CPU overheating while playing Civilization 5

[lynndhyatt]

Picked up Civilization 5 a couple days ago, loaded up everything on high settings, resulting in zero performance issues. However, now that I'm more progressed in the game, and there are many more units on the field, I'm having some really bad overheating issues with my CPU.

Basically, I can now play for 30 minutes to an hour, and then my PC just shuts off. I turned on my CPU temp monitor, and its getting up to around 70-75c, and then shutting down shortly thereafter. My actual system temp is fine, around 45c, so I think my CPU is just getting hit really hard now that there are so many things to calculate with the game. In terms of performance, I'm not having a problem, just this overheating problem.

So, what can I do to fix this issue? Right now I'm just an AMD Phenom II x3 with the 4th core unlocked being cooled by the stock heatsink and fan. Will an aftermarket cooler fix this type of problem? Could it be the unlocked 4th core thats causing it? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Canon T3i vs T2i

 

[BobDole]

Unlocking a core does increase heat, so you probably want to get some sort of aftermarket fan/cooler to keep the temperature down. The stock fans are typically bad at handling extra heat output from overclocking/unlocking cores.

 

[blasto]

Yeah, a better heat sink will definitely help...get one recommending for your CPU to support overclocking and you'll be set. Also, sometimes the factory screws up the application of thermal paste.. this will give you an opportunity to redo that too.

Also getting a small fan mounted on the backside of the motherboard helps wonders as massive heat usually builds up in the dead space behind the board. This will keep both the motherboard and CPU cooler. Or, just venting to facilitate thermal air cycling better there would help.

 

[Shurdus]

Wrong forum...

An aftermarket cooler might get your cpu a few degrees cooler. It is however my understanding that AMD processors could go very well over 80 degrees without the system shutting down, so I would suspect that you can increase the temps at which your system shuts down without burning your cpu.

On a sidenote, what have you done to improve airflow in your system? If your system has poor airflow, an aftermarket cooler will do next to nothing for you since it can only displace heat. If the heat can not leave your system, then your system will shut down time and time again. PLacing one simple fan might in that case help you a lot more.

 

[apocalypse105]

Uhm turn down the video quality options??

 

[Hustapha Thool]

I have to watch my CPU temps because I run a very small box. A couple of tips... make sure the interior is clean, get a can of air and blow all the dust out. You may have options in your bios to up the speed of the fans in the computer.

I have even noticed my ceiling fan can make a difference in pushing the air/heat away from my comp.

 

[strhopper]

Might want to turn the fourth core off and check the temps. If no improvement I would move on to resetting the heatsink with a fresh application of thermal paste. If no improvement after that I would move on to buying a aftermarket cooler. This all assume you have good airflow in your case to begin with

 

[Revoran]

Uhm turn down the video quality options??

WTH? Video options have nothing to do with his CPU overheating.

OP: First, check if the CPU fan has stopped running / isn't running at full speed. SpeedFan is a good utility for this.

Second, clean out any dust from inside your case / fans.

Third, get a better heatsink / cooling solutions.

Fourth, if none of the above fixes the problem, get a new CPU/Motherboard/RAM combo. Go with Intel this time lol.

Maybe run without the fourth core if you can deal with the slowdown.

 

[Fenryial]

If your video card is under your CPU then YES your CPU will get hot. I have a quad core @ 4ghz with a H70 that starts at around 29c, with a gtx590 under the CPU on a Asus Crosshair MB. The GPU will start at around 35c.

When I play Civ5 for about 2 hours or so the CPU is around 37c and the GPU is around 60c. When I shut down Civ5 It takes about 1 min to get back to normal. I am running 16gb of ram with a Antec 1200 with 8 fans besides the H70.

Things will get hot but just keep them cool as you can. Plus your room temp counts.

 

[Lord Chambers]

My laptop restarts about every hour of Civ5 when sitting on my desk.

 

[DemonMaster]

I had heating problem some time ago (nothing to do with civ) but now I have a monstercpufan, good fans to cover the air flow. I even had to buy a stronger than normal fan to mount on top of my graphic card (my graphic card fan stopped and I didn't want to buy a new one yet). I don't have so much trouble with heat any more. But before all this, my computer could shut down on hot summer days.

 

[Misterboy]

You can't just unlock a core on a Phenom and expect everything to be hunky-dory. Although this has nothing to do with Civ, when you're overclocking your CPU, the first thing you do is stress test it with Prime95 (for example).

Civ is crashing because your system is unstable. It has nothing to do with Civlization other than it is pushing your system harder then you've pushed it in the past.

 

[mintegar]

It would be nice if the game had some sort of power saving capability built in. It's working the gfx card full tilt even when there are no user actions, calculating shaders for beautiful water reflections at 60fps or something.
While i have to concede it looks quite good, i would prefer having an option to turn that stuff down a little bit.. The gfx-detail setting doesn't help with power-draw much, i have tried that. Also, when i'm just idly looking at the map the game could very well just render one frame in high-detail, and then just display that so the gfx card can enter low power mode.

 

[Jim Bro]

civ5 engine must not be so good. the game is so buggy that i cannot stand playing on huge maps with more than 10 civs. i have a really good computer btw.

 

[Moss]

Moderator Action: Moved to Tech Support.

 

[Misterboy]

civ5 engine must not be so good. the game is so buggy that i cannot stand playing on huge maps with more than 10 civs. i have a really good computer btw.

Yeah, it is a new engine they built from ground up. It definitely has some bugs, especially in the graphics department. I have an ongoing leader screen crash that I have to jump to hoops to avoid while keeping things looking good.

It'll be interesting to see if Civ 6 keeps the same engine (I would assume that was their plan in investing in a new engine from the ground up).

 

[brevr]

If you necer want to have to deal with overheating again go with a aftermarket liquid cooling kit. my budddy installed one onto his PC and he hasn't had any trouble since. Only downside is that there pretty pricy starting around $200 but if your planning on keeping your pc for a few years they are a pretty great investment

 

[Revoran]

My laptop restarts about every hour of Civ5 when sitting on my desk.

That is extremely bad for your laptop. Get a cooling dock, and maybe open up and clean any dust out of your laptop. Constant, repetitive, overheating can do permanent damage to your hardware.

 

[civ_king]

If you necer want to have to deal with overheating again go with a aftermarket liquid cooling kit. my budddy installed one onto his PC and he hasn't had any trouble since. Only downside is that there pretty pricy starting around $200 but if your planning on keeping your pc for a few years they are a pretty great investment

You mean starts at $65

 

[brevr]

i bought a cheapy for about 80 and it was terrible so i would go for one thats more expensive if you want it to work