Extremely hot conditions paired with fresh thermal paste.
Extremely hot conditions paired with fresh thermal paste.
Yesterday my reliable gaming machine began behaving strangely. It first froze with a blue-screen error, and when I checked my logs it mentioned temperature issues. At first I brushed it off since the PC had been running for about 24 hours, so I just restarted it and continued playing. After six hours this occurred again, prompting me to investigate: it had been several months since I last cleaned the case. I decided to clean it thoroughly. Using an airspray, I removed dust from the radiator and CPU fan area, then returned everything to its original position. When I restarted, I accessed the BIOS and adjusted all fans to maximum speed. The CPU cooler fan spun at 6900 RPM, yet the BIOS still showed the CPU idling at 80°C. After turning off the PC and waiting a few hours, I powered it back on. During stress tests in OS, my temperatures reached around 90°C. I immediately shut it down, fearing permanent damage. This led me to suspect the thermal paste had degraded over time. I visited a repair shop and purchased Cooler Masters High Performance Thermal Compound HTK-002. I removed the heatsink, wiped away old paste with paper towels and alcohol, applied fresh paste, reinserted the heatsink, and secured it. Now with the new paste, the case stayed dust-free, airflow improved, and all fans operated at full speed. My PC started up normally, handled gaming tasks, and cooled down quickly—reaching only 30°C. After a short game session in Rainbow 6 Siege, I noticed temperatures climbed to about 90°C again. I promptly turned it off, worried about CPU damage. This reinforced my belief that the thermal paste might be the root cause. My English isn’t perfect, but I’m trying to explain clearly what happened.