CPU or MD in bad condition?
CPU or MD in bad condition?
Hi, your nearly new machine is overheating a lot with the AMD Ryzen 3900X on the Gygabyte Aorus Elite Wi-Fi card. The Noctua NH-D15 cooler isn’t doing the job. After testing for 20 minutes, the CPU hit 90°C. I thought it was the thermal paste, and you were right—about half of the thermal paste area was missing. After reapplying and reassembling, everything functioned, but your memory loss persisted. When I removed the CPU again, I found the paste stuck to six pins on the side, not in the socket. I cleaned it up but still lost half of my memory. I moved the memory sticks around and kept using the same two positions, which are still failing. Is this damage? How much memory loss is typical? What should I do next? Thanks.
Are you sure there's nothing in the socket? That seems like the most likely explanation to me.
What kind of thermal paste are you applying? If it's conductive, that's not ideal. From what you said, it would be tough to tell for sure. If the paste ends up on the CPU pins and you replace the CPU, it's likely some remains in the socket. Isopropyl alcohol can dissolve thermal compound, so you might want to soak the CPU in it briefly to remove any residue. However, cleaning the motherboard will be more challenging and you'll need to confirm it's fully clean.
I examined the MB under a microscope to check for thermal paste in the socket. The result confirmed it was present. I found at least three holes containing residue of thermal compound, located near the top of the metal. It was nearly invisible since its color matched the connector. The paste used was Noctua NT-H1.