Has anyone found their processor overheating when using DAZ3D, V3 & M3 figures fully clothed and textured in Poser5? I have been making characters for a comic book I planned on doing and burned out my old processor and motherboard. After buying replacement parts that upgraded me to dual channel DDR memory and an Athlon XP 2500 I find that it is Poser and Daz figures that is causing my processor to heat up and crash out my system. I only have two case fans plus the heatsink and fan. Will a better heatsink and more fans solve this problem or do I need still more power. Specs for my PC below CPU MOBILE AMD|2500+/266 ATHLON XP DDR 2x256MBTWINX512-3200C2PT COR RT MB MSI|K7N2 Delta2 Platinum

Poser pushes your computer to the edge, so if you're going to overheat, it will be while you are using Poser.

So far, I haven't had any trouble myself, though the temperatures have been brutally hot around here lately. But I have a desktop. Overheating is a lot more of a problem for laptops. I assume when you say "mobile," that means you have a laptop?

No I have this mobile processor in a desktop, according to the specs and recommendations it works fine in a desktop. However, the old processor was burned out by me overworking it with Poser. I don't want a repeat performance. Do you think more memory and fans will help it out?

More memory might help, if Poser is churning your hard drive a lot, using the swap file.

But the easiest solution might be to just open your case, and use the computer that way.

Funny you should say that, thats how I was using the old PC before it burned out. I had the side off and just kept going until it finally was so bad off it just died and I replaced everything. The old hard drive died too, so I got a new one of those. By swap file do you mean the Virtual Memory page file or is the swap file something else?

Yes, I meant the virtual memory. If I read your specs right, you have 512 Mb of RAM, which really isn't much if you're running Poser 5 and XP.

Maybe you'd be better off if you just bought a new computer next time, instead of replacing parts. Or at least a new case. I have a feeling older cases/fans may not be able to handle the heat generated by new processors, etc. I know when I bought my last computer, I was astonished at how powerful the fans were. I could feel the breeze, even with the case closed. Which wasn't the case with my previous computer.

Well I bought new fans and heatsink, processor, motherboard, 512MB DDR Memory, and Hard Drive. The only things that are the same is the old case, which I will be replacing, the CDRW, DVD-Rom & power supply, and the graphics card which I will be replacing as well. Thanks for the help.

I had a similar issue with P6. I added another fan and cut my case side panel and added a vent to it that I can open when using Poser and close at other times to prevent dust etc. Works great now! thefixer, poser coord.

If you are overheating from any application or game use, that's a STONG indication you need more cooling. If you need to add a fan, you might also need to also upgrade your power supply. (Overheating can also be an indication of a power supply issue.. it could be creating more heat then it should, which of course will cause your processor to overheat.) Power supplies are VERY cheap though, and very easy to install. Same with fans. If you are not in an air conditioned environment, summer heat could also be contributing to the issue. And excessive heat will fry your processor, video card, poser supply, even memory chips. Good idea, open the case, and take a peek inside.. it could be your fan is clogged with dust, and that can be a system killer. I vaccum my system interiros once a year minimum, and should probably do it once every 6 months myself. You'd be amazed at how much crap can be stuck in your fans, and could be laying around in your system, insulating it, and retaining heat.

Opening the case might not be a good idea. It can completely disrupt the airflow, resulting in overheating. Use round ATA cables - the usual flat cables obstruct the airflow in the case. Make sure your system sucks in air at the bottom front and expels it at the back top. You might need to place your case on blocks, especially when it's standing on a carpet (bad idea!) There should be at least 1 cm of free space between the case bottom and the floor. Use a GOOD power supply. The cheap ones usually have a less stable output, and spikes in the voltage can fry your CPU just like that. And cleaning up the case once in a while is a very good idea. I run an Athlon64 3500+ in a roomy Chieftec case, 400W Chieftec power supply (not the best there is, but a good middle-class case and power supply), 2 case fans, 2 drive fans (it's got 4 drives!), the boxed cooler from the CPU. Even when it was very hot (over 35 C in the house) the system kept reasonably cool during full load (CPU temp below 50 C, case temp around 42 C). AthlonXPs are (in)famous for generating heat. One of my older systems, an AthlonXP2700, had serious overheating problems until I installed two additional case fans. My P4 2.8 HTT also doesn't like heavy renders.

something kinda neat in my new hp sysetm, is that it "throttles down" the cpu when it has a light load, to reduce internal case heat issues. it throttles it back up, when heavy provcessing is going on. Bought time they did something with all this tech we have laying at our disposal. I've never been a HP fan after a number of frinds with bad HP issues, but I can honestly say this new rig was a pretty good deal for it's price. Plus I got to take advantage of the tax free days here in NC!

