Hiya folks,

I recently built a system based on an ASUS board and am pretty sure I'm
running into a heat problem.

Basically, the system runs fine, without incident, when the side panels are
removed. After running 20 mins or so with the panels on, the system will
exhibit extreme sluggishness, spontaneous reboots, trailing graphics when
windows are moved, and BSODs. The only BSOD I recall seeing is
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA.

The CPU, an Athlon 1800+ is not overclocked and is cooled by Arctic thermal
paste and a Volcano 7 which slows down and speeds up in reaction to overall
system temp. The top temp on the CPU under load is 50c.

The top mainboard temp, according to BIOS, is 30c.

There are two chasis fans, one in front and one in back. RPMs are reported
on the rear fan.

The ASUS software probe reports the same numbers, although when the case is
on, the chasis fan RPM drops to zero, even though the fan is still running.

The OS is Win2k. I have run several SiSoft Samba tests and have not been
able to get through more than four. I believe the test hangs on the memory
portion.

I suspect at the moment that either the video card (GeForce2) or the RAM
(DDR 2100) is overheating. Neither of these are protected very well from
heat. The vidcard has a sink, no fan. There are no spreaders on the RAM.

I have a can of anti-static cooler that I plan to use to isolate the
components in order to find the overheating component.

I am not using round IDE cables and have stuffed all the excess cables into
the open 5.25 bay. (The system has one HDD, two CDROM devices, and a
floppy.) Still the chasis fans don't really provide cooling to the upper
portion of the case. There is almost a straight shot between the front and
back fans. This would hit the video card to some degree, but would never
touch the RAM.

I can provide pictures should anyone need to see.

Anyway, my plan at this point is to try to isolate with the cold spray. Any
other thoughts?

Cheers,

Mike Whalen

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