I am a 50+ year old housewife and if I was still living in Asia I would experiment but I am living in Italy and my husband will not just let me take apart a 3000 euro machine. I can just manage changing a video card like I did on his machine the older dell but what you asked me to do would require a bit more finesse and courage worthy of bearding a lion.

The core temperature is about 41-43 degrees celcius ; all 4 cores. The video card is the one that is around 74 degrees and went to 80 + on SWTOR only. D3 used to run hot it but yesterday it was running at 71 degrees probably they improved that issue have no idea have not played it for months , just installed it yesterday.

When a game is playing the core temps go up to 54 degrees.

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Originally posted by cheyane
Yes it is still under warranty but if it not ( this is for future reference) I cannot get them to come even if I pay them ? You mean Dell will only come if there is a warranty do they not give support after warranty has expired .I do not mind paying just want them to fix it. The computer is huge  I cannot lug it about and the PSU is 875 watts.

 

Yes I monitor temperatures all the time have one gadget and small program that monitors it. This card runs about 71-74 degrees when I play games. But Swtor made it run to the 83 degrees  and the alarm went off. I also have an alienware command centre which can increase PCI fan speeds  and the hard drive fan speeds up to 100%.

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Dell certainly will come out on off-warranty, but it will cost a pretty penny, both in labor and in parts (they mark up repair parts a lot, sometimes more than double the original cost). You may have better luck with a local shop. But if price is no object, then just call Dell out.

I did 5 passes in the end and all is okay no errors.

I was just wondering if the video card is the problem could the slot be the one damaging the card since it will be a second video card replacement since that is what the dell people said and coming tomorrow to replace the video card again.Sigh  they will probably take away my accidental upgrade and give me back the 480 .The had made a mistake and given me a 580 in August.

1. Open your Start menu and type "view reliability history" into the search box.
2. Find the apps that are crashing in the graph that are denoted by a red circle with a white X in it.
3. Click on one of those red critical failure icons that list a game in the details text box shown below.
4. In the details box below double-click the related Critical Event under Source.
5. Copy and paste the results of that. (see example below)
6. Do steps 4 & 5 for more of the crashes if the details change between each crash.

Also turn off the auto restart upon BSOD settings. Doing so may mean you will have to cold boot your system when you receive a BSOD. You can turn it back on later if you prefer.

In Win 7 > Start Menu > in right column right click on Computer > Select Properties > Advanced tab > Startup and Recovery seciton > Settings button > System Failure section > uncheck Automatically restart.

That will at least let you see the BSOD to find out what the stop error codes are.

This is the Dell website page describing some frequent BSOD error codes: http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?c=us&cs=19&docid=549031&l=en&s=dhs

The Furry Doughnut will stress your graphics like nothing else currently available. If you run that for a couple of hours without issue then you should be good to go. If it doesn't, you'll have something with which to bitch at Dell again. You'll also get some serious tech credit if you get a real tech and not a phone zombie.

Furmark 1.10.3

Just be sure you pick the right "Download Now!" button. Otherwise you'll be inundated with offers for a bunch of crap you don't want or need.  Today, it's the pale green button with the large black arrow on it.

Also keep an eye on the GPU's fan speed.  I wouldn't let it get beyond 90% of maximum speed while running the burn in test.

Cheyane,

I would have said it was the graphics card although the CPU temperature when playing a game seems a tad high. The possible solutions to getting lower temperatures depend on a number of things and your actual computer is the first. I too own an Alienware Aurora (older model I reckon) but even when its running under load, the CPU temperature has never gotten above 47ºC.  I let the command center control the fans etc. If you have the case with the active vents then use thsoe to periodically vent the fans else use the Thermal Controlelr to do it. Either method will literally blow out any dust bunnies in it and if done while you aren't playing any games, it'll also reduce the temperatures.

HTH