It goes without saying that an overheated computer becomes very uncomfortable to work with because of the slowing process, shutting down and crashing. Therefore, to keep your device working properly, you need to understand the reasons for the problem, how to solve them and, more importantly, how to protect your computer in the future. Computer overheating – what is it? As you probably guessed from the name, computer overheating means that its components become too hot due to the generation of excessive heat. It can be a result of dust accumulation, insufficient airflow, poor quality or improperly installed cooling systems, etc. What’s more, overheating can lead not only to performance drop but to hardware failures.
Diagnosing Computer Overheating
As mentioned above, there is more than one reason why your computer could start generating too much heat and thus start working slower or worse. To find out what exactly happens, you should try to diagnose the problem by yourself. First, you should learn what the signs of computer overheating look like:
Unusual sound generated by the fans; Overheating warnings on the display; Shutdowns or even crashing; Slowdown and performance loss; Alerts about overheating provided by special software;
Afterwards, you will need to measure the temperatures of your computer. To do so, you should use temperature sensors installed in your PC or, alternatively, special software like SpeedFan or HWMonitor. You should compare the measured temperatures with the recommended ones and thus find out whether your computer works at optimal parameters. Cleaning Your Computer In case you have found out that your device works at higher-than-recommended temperatures, you will need to clean up all the vents, fans and heat sinks in order to improve airflow and decrease heat levels. For example, you can use compressed air to blow out all accumulated dirt and dust.
Installing Better Heat Sinks/Fans
Sometimes, the cooling system of your computer isn’t enough to dissipate the heat effectively. Therefore, in case your computer heats up, you should either upgrade it or replace it. The most popular alternative to traditional fan and heat sink cooling is a liquid cooling system. It provides better temperature regulation and less noise during the process of heat dissipation. However, installing the system isn’t simple, therefore, in case you haven’t got any experience, you’d better leave this task to professionals.
Monitoring System Resources
As you probably know, your computer has certain capabilities and limits when it comes to heat generation. Monitoring your system resources can help you understand which components produce excessive amounts of heat. For example, you can use special software like Task Manager or Resource Monitor for the task. Moreover, you can install software like GPU-Z and monitor temperatures of your GPU and fan rotation speed. You should also try to minimize usage of those processes that load your CPU/GPU to maximum.
Optimizing Computer Settings
Sometimes, you can get rid of overheating just by optimizing your computer settings. For instance, try changing your power settings to balanced or even low level and minimize loading of the processor as much as possible. To do so, you can disable unnecessary software or applications and animations.
Replacing Faulty Components
Sometimes, you might have encountered with a computer overheating because of faulty devices. In particular, you might face a problem with faulty heat sinks/fans or even processors. Therefore, you might want to replace them. Again, doing this alone can be very dangerous, therefore, we strongly recommend that you ask professional experts to complete the process.
Protecting Your Computer
As you have already understood, it is much easier to prevent overheating of your computer rather than fix it. That’s why here you can find several tips that will help you protect your device.
