Hot, hot, hot, my computer is running hot!
July 06, 2010
With the warmer weather finally upon us you might start noticing the heat that certain electronics in your home emit while you are trying to stay cool. For some electronics like a plasma TV this is normal, your computer however should not be running hot. The cooling system of your computer is typically made up of a minimum of three fans, one that cools the CPU, one for the power supply and a third that cools the whole case. Higher end gaming or graphics computers come with additional fans, particularly for the video card. When these fans are not functioning properly your computer could overheat and cause a variety of problems, starting with the computer running slow or possibly even causing hardware failure which can lead to data loss if the computer gets too hot and fries the hard drive. Overheating can also shorten the lifespan of your computer significantly. A good indicator of your computer running hot is when you hear the internal fans kicking on more and more frequently or you notice your computer slowing down for no apparent reason after it has been on for a length of time. If you think your computer is overheating you may want to consider using canned air and blowing out the dust and gunk that gets trapped inside your computer. All you need is canned air, open up your computer and just blow the dust bunnies out! Make sure you clean out the fans, inlets and heat sink. If you have your desktop in a cabinet or an enclosed space in your desk, chances are even if it is dust free inside it is not getting enough air for the cooling system to do its job properly. Consider moving the tower to a spot where the intakes can pull in air freely. Also make sure the computer is not sitting next to another piece of equipment which is blowing out hot air or some other type of heat source. You may be tempted to leave the side of your computer case off, however that is not recommended since your computer cooling system is designed to operate with the case closed. If your computer is clean and in a well ventilated area, but still seems to be running hot, there may be other underlying reasons for it, for example the BIOS may need to be updated, or possibly broken or worn out hardware. If you are not comfortable opening up your computer and blowing it out, all of those wires and hardware can be a little intimidating, feel free to bring it in to any one of our locations located in Reno, Minden and Carson City for a clean and tune.