Computer troubles

[Randomness]

So my computer continues to underperform. I don't know what's going on with it, but I've had to drastically lower settings on stuff, and even then it's running at low framerates.

I don't get it. There's very little dust inside the case... I have only background stuff running... but it used to be able to run higher settings without trying...

Anyone want to suggest things to try?

[Shinji Kazuya]

I would format it and see how it performs after.

[Randomness]

Formatting is the last thing I want to do... just from the hassle of backing stuff up.

[Shinji Kazuya]

That's why I have a HDD just for Windows.

The only think I would do before formating is uninstall the graphics card driver then install it again.

I dunno what else to try. I just know the basics and nothing else. I usually format mine 'cause it's fast, easy and solves all the problems expect hardware ones of course.

[Randomness]

O.o

Okay... Mass Effect should not be pushing my graphics card to 110 C. I'm going with cooling as the issue... but... yeah. Completely lost as to what the problem is. (Admittedly, this is a laptop, but even so it should not be hitting that high from ME on low settings) This is really, really annoying, since there's absolutely no reason for it to run so damned hot (Unless the heatsink or something is set up wrong, but... ugh... not really something that's easy to determine!)

[Shinji Kazuya]

O O

Sweet Jesus... 110º C!
That thing's gonna melt! > <

[Randomness]

Well, I suspect if the reading had gone any higher, the comp would have auto-shutdown immediately.

And yes, that's insane. Nothing should ever be getting that hot... and that's way higher than the machine should be getting normally, and even more so with a cooling pad already sitting right underneath. (And, coincidentally, right under the vents under the heatsink...)

[Shinji Kazuya]

Even though I'm no expert, I doubt the machine would get that hot from a software problem. Gotta be hardware issue.

[Randomness]

I'm clueless on how to figure out what's going on here though :(.

[Shinji Kazuya]

Same here. I guess I would have to go to my closest computer store.

[Kurosu]

I would check if the heat sink(s) isn't clogged with dust, that sounds like the most likely issue.
Even if there is little dust in the case, these areas often attract lots of dust.

IME cooling pads do very little to alleviate this problem, you've gotta fix the main issue.

[Randomness]

I would check if the heat sink(s) isn't clogged with dust, that sounds like the most likely issue.
Even if there is little dust in the case, these areas often attract lots of dust.

IME cooling pads do very little to alleviate this problem, you've gotta fix the main issue.

When I said little dust, I mean that I cannot see any visible dust layer on the heatsink. Which actually makes me wonder if any air is flowing across it at all.

[HUnewearl_Meira]

Video chipsets often see a substantial decline in performance just before they burn out, though normally you'd have gotten a couple of years' use out of it, first.

Cooling could very well be the issue. Make sure all of the fans are spinning, and that there is plenty of breathing room around all of the vents. Fans are a great deal easier to replace on a laptop, than a video chipset.

[Randomness]

Well, the fans are all spinning... or there wouldn't be a nice hot stream of air gushing out the back. Likewise the cooling pad, which is more or less blowing right into the intake vents.

Which leaves... the heatsinks. I found anecdotal suggestions (for this particular model) of replacing the thermal paste.

Of course, my horrible luck is that the nearest location for getting it done without voiding the warranty is on the far east side of WI. I live in the Minneapolis-St.Paul area. Lovely. Or I can just forget about the warranty (The machine is a year and a half old, and since I don't know where I put the documents, it may not even be covered any more) and re-do the paste myself (I've done everything in reassembling a comp except actually cleaning old paste and dabbing on new - I only watched that bit, the latter presumably so I didn't put too much on). Assuming that the issue is old thermal paste.

[Randomness]

Well... while taking stuff out to get to pasting... I found out the end of the fan piece wasn't where I thought it was. So... behind that... was a massive dust collection. Blocking like 80% of the vent... yeah. Cleaned it out, no problems since.

Of course, hard to know you need to dust when you have to remove the fan to see that bit... no real way to shine a flashlight and tell either.

Oh well, -20C in temps on the GPU is oh so lovely.