OFB Killed my computer!!!!

[radiophonic]

Get yourself a big can of compressed air for electrical components and blow it out every three months or so to keep it from building up too much in the future.

[kewian]

Wow I had no IDEA ofb was so almighty powerful it could fry your hardware. That noise  from what Ive heard before sounds like a piece of equipment just got fried.  Ive had my computer 2 years and I have had a motherboard and heatsink replaced, hard drive  and modem as well...so its time to get that thing in the shop.  What a noob.

[Tgdrysix]

Get yourself a big can of compressed air for electrical components and blow it out every three months or so to keep it from building up too much in the future.

I buy them in packs of twos.....guess I have to add computer dusting to my list of things to keep clean..... ....tgdrysix

[Tgdrysix]

IT'S ALIVE.....but barely..... ....my less than one year old geforce card will have to be replaced....luckily it is still under warranty so I'll get a replacement but it will take  a good 2 weeks.... ....I'm back to my orginal graphics card....64 mb from a 256 mb....and sadly it doesn't seem to run ofb....it hangs up on bluewaters' loading screen....so I'll be really going through sims withdrawal..... ....but with light at the end of the tunnel I'm hoping to make it till the replacement comes in.....that's life I guess....tgdrysix

[liegenschonheit]

That really sucks about your video card, but as far as failures go, I would be relieved! A motherboard crash or (god forbid) a hard drive crash is like the PC equivalent of the appocolypse. Does the model videocard you bought come with an onboard fan? If not, be careful about playing any graphic intensive game (like the sims) for more than a couple hours or so at a time. They tend to overheat if you play for too long. Also, save alot, because if your computer overheats, it's failsafe is to turn off or restart itself, often without warning and that can be frustrating to say the least!

[Ambular]

Tgdrysix, another possibility is that your PC's cooling setup and/or its power supply may not have been adequate after you installed the new components, and something just chose that moment to overload, overheat or give out.  Always check first to make sure your current hardware can handle any upgrades you plan to install!

Good luck in getting your machine up and running again...

[Tgdrysix]

That really sucks about your video card, but as far as failures go, I would be relieved! A motherboard crash or (god forbid) a hard drive crash is like the PC equivalent of the appocolypse. Does the model videocard you bought come with an onboard fan? If not, be careful about playing any graphic intensive game (like the sims) for more than a couple hours or so at a time. They tend to overheat if you play for too long. Also, save alot, because if your computer overheats, it's failsafe is to turn off or restart itself, often without warning and that can be frustrating to say the least!

The card that "Blew-the-Hell-Up" actually had a fan...the old one that was orginal to my computer doesn't....it has a coil (?) thingy....anyway it won't run ofb.....I made it through loading up the game, picking a neighborhood and then picking bluewater at which point it just hung up and the screen went blue but the music still played....I've sent off the geforce and will now have to wait patiently for it's replacement....hope the new replacement one will be able to handle ofb for more than 10 minutes.....but at least I got my computer up and running and didn't really lose anything so I'm thankful for that much..... .....tgdrysix

[DMDye]

*kicks DMDye*

At least, you did *not* get my tushy!

I'm glad it was your video card - and not actually something the game did! 
Sorry it's going to take you a couple of weeks to get a replacement, but at least it won't cost you anything.

[VyeOlin]

I leave my case open and as it sits on the floor under my desk, it's raised up by one of those tacky Maxis bookcases aka cinder blocks to allow air to flow underneath, that way if it overheats too much I can quickly cool it down by using external fan pointed at it. 

[Garnet Avi]

I wanted to add my own anecdote here.
I  couldn't play the Sims for a few months earlier this year because, off and on my comp would overheat. The processor ran hardest for the Sims, since i don't have any other processor-intensice games.  Anyway, i have a 3-year waranty with Dell (expires in Aug.), and so i make them fix it everytime. This April, they told me that the overheating had become a safety hazard, so they wouldn't fix it anymore. They insisted on replacing it. i wasn't to happy about this, 'cause the only computers they still had with the same spec. would be old and refurbished (3 years is a long time, tech wise). My new comp came, and it was refurbished, but it is comparable to the value of my first one when I bought it. I now worship the almighty waranty when not playing the Sims 2 with my dual core processor and 1 GB of RAM (I had 256 MB before). I had never realized that the Sims didn't take 15 mins to load every new screen for everyone.
Anyway, my point:
1. Computer hardware errors cause overheating
2. Always buy the extended waranty.
3. I don't think I'm spelling waranty right.