[SOLVED] cooling issues

[Gfost73]

hello recently a friend has asked me to check his PC, its an Alienware X51 system with a small case, its running a i7 4600 I believe ( I could be wrong with the 4600 part) but it is a i7 , his system at idle runs around 50-55°C which to me seamed very warm for Idle, I attempted to stress test the PC with Prime95 smallFFT and the temps instantly spiked to 99°C at which time I quickly stopped the test, the system is old, several years and I am thinking the thermal paste needs replaced, but before I take on the task of dismantling this machine to replace the paste, can anyone tell me if these heat temps are normal for that CPU. I dont have much more about the system specs other than its a prebuilt Alienware's X51 and is air cooled. Do you think replaceing the paste will help this situation , I feel it wont hurt either way

 

[jay32267]

" I feel it wont hurt either way "
No it won't hurt.
....and I think those temps are high.
I would first check that the cooler is snug.
If so....I would run with the case open and see what that gets you.
If it's significant, I would add case cooling or run with the case open.
If none of that gets you anything.....I would do the paste and also investigate raising the fan curve up in the BIOS.

 

[WildCard999]

More then likely it's using a Intel stock cooler which aren't very good but cleaning the system free of dust and replacing the thermal paste should help a bit. Also with Prime95 you want to use version 26.6 or disable AVX for it to test correctly but honestly I wouldn't bother doing so with a stock Intel cooler as no matter what I'm sure it will exceed what is considered safe. Safe temps for Intel CPU's is under 80C while load such as gaming.

 

[Gfost73]

yes it does use a stock cooler, rather small fan I dont even think its 80mm. I did use the newest version of Prime95 but never disabled that AVX , I wont test it again only from fear of frying his CPU. I think Ill replace the paste and hope it helps. I feel it should where the system is older, at least 5 or 6 years old or more. My thoughts are the paste has dried and became usless, however I am not 100% sure of that either, but feel replacing the paste wont hurt any, especially where idle its running very warm (in my opinion)

Added, Machine has been cleaned of dust a couple weeks ago, which was what I thought originally was the issue as it had NEVER been cleaned in all the time he has owned it, oddly enough though opening the case it was pretty dust free, no buildup on cooler or any on board .. had a little dust in the corners and between GPU and the sister board they use to mount the GPU sideways cleaning it didnt really do alot where there was very little to no buildup

 

[Gfost73]

" I feel it wont hurt either way "
No it won't hurt.
....and I think those temps are high.
I would first check that the cooler is snug.
If so....I would run with the case open and see what that gets you.
If it's significant, I would add case cooling or run with the case open.
If none of that gets you anything.....I would do the paste and also investigate raising the fan curve up in the BIOS.

Cooler is snug, its never been removed or tampered with
I dont think I can leave side of case as it has wires connected to the side panel for the Light and the gentleman I am fixing the machine for is seeing impaired so leaving side open may not be good in this instance, my luck he would damage something by mistake..
cant add more cooling without replacing case as it is a slim profile case, the mother board is so tiny and everything attached to it seem to be llinked by daughter boards, its a very compact system, I am sure it could all be taken out and remounted in a newer larger case but again I'm not sure as the system seems more or less built around this case. the case doesn't even have an internal PSU it uses a PUS block that more or less looks like a laptop plug , so swaping cases may require more than just a case

 

[jay32267]

It sound like an inherently difficult cooling situation....which is probably one reason why it's running hot.

It sounds like you aren't left with much to try but changing the paste and upping the fan curve. Changing the paste might get you some....but I wouldn't expect a lot.

 

[WildCard999]

If cleaning it and redoing the thermal paste doesn't help much then a small form factor CPU cooler would be the next best thing.

This Noctua should work however you'll want to double check it.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-L9i 33.84 CFM CPU Cooler ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $39.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-09 10:46 EDT-0400

 

[Paperdoc]

Another idea to check. Even after cleaning out all the dust in the case, one place easy to miss is the gaps between the fins on the CPU heatsink underneath its fan. If there is dust jammed in there you get poor or no air flow between fins, and lousy cooling. If you can't see for sure, check how easy it would be to disconnect the FAN only from the heatsink (so you do NOT need to remove heatsink from CPU and replace paste) - usually just a clamp or screws. Then you can see the spaces, and clean then out if needed.