I've been gaming for a while now. When playing certain games this PC goes into overdrive. The fan/fans start/s to sound like a jet engine it/they get/s so busy. Also I have smelt burning when this has happened. The fuse blew on the 4 socket adapter I was using recently.

On the following thread someone said this could be due to the PSU not being strong enough to handle the load, in what it seems could be a related issue someone had, although the person who posted this question did say that blowing a fan on their PC stopped it crashing in that case: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2047543/gtx-650-overheating-issue.html.

This is exactly what they said:

Your GPU isn't overheating. 70+ before it would shutdown and cause a restart. Make sure your PSU is strong enough to handle your new system at load and possibly run Memtest to check your RAM (although not BSOD'ing and just shutting down points to the PSU).

This (the PSU part) makes more sense to me than it being to do with dust etc, since it seems a more plausible explanation of why the fuse blew.

The PC has no problems except when playing certain games: i.e. TERA Rising and WoW with add-ons (I think WoW is ok as long as I don't have more than 1 add-on (Healers Have To Die)). I'm just wondering if anyone knows or can suggest what I might be able to do to be able to play these games without this problem occurring.

The PC's spec is this:

Display: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650

8GB RAM (6 available)

Processor: AMD FX (tm) - 8120 Eight-Core Processor - 3.1 GHz, 4 Cores, 8 Logical Processors

I have also asked this question on superuser.com. Here is a link to it:


I clicked delete to remove the question here on gaming.stackexchange.com, but a message appeared which said that the deletion of questions which have answers is discouraged and leads to a question ban if it happens repeatedly, so I won't be deleting the question, as I don't want to do something that is discouraged or move closer to a question ban.

There has been quite some progress on the superuser post, although I don't feel ready to accept any of the answers at this stage.


I used to have issues only when playing WoW. All of the addons plus 25-man raiding really put a strain on the CPU, but it didn't used to. I saw that my CPU was really pushing its limit and multiple times I'd get a BSOD in the middle of raiding.

I used an application to check the temperature of the CPU and it was very high. Cleaning the dust out of my PC and re-seating the CPU with thermal paste got it running like new, again.

If your PC used to be able to handle WoW and has only been recently having issues, there's probably just a lot of dust buildup. I know it's easy to get caught up in the digital aspects of your PC, but don't forget about the physical aspects, like I did. It's an investment of maybe an hour to fully clean all of the dust out of your PC and re-seat your CPU.

  • Thanks for your answer. I opened the PC up yesterday and couldn't see much dust at all to be honest, although I didn't disconnect any of the components inside. I've posted this question on Superuser now and someone has said that I need a voltage stabilizer or UPS in their answer. – George Tomlinson Jun 12 '14 at 11:22
  • Ah, okay. When it comes to general "my computer is going slower" questions, it could be any number of things. I think it's very useful that this answer is out in the open as I had never seen it when troubleshooting my own issue. Be sure to update us on what fixes it for you! – KOVIKO Jun 12 '14 at 12:58
  • You may need to look it up on Superuser, where I've posted the same question, as I'm being told this question is off-topic and needs to be moved. – George Tomlinson Jun 12 '14 at 13:11
  • Here's the question on superuser: superuser.com/questions/767113/… – George Tomlinson Jun 12 '14 at 13:19
  • Could you please let me know if you see the link to the question in my last comment, as I've been told to move this question to hardware, which I guess means deleting it, but I wanted to make you aware of where to find the question, as you expressed a desire to be kept posted on developments. – George Tomlinson Jun 12 '14 at 13:23

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