Cleaned some dust and computer is not working as well now (high temp)

[Frex]

Hey everyone,

I did a routinely clean-up of the internals with some dust sweeping and whatnot, but this time I also removed the CPU fan since that was the only to clean it properly, I'm not sure what I did and if I messed it up by removing or (the thermal paste?) but not my cores are extremely hot, running at about 90 celsius.

I had to crank up the fans on my case and now it's sitting at 80 celsius which is still very high.

Prior to this last clean-up I was sitting at about 40-50 (depending on computer usage) and I'm really worried I'll end up burning some parts in there. What do you recommend I should do?

Here's the sheet from HWMonitor:

Hardware monitor Nuvoton NCT6776
Voltage 0 1.06 Volts [0x84] (CPU VCORE)
Voltage 1 1.86 Volts [0xE8] (VIN1)
Voltage 2 3.36 Volts [0xD2] (AVCC)
Voltage 3 3.34 Volts [0xD1] (3VCC)
Voltage 4 0.99 Volts [0x7C] (VIN4)
Voltage 5 1.69 Volts [0xD3] (VIN5)
Voltage 6 0.88 Volts [0x6E] (VIN6)
Temperature 0 32°C (89°F) [0x20] (SYSTIN)
Temperature 1 77°C (170°F) [0x9A] (CPUTIN)
Temperature 2 44°C (111°F) [0x58] (AUXTIN)
Temperature 3 96°C (204°F) [0x60] (TMPIN3)
Fan 4 1019 RPM [0x3FB] (AUXFANIN2)

Here are my specs:

CPU: Intel i5-2500k (stock cpu fan)
MB: Extreme3 Gen3
GPU: Radeon HD 6870 (temp is good here about 30celsius)
Case: Thermaltake Chaser-MK1

Is it time to upgrade my CPU? I definitely have the funds and my trigger-happy finger is itching, or is it just a matter of a simpler upgrade, my guess is the CPU fan.

Thanks for your input and sorry for the extremely unorganized post, I'm writing this drowsy.

/Frex

[sizzlinsauce]

you took the fan off that uses thermal paste to get a good thermal bond for cooling.... meaning you should have replaced that thermal paste when reseating that fan. nothing broke, you just didnt replace the thermal paste.

[Elapsed]

you've made it so there is air between the heatsink and the processor. The air is working as an insulator. Shut down and get some thermal paste from your local staples/best buy/whatever and gently clean off you processor and heatsink with isopropal alcohol and let them dry 100% (shouldn't take long alcohol evaporates easily) then re-apply paste and reap the rewards

[lapianan]

It sounds like you somehow messed up your heat sink. Perhaps you should re-apply a layer of thermal compound to both the heat sink and the connecting plate. make sure it's smooth and don't put too much.

[Msshammy]

Pretty much anytime you remove the heatsink you need to apply fresh thermal paste. If you are unsure how to do it there are plenty of youtube videos. Make sure you remove all the old paste completely. I recommend doing this immediately! And try to not use your computer in the meantime. As I'm sure you're aware heat can do some major damage and without a solid contact between cpu and heatsink you can fry your cpu pretty damn quick!

[Deleted]

Did you reconnect the heatsink's fan to your motherboards header? Did you accidentally flip the fan upside down when remounting it on the heat sink so that it pulls air instead of pushing it? As other have said, perhaps you smudged off the thermal paste? There are many possibilities. But a wise choice would be to reapply thermal compound and while you're at it you might as well buy an aftermarket cooler since they do a much better job than stock heat sinks do.

[Frex]

Woah, thanks for the lightning fast replies, guys!

While we're on the subject of getting new thermal paste, I really wanna treat my baby to some new parts, what would be some good CPU fans to replace the shitty stock one? I will be purchasing from here: http://www.canadacomputers.com/

I'm not planning to overclock so just a good solid brand would work, I guess.

[prwraith]

Unless you're overclocking stock is fine.

But arctic is always good http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=032326

[Frex]

Unless you're overclocking stock is fine.

But arctic is always good http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=032326

Thank you, that's what I was looking for.