Alright...well, to start off, I have two separate problems that I'm dealing with (one's odd, and one might be easy). First off, when I left for Nevada, my wife noticed some strange noise coming from the computer. It's been going on for nearly 2 weeks now. Every now and again, the fan on my motherboard winds up really loud (it will be going like normal, then it will get really loud and seem to go really fast, like when you rev up a car engine).
I've also noticed that, before I left for Nevada, every so often, the computer would be VERY laggy. Like, at first, I thought it might have crashed or something because nothing was moving...but then it would start up and be laggy again, to the point where the clock would be nearly an hour behind. WTF, mate? That hasn't happened since I've been home yet (I used to leave my computer on all the time, so it might have just been overheating??), but now, the motherboard fan is doing that revving thing. Any ideas with that one??

Your mobo fan just might be getting old, or it could be it has a setting to up the RPM when the temp gets too high. As for teh lag problem. Get SpyBot Search and Destroy, do a full system scan with that. Also do a scan with your AV.

Yeah...the lag problem hasn't happened since the fan started doing that revving thing. I made sure to ask my wife if she was having any problems with that while I was gone. She said she didn't notice anything like that ever happening. I know I keep a good AV program up-to-date and do regular scans since my little hacker incident. As for SpyBot, I have that, do regular updates and scans and such...never find anything, but I'll keep that in mind if I ever see it happening again.
Yeah...I'm thinking the fan thing probably does have something to do with the comp overheating or something...because the house I'm living in right now only has baseboard heating...and the baseboard heaters are right behind my computer desk (bad place, I know...but it's the only place I can set up my computer in my house). So I try not to keep the heaters in my bedroom on (where my computer is), but sometimes during the winter time, it got cold enough as to where I needed the heaters on. Probably was a bad idea...but yeah. So, now, whenever the weather is nice enough, I'll have the window in my room open (the window's right behind my computer, as well), and turn off the computer every night to let it cool down.

You might want to open the case up and see if the cpu heat-sink is really dusty or the fins are clogged with dust. I had that problem, the fan all loud and things would get laggy but I cleaned and vacuumed it all was fine.

I'll have to look at the actual heatsink and the fan blades to it. I know I've had the side opened up since I've been having all these problems (thinking that it was overheating, just so I could actually get some air in there)...blow it out regularly with compressed air (the first time I opened it up, it was REALLY dusty)...never really looked closely at that fan, though.

Get a small box fan and aim it into the side of your computer.

Alright...so, I looked at the heatsink for it...it WAS dusty as hell, so I cleaned it off -- didn't fix the revving thing. It might have had something to do with it, since it's not doing it as often anymore...but it's still doing it a lot. It doesn't feel like it's getting hot in there...but I could be wrong. Guess I'll start looking into getting a new fan for it...shouldn't be too expensive, should it??

Fans and temperature gauges tend to shit out really fast, but that doesn't explain the laggy computer performance.

a) The whirring of the fan is connected to something running on your PC. It starts to kick up as a preemptive measure because something starts consuming HUGE CPU and the fan just kicks on to slow the temperature from rising. Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the Task Manager and monitor the "Processes" and "Performance" tabs. Anything that starts eating a lot of memory (Red-zone in "Performance" tab) should be investigated to see what it is. If the process is unfamiliar, then post the name of it here and we'll help you out.

b) When was your last Windows Update? Was it around the same time the fans started speaking out of line and tried leaving the kitchen? Check your logs to see if there's a correlation and, if so, post what was updated. Sometimes Autoupdate runs in the background and starts installing shit in increments without notifying you. This could be the reason for both the loud fans and lagginess. If this is the case, it'll go away in a while and is perfectly normal.

Yeah...when the lagginess started, I would look at the CPU Performance in the task manager, and it would be running at like 60-70%. I don't know why...didn't notice too many programs using too much memory up or anything...so who knows? I have noticed that the revving and all is only when I'm running like 2 to 3 programs (bigger ones, like CSS or DVD Burning things) at a time.
Now I just have to figure out the proper type of heatsink and fan to buy...I noticed they're only $20-$40...so that's well within my limits!

Sorry to make a new post, but I wanted it to light up as an unread post, instead of just editing my last post.
Well, I just looked at the System BIOS when I restarted my computer. I noticed that the CPU Temperature was running wild...going between 40 degrees up to 55-60 degrees, normally. I don't know if that's "normal" or not...but that's the average temperature it was running at. When it got up over 65-70 degrees is when the CPU fan kicks into high gear, making the "revving" noises I'm hearing. After it kicks into high gear, the temperature goes down for a few seconds, then kicks right back up.
Would a new heatsink/fan combo even fix this? Or is this just an over-heating problem? I have this narrowed down just about as far as I can go into it -- want to hear more from all of you computer guys, if I could.

ok. so. ive delt with a few computers and even did a research project for my chem class about heat dissapation.

from waht ive heard. 55 degrees celcius on your heatsink is ver bad. most of the time when you ever clock a computer you dont want it to avrae out at that. so yea. you should def try a new heatsync and or fan. you should def check out whats going on with your comp thats causing it to run so much cpu all the time.

definatly take a look at the thermaltake brand of heatsinks. very nice stuff imho

Wait...Joe uses the Metric System?

HE'S A TERRORIST! GET HIM!

Don't leave your case open. That does more harm than good.

