Reboots as result of my HOT card?!

[Joshh100]

Im curious as to what the problem is that I am having here.. I think it has something to do with overheating but let me tell you the scenario. I was using the 9800 pro gargoyle screensaver from ATI, left it on for a few hours and when I came home, decided to fire up hitman: contracts. Anyways, about 10 mins after playing, my system just shuts down or reboots. I figured it was some wierd error so I was playing again and about 10-15 mins later, same problem. I touched the back of the card and it was HOT! like you could fry eggs on the damn thing. Is the excessive heat on my card what is causing this? (sapphire 9800 pro using stock HSF) I am using XP so that little error report thing this is what it said in case this means anything.. :

G:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini042904-01.dmp

G:\DOCUME~1\Josh\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER1.tmp.dir00\sysd ata.xml
Thanks in advance for your help.

Edit: woot, just got my fourth star.. too bad its asking a dumb question :)

[Mr.Radar]

What PSU do you have (brand & wattage rating)? It could be caused by your PSU being underpowered. Also, what is your CPU temp reading?

[Joshh100]

I have a thermaltake truepower 420w or something like that.. during full load my cpu temp is at like 58c.. a bit high I know but Im gonna get some WC soon.. my +12v is fluctuating between 10.8 and 11.5

[Joshh100]

Plus Ive had this system for quite some time.. its nothing new.. been running of this PSU for months

[PottaCoola]

It must be your CPU then, when your gcard overheats it ether crashs, reezes or you get artifacts. mine overheats a lot now summer is coming and it never reboots, only my CPU does that.

[diehrd]

Temps are an issue there exspecially with an idle of 58c...Get some real good case circulation.Also it is possible that the PSU dropping to 10.8v is a real problem as well....

[germanjulian]

well since the design for ATX is like this


CPU
card

and heat rises you might have your problem...

though I admin the stock ATI heatsink is beyond a joke. I would get an artic VGA cooler heatsink which blows the air out of the pci slot.. that would mean your case stays cooler and your cpu temps also..

try underclocking your CPU a little and see if it crashes... have you tried prime95 test yet? run that for 3 hours and see if you get an error...

then run 3dmark and prime95 for 3 hours...

also you 12V line is a bit low.... though a 430V PSU is suffeciant for your setup it seems.

give the graphics card 1 12V line for itself, dont put any other device on it

regards

[Joshh100]

ok thanks a lot guys.. my computer loads at 58c not idles hehe.. when I get home from school later Ill give the gfx card its own 12v line, not some pass through connector.