So, out of curiosity, how hot is too hot? My new machine has a temp guage on the front. It seems to average out at around 42C, and the max I've seen is 46C. Current ambient temp in the house is about 16C (I'm at 6,000 ft altitude). I have 2 case fans, and I doubt I'm anywhere near the limit, but I'd like to know when I should start to worry. mac

usually there's some kind of temperature utility your system comes with, and it'll show you a "red" zone which would of course be too hot.. ;) I think there are some freebie uitilities for checking as well...

From my understanding of it the average should be around 50C with an absolute maximum of 90C but usually the fans will come on hard, long before it gets there. I could be wong though! thefixer, poser coord.

My Asus mobo came with a temperature monitoring utility that recommended setting warning levels at 60C for the CPU and 50C for the mainboard. It usually runs at about 32-33C for both but once during hot weather and a big render they both went over 40C. Could really hear the fans going!

You've gotten a lot of feed back already, but I'd suggest if your CPU's below 60C, you don't need to worry. If you have some major bucks to spend, and you want a quiet, easy to install, and eye catching cooling system, Zalman makes a great water cooling kit. The water pump is submerged in a 3 liter (!!!) tank, and is completely quiet. It can eliminate the CPU and video card fans (optional). Definitely how a "wow!" factor. http://www.zalman.co.kr/

Yep, sounds like I'm well within the limits. Anyway, this is the hottest time of year. In the winter, it's 20 below here, so I reckon I'm OK. mac

Okay, here is a goofy question! How do you know if your CPU is overheating? Is there smoke? Does a message popup and tell you? Right now, I can put my hand over the fan and the air blowing out is a little warmer than the air and all I have up is IE. It is about 75 in my house (95+ outside). I have rendered animations that have taken about 36 hours to complete, keeping an eye on the CPU's performance via the task manager. Poser keeps it pushed to about 80% during a huge render. So then again, how would I know if the CPU is getting too hot? jaebea

There's several kinds of support for CPU temperature monitoring: * none * can be queried by Windows and the BIOS * can be queried in BIOS only For Windows / BIOS and BIOS only: 1) run your PC under some load 2) restart your PC, and jump into BIOS, typically by hitting the "delete" key 3) go to the PC health status screen 4) if you've got a nice fairly new motherboard, you'll see the CPU temperature. Also you may see several alerts, like for CPU temperature and fan failure As mentioned by Gareee, the cheapeast slightly dangerous, solution, for PC overheating is vacuuming / hoovering the inside of your PC, in particular the CPU cooler. Of course unplug your PC, and be gentle. I'd recommend a plastic end on your vacuum.

I have a desk fan lying on top face down on top of my box right over the power supply. Sounds stupid, but my case is so jammed, I really need a server type case. The fan on top face down really works, otherwise I'd be sweating bullets around my PC. The box is packed with fans & I have to clean the fans once a month, due to cats. My cats love to sleep next to the PC since, it's so warm ~eye roll~ I have a 450W supply, I can't remember the brand name the techie put in, but it has green neon all over it that glows thru the case holes. I can turn all the lights off & still find my way LOL.

Most "casual" computer use never stretches the processor to 100% for long. Tapping away in a word processor or browsing the web will probably give you an average processor useage of 1-5%. Poser, on the other hand, uses the processor very intensively. Just moving the mouse around on it's interface will bring the processor useage up to near 100%. Daft! Rendering, of course, will use 100% of the processor slices all the time. As a developer, I often accidentally code endless loops which result in 100% processor use... if I leave this running my machine will overheat (>65C) in about 5 mins. I have a whole bunch of stuff in my case... several large drives, TV card, 3 video cards 500W PSU and the rest. I don't have an overheating problem now! I've taken the side off the PC case!! Lots of lovely air-flow:)) H:)

I had a similar problem with P5 and Photoshop! Temperature seemed to be ok, but I later found out it was not. Sensor on the Mainboard showed values about 10 less than real and the CPU vent sometimes stopped. Put enough vents in your case. See that cables are not blocking the airflow (put them to the side of the case). A case made of aluminium (e.g. Coolermaster) also helps. You could also try watercooling. I plan to set up a new system in January with double-core Athlon 64. This system definitely gets watercooling and a lot of memory (approx. 4 Gigs)

Hehe... watercooling is cheaper than air conditioning and I'm prepared to sweat:))

I have the same problem, it's also related to Athlon chips design. Athlon chips are good but behave like a stove. Anyway, I found a solution, not too stylish, but it works. Just open the case, and point a fan to the micro (a fan like the ones you use in summer ;) ) That keeps my Athlon 2.4 at 47C +- under 100 % loads for hours.