Well, there are many reasons for your computer’s starting to run slowly: too many running applications, an operating system, which is running for a year or more and needs a clean reinstalling, or registry cleaning, low space on hard drives, viruses or overheating of the pcdesigner because of a slow or broken cooler. And now I am going to discuss the last one of these issues: a slow or broken cooler.
The speed of a cooler might become slow because of natural wear out or dust. Notice that even if the cooler is working slowly, depending on the load of the CPU, your computer might still keep working. The modern CPUs have self temperature control function, which allows them to provide functionality with reducing the performance to lower the temperature. As you see now, the reduced performance at slow fan speeds is caused by “intelligent” actions of the CPU itself. Additionally, motherboard allows the CPU to heat up to a certain temperature, which is around 70C. This temperature is pretty high, but low enough for a CPU to keep working.
Once you feel your computer is running slowly, you should check the CPU temperature and fan speed. There are two ways to do it: One is by using some applications, which usually come with the motherboard of the computer and the other easier way is by going into the system BIOS (Basic Input Output System). You can enter the BIOS by pressing “F2” or “Del” keys, depending of the type of BIOS you have, you will see a message while starting or restarting the computer. The message appears for a short time on the bottom of the screen before the operating system starts to load. The BIOS screen shows very detailed information about the current CPU temperature, fan rotation speed and other important information. Pay attention to the fan speed and the temperature of the CPU. Remember, one is connected with the other. CPU fan should be working steady and around 4500 rpm.
If the CPU temperature is around 60C and the CPU fan speed is lower than 4000 rpm, the fan needs replacement. If the speed is much less than normal or not steady and changing rapidly between comparatively high and low speeds, the fan needs replacement. A broken cooler usually makes the computer shut down suddenly. It is one of the motherboard’s safety measures. Actually, the same symptoms described above will be present in this situation too, except the cooler speed will show “0” in BIOS screen. You can’t be indifferent if such a sudden shut down occurs. You might want to open the left side cover of the case if it is a tower case to visually check the condition of the cooler. But if it is a laptop, probably entering the BIOS is the best way to check the situation. By the way, avoid making any changes to BIOS setup, if you are not sure what you are doing. Keep in mind that coolers are the only moving parts of computers and they have to work without break, thus have the highest chance for breaking. Consider getting other type of cooling system or just be careful and don’t forget to clean your computer at least seldom. If you are replacing the cooler, try to get one with ball bearings and copper heat sink.