There are several myths about computer cooling and computer temperatures. Let me see if I can sort some of this out for you.

CPU temperature is directly related to the performance of your CPU. Your CPU works with vibrations; that's how it calculates instructions. Electrical current and these vibrations are what make your CPU hot. The higher the temperature your CPU reaches, the more electrical resistance is created. The more electrical resistance your processor has to deal with, the slower it's going to operate.

Your heatsink is used to dissipate heat from your processor. It is absolutely vital to the performance of the CPU, as it pulls the heat from it like a radiator and blows it away from the CPU itself. That being said, there's some goo called "Thermal Compound" or "Thermal Grease" that allows for heat to transfer from the CPU to the heatsink; it makes a contiguous solid between the CPU and the heatsink so that there's no "dead space" or air between the two. If there was air or dead space between the CPU and the heatsink, then the heat wouldn't transfer correctly. If your system has had the same thermal grease on it for a while, it tends to dry out and become a solid. When it does this (over a long period of time), naturally, it tends to contract and become just a tiny bit thinner and a tiny bit smaller. This can have adverse effects on the heatsink's ability to pull heat away.

What am I getting at here? When you buy a heatsink, there are a few things you need to do in order to make sure you get the maximum cooling power for your buck. When you remove your heatsink, take a paper towel and wipe EVERYTHING off of it. Do the same to your processor. It may be clumpy and whatnot. Regardless, get all of it off. When you buy your heatsink, make sure to buy some thermal grease. Ask for the best they've got wherever you're going. It should come with directions as far as how much needs to be used. Generally it's not very much at all. When you apply the thermal grease, apply it to the heatsink and then set the heatsink down on the proc and clamp it down. After that, (this may sound silly, but it's a tip Super Effect gave me and it's served me well before) take the heatsink off and wipe all of the compound off of the proc and the heatsink. This will accomplish one very important task: filling in all of the tiny crevices in the heatsink. Think of it as applying grout. Once you've wiped everything off, re-apply the suggested amount of paste and mount your heatsink.

As far as leaving your case open goes, there are a couple different schools of thought as to what should and shouldn't be done. Keep in mind that computer manufacturers (and case manufacturers) know what they're doing. They design cases with cooling in mind. Generally, having the door off of a machine negatively effects the manufacturers intended airflow scheme and it's a bad idea. However, if you're unable to keep the machine stable with the manufacturers intended airflow scheme, then F*CK 'em. Open the case and stick a boxfan next to it and have it blow into the side of the machine. Be careful, though, because having the case open is actually going to create MORE dust buildup than what would otherwise happen over time.

Depending on your CPU type, 55 degress is either way out of line or perfectly acceptable. Since you're a fag and don't know shit about computers, I'm guessing you have an intel processor. Intel processors run hot. That's really just how they are. 55 degrees isn't too terrible, but if it's going up and down, you've definitely got a cooling problem.

Once you get your new heatsink/thermal grease, Google "Prime 95" and download it. Run it for a couple of hours and see if your system crashes. If it doesn't, you're in good shape.

If you've got any questions, lemme know.

Thanks for all that info there, Gman. My wife and I are tired of dealing with this, so we decided to stop being cheap (mainly because we recently got our tax refund) and got ourselves a new computer. I just finished ordering it, actually. I figured we've lost two or three emachines due to over-heating problems, so we decided to go for an HP this time. I wanted an upgrade, anyways. So, I went ahead and ordered this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883107493

It's got Vista, which blows (never had it, but have only heard BAD things about Vista so far), but the part I like about it is that it has a total of 4 slots for memory (2 GB's installed, and I have 2 GB's of the same memory for the computer I'm using now, making for 4 GB's of RAM, which sounds GOOD to me). Anyways...when that gets here, I'll probably research it more and get an upgraded heatsink/fan combo right-off-the-bat. I already have a good video card (it plays CSS fine, and that's the only game I really play) and an X-Fi Soundcard (both are Vista compatible), so I'll upgrade those items with the ones from my computer now, so I wasn't looking for something with an outstanding video card or sound card or anything like that....basically just wanted an upgraded processor and to try a different company. Hopefully this one lasts longer than the one I have now. Thanks for all the help, though...it's given me ideas for later on. Plus, I've found out that having the case down on the ground, in a semi-enclosed area is BAD. I've had my case up next to my monitor out in the open for a couple days now, with a fan blowing on it though, and haven't had any real problems with it. My wife had it on all day today with only minor problems.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... Tpk=A6230N

That's what I've got... except for a few minor mods:

Antec 500w power supply
WD800 (10k rpm 80g SATA HDD)
GeForce 6800GTO
SoundBlaster Audigy ZS2

Oh, and I uninstalled Vista before I even booted to it (partially because I caused serious file system corruption by accident by unplugging it a few times during boot, and partially because I hate Vista).

Vista sucks. Your games will run like shit, even if you've got a video card that roxors sources coxors. If it's not a DX10 card, you're going to have to use XP or buy a new one, more than likely.

Like Gman said ditch vista if you want to play games.Or get ready to take a serious frame rate hit.

Okay...so, how the F*CK do I go about downgrading? Is it as easy as just sticking an XP disk in? Or do I have to do a bunch of shit?
I only ask because I just set up this new computer and am NOT impressed with Vista in the least bit. I'm already about ready to throw this new computer away because of how frustrated I am at it.

Joe, PM a good number to call you. I can hook you up.