processor begun to run slow after new heatsink installed

elementallime

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Oct 12, 2014
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Hi all,
Been using this forum to essentially build a rig for the first time, however something has gone wrong. I decided to upgrade my heatsink and CPU fan from stock as the temps were in the high 70s and above under load. I upgraded to the Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 CPU cooler, applying the thermal paste using the card method. The temperature did drop slightly, but was spiking between 60 and 70oC quite sporadically. I put the PC under load by playing games, seemed fine, still high temps but must of been better than previous. The next day I installed amd overdrive software primarily to look into my thermal margin under load, as it finished installing windows crashed. I tried booting it up several times to no avail. I managed to restore to an earlier point using safe mode with com prompt, the computer finally loaded up. The first screen that appeared told me my CPU fan had an error, however the fan was still going as were the case fans.

However my clock speed has dropped dramatically. It runs very sluggish, struggles to open steam etc. When it finally does open steam, the temps are in the mid 80s.

Anyone have any suggestions? Alien isolation is out and I'm desperate!
My setup is as follows,
AMD A10 5600k Richland
Gtx 750ti oc edition
500w PSU
Corsair carbide spec 3 with two case fans
 
Solution
I like using the card method. I've always used it. But I know it needs to be a RAZOR thin application of it. When you take it off if you see ANY hanging over the sides of the CPU then you used way to much. It's ok if it looks patchy. If it was solid white then you did use way to much.

Richard Ricardo

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Oct 6, 2014
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My first guess would be that the thermal paste has been applied incorrectly. Find a way to remove the cpu cooler and clean out the thermal paste and try again. I use the drop method of applying the paste (drop in the middle and cooler on top will spread it by itself). I think you can clean it out with very high % (90% or more I think) rubbing alcohol but you should be very careful and do your research. If you want to be safe you can use thermal paste remover and thermal surface purifier to clean it up instead.
 

bmacsys

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BANNED


I really don't know your set up but two case fans aren't adequate. In My C70 I have three 120 mm intakes and two 120 mm exhaust fans. You have to bring cool air in and expel the hot air. Having a hot running cpu, a hot running discrete card. You probably have stagnant, hot air in the case. You can have the best Noctua cpu air cooler but it won't do jack if your case is full of heated air. Your case can fit a lot of fans. My advice would to be too have two front intakes. I would remove the 3.5" drive bays because they are nothing but an obstruction. Attach your hard drive to an optical bay. Have a bottom mounted intake. I assume the bottom has a filter in place. Then have a rear exhaust and a top exhaust.
 

BrandonCSLC

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Nov 18, 2013
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Hmmmm..... hard to say without seeing it happen. First I would remove AMD Overdrive. That software sucks. It will seriously conflict with your bios settings because it is trying to control your PC's componants from that program in Windows. Remove any other program that you might have downloaded to monitor computer outputs.

A friend of mine had about 10 different monitoring programs and it confused the hell out of his computer. Several had fan control options trying to set fan speeds and it kept shutting down his system. If you are having trouble getting into Windows try running it in safe mode to do all that.

Next I would pick one monitor in service to download. I prefer these:

HWinfo.
PerfMonitor.

Both a fairly accurate and dont have any options for fan control. Let the motherboard and CPU decide your fan speeds.

Then I would go into your bios and reset all settings to default (even if you haven't changed anything yourself).

Now you have a baseline to start your trouble shooting from.

When you start to begin troubleshooting go imediately to BIOS. Depending on the motherboard, there should be a display showing temps, fan speeds, and voltages. If not look for a button or tab that says "Monitor." You want to see your temps while the PC is in idle from bios. If you see the temps climbing there in bios then take note of your fan speeds and shut the PC down.

If your fan speeds do not match the max rated rpm for your fans (I mean by long shot) then there is probably something wrong with the way your motherboard is controlling the fans. Some setting in your maybe.

If fan speeds were maxed and the temp was still climbing than you need to check a couple of things.

1.) Do you have the fan leads plugged in to the right places on the motherboard? Heat sink fans and water pumps plug into the header that says "CPU fan"
2.) Re-apply thermal past. Too much can be just as bad as too little.
3.) Make sure the heat sink is secured to the cpu properly. You should be able to grab the heatsink and feal no side to side movement.

If all this checks out than restart your PC and open the program you decided on for monitoring temps. Watch your CPU temps, package temps and let me know what happens.

Another possibility is that your motherboards north bridge and south bridge heat sinks may not have been seated right.

Also you could try calling the motherboard manufacturer to help walk you through some trouble shooting.
 

elementallime

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Oct 12, 2014
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Thank you for all helping. I've entered BIOS and had a peak at temps inside. The CPU temp is idling at 30, system ambient temp is 25oC and the CPU fan rpm is around 1200, the technical data suggests it only goes up to 2000 rpm, I'm assuming that about right? I've got hold of some near pure isopropyl alcohol, (perks of being a chemist) and I'm going to clean and polish my CPU and heatsink as I think I've applied far too much paste with the card method. I'll keep you posted.
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
I like using the card method. I've always used it. But I know it needs to be a RAZOR thin application of it. When you take it off if you see ANY hanging over the sides of the CPU then you used way to much. It's ok if it looks patchy. If it was solid white then you did use way to much.
 
Solution