This is my system: ECS K7S5A Mobo Athlon XP 1800+ Windows XP home edition Leadtek Geforce 3 Ti200 SB Live! 5.1 256 MB PC133 I've seen this problem elsewhere, but I may have it half licked. Whenever I use a 3D program (American McGee's Alice or Madonion's 3D benchmark) the computer will freeze after about 1 min, and do that continuous sound loop thing. HOWEVER, when I run the system with the case uncovered, this problem goes away. So, I gather that it's an overheating issue. I am currently using the heatsink & fan that came with my CPU, but do not have a case fan yet. Is there a chance that this problem is my videocard overheating, or is it almost definitely the CPU? How about hard drive or memory? What cooling options would be the best for me (besides leaving the case cover off!)?

I have a similar system and an identical problem: E7S5A board Athlon XP 1700+ Elsa Gladiac 32Mb SB Live Value 512Mb PC133 I too get the freeze and looping thing in 3D games. I have discovered a few things so far - one is that my sound card is sharing an IRQ (12) with another system resource (the USB hub). Another is that the AGP slot is also sharing memory resources with the video card (but hey, maybe it's supposed to, that I don't know....). Whether either of these things is causing the fault I don't know.... in device manager, none of these sharing issues are throwing up any conflicts..... Also, I thought of the heat problem (being supsicious, I thought I'd been sold an overclocked chip at first....) and added a system fan. Nothing conclusive from that - it did seem to hang a little less, but it didn't go away..... I tried d/l ing the latest AGP drivers from the Sis website - nope, still doing it. I'm now going to try turning of the PnP OS setting in BIOS and see whether that does anything. AGGGGHHHH Wit's end, or nearly. Can anyone shed any light?

stick a fan onto the chipset or the memory area on your video card,whichever is getting the hotest i super glued my old cpu fan on mine and hey presto it runs cooler by about 20 degrees and i aint had a freeze since

All the new video cards already have a heatsink & fan, & mine is no exception. What else do you recommend to cool it off? Is that what's overheating?

Larry, First of all, try reposting this in CPUs/Overclocking as well - there are a lot of knowledgable people from this perspective in there also, that may not look in here. A few things to try. You have not told us the spec of your power supply is - I would suggest a 300 watt if you haven't already got one. I had overheating issues a long time ago with an Athlon 800 - same problem as you, the games would freeze with the sound looping on occasions. I could run them with the side of the case off, same as you, and I even had a desk fan blowing in there at one point! The answer for me was the mainboard - I had a MicroStar board, and it was the culprit. I replaced it with a Abit, and the problem disappeared forever. However, before taking that drastic step, try the following. A Coolermaster CPU fan is a good choice - go to www.scan.co.uk, and take a look at their top of the range one. It took ten degrees off my temperature (for the record, I now have an Athlon 1800+). A wider case, with more ventillation is something else to be mindful of. Are the ribbon cables as tidy as they could be in there? Are they restricting airflow somewhat. Try and tidy them up if there is room for improvement. To recap : Heatsink Power supply Ventillation/Airflow Mainboard These are the areas that cause overheating problems in my experience. First thing I would try though is the heatsink. Best of luck.

Thanks for the advice... yes, I do have a 300W power supply, and my mobo and CPU are the newest additions to my system. I really don't want to replace them just yet, esp. since the system runs fine with the cover off. The heatsink is the one that came with the CPU (retail box), and the cables aren't extremely tidy, but they're sort of off to one side. I did place an order for a 60mm case fan (don't have one), plus a PCI slot fan that moves 40 CFM of air. Hopefully, these will do the trick. Will 300W still be enough?

Been there myself, Larry, and thew a lot of money at it - I know better now. 300W should still be enough yes. I would still go for this heatsink as well - it really is a good product, and you can keep it for when you next upgrade. Here is a link to the heatsink (check out the photograph of it!) http://www.coolermaster.co.uk/hhc-001.htm Keep us informed as to how you get on with the PCI slot fan - I would be interested in something like that myself for mine. If it makes you feel any better, I had mine running for nearly 8 months with the side off, and a desk fan blowing into it. It was noisy, ugly, but worked! Good luck