[leonardmp92]

Hello,

1. If a computer is getting ready to overheat and cause permanant damage...how could I tell? I have a program to monitor my temps/fan rpms already.

2. If it does "overheat", what happens? Will the CPU just stop working or will the computer actually catch on fire?

Thanks!

[FlashDude]

Most of the time the motherboard's bios hardware monitoring program will set the alarm off and if not the computer will shutdown because the cpu will stop working. The major problems with overheating (like damage to the cpu) most often happens when people ignore the sympton's and just keep booting the system. Unless of course you do something stupid and leave the HSF off then it heats up so rapidly the bios doesn't shut down quick enough and it reaches it's thermal spec and literally melts.

- Also believe it or not but a cpu will still run for quite some time without the cpu fan running at all, There's some air flow going over the hsf under no load to keep it with in it's thermal spec. Run anything that loads it and it will shutdown almost right away.

[leonardmp92]

Thank you FlashDude, great information! I guess if my HSF breaks and I dont know about it, the bios may not shut down the system before the CPU melts. Does this sound possible?

[thebleakness]

That wouldnt happen if your HSF failed because that would just be the fan that would break, the actual heatsink would dissapate some of the extra heat passivley untill the actual thermal cutoff temp is reached. I wouldnt worry about that though, doesnt happen to often.

[talldude123]

If you're really worried about the computer's temperature, download SpeedFan:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download337.html

[leonardmp92]

Thanks a lot guys!