Over-heating CPU? Thermal paste replaced.

LogicHackzor

Reputable
Sep 4, 2014
6
0
4,510
Hey everyone, Recently my computer has been shutting down due to my CPU getting way too hot. I read up on this and I replaced the thermal paste to no avail. This is a 3.5 year old computer that was playing Battlefield 4 on good settings for literally 8 hours at a time, and now it can only handle 2 races on DiRT 3 before over-heating. This was never an issue until recently. Did I just not put on enought thermal paste? Thanks in advance for any advice. Like I said, it used to run much more demanding games than DiRT 3 at much higher setting pretty much infinitely.
Hardware:
8 GB RAM
i7 870 @ 2.93 Ghz
Toxic sapphie HD 6870 1 GB Video card
Rosewill 700W Power Supply
Standard Dell Motherboard (not sure of model)
 

Ethan Betts

Reputable
Sep 4, 2014
15
0
4,520
Hey everyone, Recently my computer has been shutting down due to my CPU getting way too hot. I read up on this and I replaced the thermal paste to no avail. This is a 3.5 year old computer that was playing Battlefield 4 on good settings for literally 8 hours at a time, and now it can only handle 2 races on DiRT 3 before over-heating. This was never an issue until recently. Did I just not put on enought thermal paste? Thanks in advance for any advice. Like I said, it used to run much more demanding games than DiRT 3 at much higher setting pretty much infinitely.
Hardware:
8 GB RAM
i7 870 @ 2.93 Ghz
Toxic sapphie HD 6870 1 GB Video card
Rosewill 700W Power Supply
Standard Dell Motherboard (not sure of model)

Hello LogicHackzor, I can not Personally tell you 100% what could be potentially wrong with your unit. That being said not enough as well as too much thermal compound can be an issue. Did you spread the thermal compound thoroughly over the CPU leaving no spots clumped or metal showing? Metal to metal could be the issue. Are you sure you reattached the heatsink properly? However, before replaced the thermal compound was it dried up on the CPU? If not I feel that maybe it wasn't the issue. Have you added any sight changes or maybe even major hardware changes such as a new case or a new CPU? Is you CPU overclocked or ever been overclocked? Does your unit only overheat while gaming or in idle as well? Could you as well could you post a screen shot or copy and paste the temperatures you unit is running at?
 

LogicHackzor

Reputable
Sep 4, 2014
6
0
4,510


I don't really remember how dry it was. I don't think it was completely dry. I replaced it and it didn't change a thing. I replaced it one more time and nothing. Idk what else it could be though. /:

 

delaro

Judicious
Ambassador
Reapply your Thermal paste hopefully it's something along the lines of Arctic Silver® Silver 5 Thermal Compound which you can pick up at Radio Shack for $10. You may also want to invest in a new cooler if your using the stock one that shipped with the unit. I'm guessing your using a Dell piss poor air flow case so a low profile unit would be needed.

Did you remove the faceplate and vacuum out the case and brush out the Heat sink? Did you check to make sure all the fans stay running? Cheap Brushless fans can be unpredictable with a little age and heat they don't make noise when they burn out like ball bearing fans do.

Once you have tried what I've suggested can you do a burn in?

http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm
 

LogicHackzor

Reputable
Sep 4, 2014
6
0
4,510


Never been overclocked. I did clean it off. I have dusted the GPU and CPU and everything I could.
Idle Temps:
CPU: ~45-49 C
GPU @ 50% fan: 43 C
GPU @ 100% fan: 41 C
 

LogicHackzor

Reputable
Sep 4, 2014
6
0
4,510


I can try using that benchmark. I have not cleaned that thoroughly. All the fans do run.
 

LogicHackzor

Reputable
Sep 4, 2014
6
0
4,510


And my thermal paste is the Antec Formula 7 Nano stuff.
 

LogicHackzor

Reputable
Sep 4, 2014
6
0
4,510


Ran a burn in with cover off. max temp was 76.8 C