Summer heat damage - bottlenecking

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My chipset heat-sink fan stopped spinning on my motherboard (ASUS A8N-SLi) and the system started to bottleneck, I have bought a new motherboard and that wasn't the problem.
Anyone have an idea what might be causing the bottleneck, all my components seem to be working but the processor utilization will jump to 100% depending on the program I open. The physical memory usage is also resting at 45% when idol.

My initial impression is that the processor has been damaged but I can't be sure without testing each component separately.

Graphics : NVIDIA 6800 GT
RAM : Corsair 512MB XMS3200C2PT Platinum *4
Processor : AMD64 3000+
Motherboard : ASUS A8N32-SLi
PSU: ANTEC NEOPOWER 480W
 
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If your cpu is damaged it almost certainly wouldn't be usable. It's not like you can have a "Dodgey" cpu really. It'll either be broken and not work at all or totally work.

What do you mean by "Starting to bottleneck"? What's actually different now to before the motherboard fan stopped working? What have you done to fix the dead fan issue?
 
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I had a virus that was running a program in the background that was eating up 87% of processor usage the other day. Maybe it's something like that?

Check the processes list in task manager just incase.
 
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Zefan said:
What do you mean by "Starting to bottleneck"? What's actually different now to before the motherboard fan stopped working? What have you done to fix the dead fan issue?


My graphics are very unstable when playing BF2, I've never had problems before this, I also noted the ping gradualy increasing to about 800 and then down again to 17.
It's also affecting other applications, depending on how many processes are running. I've even noticed the problem in explorer windows, the CPU is maxing at every opportunity.

I replaced the motherboard when the chipset fan stopped, I think it must be a component either the RAM, CPU, GFX or RAID.

I've up to date virus and spyware plus I reformatted the HDD when I replaced the motherboard.
 
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Hmm, doubt it very much it's a cpu problem, they generally work or don't work. If the cpu is being used constantly, it could be some kind of software problem with optimization.

Just checking, that *4 means you have 2gb of ram right, and not 512mb?

When you boot up and leave the comp for 30 mins or so, what happens, is the cpu still used then?
 
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2Gig RAM 4 512MB modules.

When the system is idol assuming their isn't any background tasks running the CPU drops down to 3%. It seems to use an awfull lot of the CPU for simple tasks. Though when its at 100% it does eventaually finish loading any applications without crashing.
 
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Not sure I'll have to check though as I reinstalled everything I don't think their is a problem with the software. I would say the problem has similarities to a new windows install before installing the graphics card drivers. I'm not showing any problems in the Device Manager however.
 
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right click desktop -> properties -> settings -> advanced -> geforce xxxx -> temperature settings.

Should be that. or simular..
I'm an ati guy but do have a nvidia in one of my boxes and thats how I get her temps.

The problems your describing really does sound like video card though.

It's either that or, masses of spyware/virus (maybe you backed up infected files??)
 
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From a cold boot the GPU core reads 65 degrees C, Ambient temp 45C. After booting up Battlefield 2 the GPU core temp has risen to 77 degrees C and 55C Ambient.
I shut down BF2 after 5min and the temp has dropped slightly, I did experience a few GFX glitches in the game. It is now idling at 70C.

Gosh darn my graphics card is kaput! is their a cost effective solution or will I need to fork out for a brand new one? I've don't overclock the graphics so it must have been the case temp.
 
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Zefan said:
If your cpu is damaged it almost certainly wouldn't be usable. It's not like you can have a "Dodgey" cpu really. It'll either be broken and not work at all or totally work.

Not quite, have seen cpus fail to install windows or run unstable when another cpu of the same speed and model, even stepping worked fine, also seen damaged cache, last one i saw was a 3000+ Barton that only worked when the L2 was disabled in the BIOS, slooooww as a turtle without it, but windows did'nt bluescreen or the BIOS did'nt freeze up anymore and replacing with a Barton 3200+ solved the clients issue. Also had a mate who physically dropped his Tbred or Palomino, can't remember, but it only saw 64kb L2 from that day on :D

As for the issue at hand, check the seating of the GPU heatsink and/or reapply the thermal compound, heat might have 'dried' it.
 
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Justintime said:
Not quite, have seen cpus fail to install windows or run unstable when another cpu of the same speed and model, even stepping worked fine, also seen damaged cache, last one i saw was a 3000+ Barton that only worked when the L2 was disabled in the BIOS, slooooww as a turtle without it, but windows did'nt bluescreen or the BIOS did'nt freeze up anymore and replacing with a Barton 3200+ solved the clients issue. Also had a mate who physically dropped his Tbred or Palomino, can't remember, but it only saw 64kb L2 from that day on :D

As for the issue at hand, check the seating of the GPU heatsink and/or reapply the thermal compound, heat might have 'dried' it.

True, but the cpu isn't freezing, it's just using all it's cycles for nothing.

GPU's normally run a lot hotter than CPU's, the temps aren't the end of the world, but I would try and get them lower.

Hang on, have you tried resitting the NB fan or made sure the fan is working? If the northbridge is overheating, it may be causing loads of strange errors. Worth a shot
 
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Zefan said:
If your cpu is damaged it almost certainly wouldn't be usable. It's not like you can have a "Dodgey" cpu really. It'll either be broken and not work at all or totally work.
That's not always true (though mostly, I agree). The system sitting next to me started life as a t-bird 1100. I chipped the core during some clumsy heatsink installation activity about 4 years ago, and ever since it's been a t-bird 800. Runs perfectly, just slower :]

abc
 
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I'm having doubts that my GPU is the problem, I just think the refresh rates are tied in with the unusually high CPU utilization.
Its a new build with a replacement motherboard (A8N32-SLi with heat pipe technology) the problem has re-manifested on the new build. I have no idea what might be causing it?

I'm probably going to take it home next week and test all the components on a friends system. I should be able to test the GPU this week as I ordered a replacement.
 
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