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Chris Malcolm · Guest

I've recently started loading large images into my desk top computer
(roughly 2600 x 3900) and playing about with them using Picasa, which
does all sorts of whizzy graphic effects as you move images and
thumbnails around. After usually about 15-20mins of this a switch
trips with an audbile clunk in my computer and it reboots.

My guesses are that I'm using the graphics processor on the vid card
more, and either this is overheating, or the high rate of bulk memory
transfers is heating something else, or the floating point hardware is
getting a lot more exercise than usual and heating up too much, or the
extra power consumption is a little too much for the PSU.

I've taken the side panels off and scoped internal temperatures with a
remote IR reader. The hottest thing I've found is on the video board.
From the backside of the main finned and fanned processor chip on the
video board I get a reading of about 55C when not using Picasa, and
the reading rises to over 60C when using Picasa. Is this the culprit?
If so will a bigger fan or heatsink on it fix the problem?

The processor has a very large heatsink and fan on it, and things are
too crowded for me to get good temp readings off that.

Just hoping that some other photographers have stumbled over this one
before and got some useful tips :-)

--
Chris Malcolm cam@infirmatics.ed.ac.uk DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]