Was getting major lag... found a solution!

[Mallets]

Feel free to push this to the "Technical Problems" section.  I know it's rarely read... so wanted to share here... in hopes of helping folks out!  Inspired to share by Woody's post earlier.

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I was recently getting tons of serious lag in cRPG.  But I noticed the same in the 1 or 2 other games I was playing at the time.  Never had any lag in cRPG or any other games before (except when everyone else is because of the server).

I have a nice computer... and was kind of at a loss as too why I had the sudden lag (knew it was not my internet 30+ Mbs).

Jacaroma mentioned that maybe I was overheating.  He had me download a software that monitors all your temps (gives cores temps, graphics card temps, hard drive temps, etc.).  Great little app!  It revealed that my cores (the cpu) were running over 200 degrees Fahrenheit (95 Celsius).  Very high, as the max for my CPU should be around 165 Fahrenheit.

If anyone needs a link to this software, hit me or Jacaroma up (I'm at work atm, and can't remember the name of it... to post a link).

Jac mentioned that I my need new thermal paste between my cpu & the Heat-Sink-Fan.  The paste can go bad and not transfer heat (he had this issue before).

So I looked at my heat sink... and what did I discover... it was totally clogged up with dust bunnies.  The fan would still turn.  Heck, maybe even my paste was still good (though the CPU is over 3 years old).  So I took my heat sink off, cleaned all the dust, cleaned up old paste, and added new paste... then put heat sink back on.

And boom... runs like new.  No lag in any games!  And in truth, probably could have just left the heat sink on and simply cleaned it (paste was probably still good).  But sense I already had bought the paste, I took it off and put new paste on.

For tips on applying thermal paste, you can search for Youtube videos... there's plenty out there.

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So with that said... don't do like me and forget to do regular computer maintenance.  And by regular maintenance... I basically mean, give it a decent clean every couple of months.

Once I'm home, if I can remember, I'll post a link to that temperature monitoring software.

Thanks for your time, hope this helps someone out!

[Ikarus]

replaced the thermal paste of mine just last year, there´s a specific alcohol you can get from the pharmacy which works like a charm

[Umbra]

If you have a laptop and dont wanna go trough the tedious disassembly/assembly process,  you can go to your local auto mechanic and he can get rid of all the dust with the air compressor. A legit dust cloud came out when he blew in my fan area, runs like new now.

[Jacaroma]

If you have a laptop and dont wanna go trough the tedious disassembly/assembly process,  you can go to your local auto mechanic and he can get rid of all the dust with the air compressor. A legit dust cloud came out when he blew in my fan area, runs like new now.

Sometimes too much air pressure could bend some of the fins and cause even more problems, but that's very unlikely due to the laptop being covered, but it CAN happen

[WITCHCRAFT]

A computer is like a car, it will shit the bed if you don't do maintenance on it.

[Jona]

replaced the thermal paste of mine just last year, there´s a specific alcohol you can get from the pharmacy which works like a charm

Iirc, it's just acetone, aka nail polish remover.