Cpu running hot after 2 months of no use

[Robot010101]

This has happened to me 3 times now. The first 2 times I simply replaced the thermal paste and everything went back to normal, so I'm assuming the paste is the issue.

I have an i7 3930k with an h100i cooler and artic silver 5 paste.

Before I left, my cpu never went over 50-55c with normal use, and never over 60c in prime95. Now it's regularly hitting 60-65c depending on what applications are being used, and easily hits 80c+ within seconds of prime 95.

If anyone has any idea that'd be great. I'm hoping that maybe the AS5 just needs time to do something again? Otherwise, if this is something normal for the AS5, I may just have to switch paste as I'm typically gone for months at a time throughout the year.

I want to avoid any obvious answers ahead of time, so I will note that:
A) The h100i is secured tightly to the cpu
B) It's not the ambient temp
C) It's not dust

Thank you in advance.

 

[DustinV]

Reinstall the heatsink, I thought mine was secured tightly once, but one of the 4 screws wasn't even in on my Cryorig h7
Are all the fans in your pc running?

 

[scout_03]

did you check your fan speed on the cooler also if you need to get new paste use arctic cooling mx2 or mx4 they do not need cure time .

 

[Robot010101]

@DustinV I'll check again when/if I switch the paste, but I think it's as secured as it can be. All the fans are running as well.

@Antennas44 I was under the impression that liquid cooling gives better temps under load than air cooling. If I keep having issues though I might just switch over to the NH-D14, it looks really good.

@scout_03 Yeah, the fan speed looks fine and so do the pump speeds. Both running in performance mode.

I think I'm going to order some mx4 and give it a few days to see if there's any differences. If not I'm going to just replace the as5 with the mx4 and hope that this doesn't happen again. I'm going to assume it's something to do with the as5 as I don't see what else it could possibly be.

 

[scout_03]

well i would repaste now maybe you did not put the right amount of paste on it and now it tend to heat, i usualy use the pea spot option .

 

[DustinV]

the only way paste will increase your temps is if you don't use enough, doesn't matter if you make swirls, circle, pea, x, line etc

And not using enough will only increase temps by like 5°C

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r2MEAnZ3swQ

 

[DustinV]

Lol, that shows a 0.5 difference from the normal method, and 2° from the worse method

Op's temp problems arnt from thermal paste

 

[LeKeiser]

the only way paste will increase your temps is if you don't use enough, doesn't matter if you make swirls, circle, pea, x, line etc

And not using enough will only increase temps by like 5°C

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r2MEAnZ3swQ

put too much paste and/or apply it the wrong way and you'll get air bubbles between the heatsink and the radiator, and...

 

[DustinV]

Thermal paste won't cause a 10° difference unless you don't have enough applied.
Something else must be to blame