My z70Va too old for gamin?

hey guys.
ive just gotten my z70va back from service just before it went outta warranty (2 years). got a couple of component replaced (gpu fan n hard drive). Fresh installation of XP professional. Installed n updated all drivers. latest omega drivers for the x700 as well. it looks georegous with the 1680x1050 resolution like always until... it games. it looks horrible -_- even on 800x600 resolution n lowest settins in counterstrike:source. gpu has been floatin around 80C n goes up as high as 120C while gamin O_O. n i thought that was only a problem because i havent gotten the gpu fan fixed. even after replacin it. so i guess not. is it just too old to pump out the kinda power it used to? or is it just a faulty gpu? n plus i cant go complainin the thing cant game but can do everythin else -_- n xpect them to replace it. warranty is out anyways. any kinda opinion or comfortin statement is appreciated :]. Thanks.

 

Well, if its struggling at 800x600, it sounds like it might be overheating. You might want to get rid of that thermal pad junk and use some AS5 instead.

Otherwise, you could always run CS:S in Direct X 7 mode to get better fps. (Go to launch options and add "-dxlevel 70" w/o the quotations, but this is also considered a hack in tournaments since it tones down the flashbang effect).

Still, it worked wonders for my old Ti 4200, running CS:S at 50 fps.

 

I can tell you that if your vga heatsink and fan were not completely "flushed" after 2 years then it is overheating. if they replaced the mainboard it is likely they replaced the gpu heatsink as well. so its as good as it was 2 years ago

 

My notebook gets hot as heck too when gaming. Should I be worried about it getting too hot, or is overheat protection pretty much built in? What do you mean by "flushing" out, opening up the computer and blowing out the dust bunnies?

 

Certainly the dust cleanup should be the first thing you do. Check the Asus Info Booth sticky for a guide.

After that, you might want to replace the thermal paste/pad, and do a bit of undervolting. If neither of these works, play other games

Edit: sorry, I mean UNDERVOLTING, not overclocking, of course...

 

undervolting affects the CPU, not the GPU. I'd also second the Arctic Silver 5 recommendation.

 

I know, but the poster was referring to overheating in general. Taking a few degrees of the CPU will help the fan cope with the strain.

 

I'd tend to think that a 5-10 degree lower CPU temp isn't going to significantly counter a 20+ degree GPU overheating, however I suppose you could argue that every little bit helps..

 

Yes. The main step is to clean the notebook and make sure that the heatsink has proper contact with the GPU.