Is it necessary to remove the entire motherboard from the case to apply thermal paste?

[diegohm]

My CPU apparently has been overheating (idle: 80 C and full load 110 C max). I've read that i should reapply thermal paste and maybe get a new heatsink. As stated in the title, do i really have to remove the entire motherboard or can i simply just remove the heatsink, clean it and reapply the thermal paste?

 

[Supernova1138]

You don't have to remove the motherboard unless your cooler is mounted to a backplate that is screwed down at the rear of the board, and your case does not have a cut out on the back to allow access to the backplate. If your cooler doesn't have a backplate or your case has a cut out behind the motherboard to allow access, then you don't need to remove the motherboard to reapply thermal paste.

 

[diegohm]

You don't have to remove the motherboard unless your cooler is mounted to a backplate that is screwed down at the rear of the board, and your case does not have a cut out on the back to allow access to the backplate. If your cooler doesn't have a backplate or your case has a cut out behind the motherboard to allow access, then you don't need to remove the motherboard to reapply thermal paste.

The cooler is mounted to a backplate but i do have 2 side panels so i guess i don't have to remove the motherboard.
Thanks for the answer. ^^