Hey, I built a second computer a little over a year ago, and as time has progressed it seems to have gotten worse in terms of heat problems. Initially there were no problems, but as time went on, I started experiencing screen tearing while playing games. I started leaving my case open, and eventually using a house fan to cool it while playing games. Recently I tried running it a couple times without the fan, and now it crashes when I try to run a game. Another strange thing is that when I'm booting up the POST screen that is normally all black and white is distorted and colored in some places, and it's gotten so bad recently that the entire thing is nearly colored. I've resigned to the fact that I'm going to have to buy a component, but I wanted to make sure I replaced the right part. I figured that it was the graphics card that was the source of the problem. I have an nVidia GeForce 7900 GT. I'm running an AMD 3700+ and have a DFI LAN party motherboard with 2 gigs of PC3200 RAM. Thanks, Victor Sherony

First things first here. Are ALL the fans running? Have you rechecked the heat sink compound on the CPU and made sure the CPU is firmly, properly seated? It is possible to mount the CPU in such a way that it isn't making full contact, metal to metal. Also, don't use TOO much heat compound. If heat is the problem it's likely to be CPU related. Of course, with a hi-powered video board you will get heat, too, and memory chips, in that order. Are you overclocking? If so, then there is your problem. Back it down a bit. I hope this helps. Good luck. A positive attitude won't solve all your problems, but it will annoy just enough people to be worth the effort.

Hey, The first thing I did when my heat problems started I checked my fans. All of them were running, and after a while longer I reset my CPU with some Arctic Silver 5. I guess it's possible that I messed this up, but I've done it on 5 or so computer prior to this and never had a problem, so I never relaly thought that it would be the problem. I don't think the heatsink is getting overly hot, but I haven't checked in a while. I was overclocking my graphics card, but when these problems were persisting I restored the settings to defaults, but it didn't seem to help a significant amount. The fan I was using wasn't a full sized box fan, it's probably about 1 foot in diameter, and I was aiming it directly at my graphics card to resolve the problems, that's one of the major reasons I feel it was my graphisc card. Any other thoughts? Thanks, Victor Sherony

Just over clocking for 10 seconds could have damaged the card. The fans may have gone bad or they could be fighting each other. Your Power supply may also be going bad and not having the same power output. About the color, that could be caused by your VGA or DVI cable not being fully inserted into the video card. Check all those things, maybe boot to BIOS and check the fan there. IT should show you the speed they are spinning at and the temp.

I just started the computer up from being off for about 15 hours, and the BIOS temps are about 38-39º C for the CPU and 62º for the Chipset. Beyond that, the Monitor cord is plugged in all the way, and I believe it is something hardware related, because Windows will crash during certain aplications when i don't have the fan running. Just now after I changed the settings and tried to boot windows all the way it wouldn't even start, when it got to the point where the loading bar is going it just crashed to a blue screen after a bit. Victor Sherony

One thing I forgot to mention was the memory. Make sure they are well seated. Other than that, do you have another video card you can use as a substitute? I think you are correct in assuming the problem is hardware. The only question is, WHICH hardware? I would suggest unplugging everything you can, to try to isolate it. Go with only one HD, no floppy, no CD or DVD-ROM, unplugging everything you can do without temporarily. I think you should be able to get it down to one memory stick, and video. Then, gradually, replacing units until you find out which one is guilty. And as dondreak mentioned, don't overlook the PSU. It might not be able to carry your entire load reliably. It seems to have plenty of power, but if it's going bad, all bets are off. Just remember one thing, don't assume anything. Check it. Keep us posted. I'll track this thread for awhile, until it's resolved. Good luck. A positive attitude won't solve all your problems, but it will annoy just enough people to be worth the effort.

I just did as you said, unplugged both of my CD drives and removed all but one stick of RAM, but the problem still persisted. I tried a different stick of RAM by itself just to make sure and the same thing happened. The only things left that it really could be, it seems, are the graphics card, Power Supply, processor, or Motherboard. (I tend to rule out hard drive, because ht eproblems arise on boot, before anything is loaded off of the hard drive, right?)As I said before, I think it's my graphics card, but I'm going to try to get a graphics card and power supply here in the next day or so to test them in my system, just to see. Right now I decided to hook up the fan that I used to cool it all summer to see if I could even get the computer to boot all the way, because the times I have tried to boot recently it has simply crashed while Window's was loading. Any other thoughts? Thanks, Victor Sherony