Video card overheating?

Hi all,

I dont know much about hardware so bare with me

Everytime i play any game on my PC it slowly (5-10mins) starts to make a loud noise, which sounds to me like a fan (although i could be wrong) and eventually the screen goes grey and the pc locks up and cant be restarted unless i pull the power cord.

It happens quicker when its hotter so im guessing its some sort of overheating issue?? and i reckon its the video card since it only happens when playing games as i can browse the net all day and not have the issue.

Would anyone have any idea how i would identify the problem?

The only steps i have taken so far is run CPUID hardware monitor before playing a game and my video card is at 42 degrees and when im playing a game and the noise is really loud i was at 78degrees.. is 78 degrees unusally high?

any help would be much appreciated
Cheers

The loud noise is probably the video card fan, and they usually make loud noises when they're about to die, so if you want to keep your video card, I'd buy a new fan for it at a local computer store.

They're kind of expensive though ($20 or so for just a fan), so if your video card is old, you may want to consider just getting a new one.

78 degrees isn't terribly hot for a video card (at least not my 8800gt), but yours may have a different maximum temperature.

The only other possibility that I can think of is the processor. You could be hearing the processor fan turning up, and the processor could be overheating. Have you checked your CPU temperatures also? Are you overclocking?

The video card is only 1-2 years old
it's an ATI Radeon HD 5700 series if that helps

If its just the fan i'd be happy to replace it, i'd even be happy to upgrade my video card to a new one if i can pinpoint that its definately whats wrong. I'd hate to go out and buy a $400 video card just to realise after installing it that something else was wrong.

And its not only the noise it makes, it my pc locks up completely after 10-20 mins of game play.

Ive taken some screenshot of all the pc temps at startup and another one after playing a game untill the pc locked up and i restarted it.

mmm i dont know how to post attachments on here and "new user accounts are not permitted to create posts containing URLs" so i cant share them that way either.
How cant i post my screenshots?

Hi lewy and Welcome to DEV
When was the last time you cleaned out your comp of dust ?
First thing...get a can of dustoff and clean out vidcard and CPU fan.
Second...would be to get a friends vidcard and see if the same thing happens.
If things are ok with a friends card,it will help pinpoint that it is in fact the vidcard.
If it is the CPU fan thats going...should be easy enough to replace.
Google "replacing GPU and CPU heatsinks" you should be able to find a few step by step videos out there.If its your first time doing so ,remember it scarier than it actually is.
Personolly I go for Heatpipe Cooling...it might cost you about $100 or so for both but well wirth it in the long run.
We also need to know your system specs...CPU/ Mobo/Ram/Power Supply to better help you.
How much are you willing to spend if need be ?
Are you an ATI fanboy or would you go with Nvidia ?
What games do you play ?
If you look hereBenches you will see an GTX 460 gets 30% better fps than a 5750/5770 for about $30 more..But without knowing your specs,it could be a bad investment because of bottlenecking

Thanks for the reply papa
ive never cleaned my comp of dust. I'm from Oz and ive never heard of dustoff but ill look into it

Would it be possible to just remove my video card and use onboard graphics to check it the issue is with the video card or the pc?

How would i establish if it is the CPU fan?

My system specs are:
AMD Phenom II x4 955 Processor 3.20 GHz
4gb RAM
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-770T-USB3
Vid Card: Radeon HD 5770
Windows 7 32bit

lately ive just been playing startcraft 2, COD MW2, warhammer 4000 DOW2

Nah im not a fanboy of ATI, ill buy what is the best value for money, if it does turn out the video card is screwed ill definately take ur advice and upgrade to a GTX 460

Heh, I don't bother with dustoff or compressed air cans. Usually. I usually use a vacuum cleaner and suck the dust out of the heatsinks. Very effective if you have a good vacuum cleaner. Powerful what we in the UK call Dust Busters, or handheld vacuum cleaners are excellent too. I use a Black and Decker one to clean out my PCs. Unused paintbrushes are brilliant for dislodging bits off dust too.

Good luck!

Heres a run down of the temps that CPUID gave me

the first numbers are just after booting up the comp
the second number are after playing a game and the comp locking up and rebooted.

Motherboard Temp
TMPIN0 34 42
TMPIN1 39 49
TMPIN2 79 80

Fans
FANIN0 2872 RPM 5869 RPM

Fans PWM
FANPWM0 0% 0%
FANPWM1 0% 0%
FANPWM02 99% 99%

AMD Phenom II temp
Core#0 40 50
Core#1 40 49
Core#2 40 49
Core#3 40 49

AMD Phenom II Powers
Processor 20.50W 117.60W

ST31500341AS temp
Assembly 30 40
Air flow 30 40

Radeon HD 5770 temp
TMPIN0 40 63


does this give any indication?

Clean the graphics card's heatsink out and see if it fixes the issue. If not, you either have a dead card or driver issues.

If your card is overheated, firs of all you should control the temperature. I do it with help of MSI Afterburner, the best Program as for me. You can control your fan speed and temperature. But of course you also should clean it form dust. About afterburner try to search here. www pissedconsumer com consumer-reviews software