail. Graphics card wanted 350w and its got its own dedicated power supply cable (not one from a HD). I thought that would be enough?......

I REGISTERED WITH COMPUTING.NET AN ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOWSY SIGNATURE!!

P4 3.6 Prescott
ASUS PTGD1-LA Mobo
2x160GB Samsung SATA
2x 512MB Infineon DDR400
Tagan 420W PSU
X850XT PE

Try this to further isolate the cause.

0. Pop the side cover and leave it open.

1. Record your temp (CPU & GPU) at idle.

2. Run the games and take the readings again at the point when the throttle kicks in. (that is if it does it with the cover off)

3. If it doesn't throttle with the side cover off, you may need to work on your computer's cooling and ventilation arrangement.

Evaluate your rig's gaming ability

Report Offensive Follow Up For Removal

I don't know if this explains it..

http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/14/the_p4/

TMP-Man

Asus P5P800-SE
P4 506 2.66Ghz @ 4100Mhz 1.525v
Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 2000RPM FAN
1024MB DC Corsair DDR400
40GB 5400RPM/120GB 7200RPM HD
128MB Radoen 9500 mod 9700 @ 360/585

Cheers TMP Man, very interesting read. Im very new to this still so bear with me, so from these pages it sounds a good idea to replace the thermal pad with some arctic silver (some of which i have)?.

Im gonna do some tests tonight and see if i can fathom out what the culprit is. Im assuming now that you guys think my PSU is powerful enough to support my components...

To answer Sabretooths question... ive been running it with the case side off since i got my X850 a year ago, it was a hot sucker before i got a Zalman cooler for it, ive never put the side back on again...

Another thing i forgot to mention is that it only started doing this recently which is the weird part?....AMD next time methinks...:)

I REGISTERED WITH COMPUTING.NET AN ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOWSY SIGNATURE!!

P4 3.6 Prescott
ASUS PTGD1-LA Mobo
2x160GB Samsung SATA
2x 512MB Infineon DDR400
Tagan 420W PSU
X850XT PE

"ive been running it with the case side off since i got my X850 a year ago"

There is a reason for the side panel in your computer case and usually it is best to run the computer with the side panel off "only" on a temporary basis.

If your airflow path is configured correctly you should achieve the maximum cooling efficiency over a prolonged time with the side panel closed, remember with minimal or zero contriction there is bound to be poor movement of air because the case is just wide open.

Evaluate your rig's gaming ability

Report Offensive Follow Up For Removal

Your Tagan has enough power.

AMD Athlon 64 FX-55
WinXP Pro. WinXP Pro x64
Nvidia:6800GT
Dane Electronic Pro. Dual 1024MB 400MHz RAM
Tagan 480Watt PSU: 28Amps on +12volt rail.
Asus A8V Deluxe "WiFi" M/Board

if it just started happening recently, it may very well be that p4 throttling back..have you taken off the heatsink and cleaned out any dust? and while you have it off, it's a perfect time to replace that stock thermal pad with some arctic silver..or even replace that heatsink with something a little more substantial..something along the lines of
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118115
or its smaller 7000b brother of your mobo won't accomodate it..or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118223
which is a bit more expensive but is an excellent design and seems to work very well..

try cleaning the stock cooler first though..if that doesnt do it for you then look into an upgrade..and also if those case fans are thermally controlled, see if you can crank them to run at full speed all the time unless thats too noisy for you

Gigabyte GA-K8NS
Athlon64 3000+ Venice E6
Zalman CNPS7000B-Cu LED
X800XL 256MB AGP
1GB Corsair VS
120GB WD/160GB Maxtor
Aspire Chameleon 550W