Case temps and stability

[DrStrange]

Hi,
I think my case might be effecting stability and performance, there is quite poor airflow and no exhaust fan. Temps in the case are around 40 degrees, CPU idle is 45, can get up to around 60 degrees under full load. Although this is within range for the CPU I suspect the RAM is getting a bit hot.

I'm using the stock heatpipe heatsink and fan, I haven't managed to get much of an overclock from my chip even with my RAM locked at 200MHz.

Stability issues are lock ups, there are no blue screens or error messages. They seem to be random and happen even when the CPU isn't stressed out.

I've also noticed minor fluctuations in my power supply, A Jeantech 450W (yeah I know its not the greatest!)

I've got plans to replace the case, PSU and could probably do with a better heatsink and fan. Which is most likely causing the problems and would be best to replace first?

many thanks

 

[Firegod]

Best (and cheapest place) to start first, probably the case and CPU heatsink. Then if you still have no joy, try a new PSU, but that one you have should be able to run the rig you have. It may be undervolting the CPU and/or RAM which is causing the lockups. Have you used AS5 paste on the CPU to reduce the temps a bit more? What type of RAM is it you have?

 

[DrStrange]

The heatsink came with thermal grease pre-applied, I've not thought about changing it for AS5 - is it hard to clean off the old paste?

RAM is Kingston Value 3200, I've had it running at 217MHz stable when I had an AMD 3200 on that motherboard, but can't seem to get the X2 stable with anything more than about 205MHz