Sudden CPU overheating despite reseating cooler/reapplying grease

[mr_anthrope]

Hey guys,

I'm running an AMD FX-8350 on a gaming rig that's been working beautifully for a year or so.
Cooler - CM Hyper TX3 that's around three or four years old.
Case - CM Gladiator 600 with 5 fans fitted.

I've never had issues with overheating. Usually idle around 20-30C, with 60C under maximum load, on the likes of GTA V with everything maxed out.

However, today, out of the blue, my CPU is overheating within around 10 minutes of gameplay and shutting down. Doesn't last longer than 5 minutes on Prime95 either.

Figured I haven't reseated CPU/reapplied grease in a while, so I did that (thrice) to no avail. I've reseated the heatsink multiple times before so I'm quite positive I'm doing it right. Just a blob of thermal paste in the centre; basically doing everything by the book. But it's all still the same. Idles around 35-45 and shoots up close to 90 under heavy load, and doesn't last more than 10 minutes.

Given that the cooler is the oldest bit of hardware in my rig (save for the cabinet), I'm tempted to think it could be going bad. Is my situation symptomatic of a bad cooler? Or am I missing something? Everything was peachy until yesterday, and I can't see why it's all gone awry.

I don't know if this helps but when I had heating issues earlier, I would feel a hot gust from the exhaust fan on top of my cabinet (which I fixed by adding chassis fans), but despite it overheating now, it's still cool air coming out, which again leads me too believe the CPU cooler/heatsink isn't doing its job, because the cabinet in general is cool.

Have ordered a new Hyper 212X in the meanwhile, but if anyone has any suggestions or ideas as to what could be going wrong, do let me know.

Want to get this fixed before Witcher 3 day, so please help!

 

[Sammyjo20]

Have you made sure that the fan(s) are spinning at a high speed and it hasn't got any dust in the bearings? Sometimes slow fans can cause the CPU to heat up. Also, have you made sure to clean off ALL of the old thermal paste before adding new stuff?

- Sam

The Hyper 212X is a good cooler, still get that

 

[nukemaster]

Check to ensure the fan has not started to slow down.

Heatsinks do not tend to fail, but it can happen.

When you remove the cooler, has the thermal paste spread out evenly. It almost sounds like the cooler is not longer making full contact with the cpu.

Low heat from the cooler would mean it is not doing its key job, moving heat away from the cpu.

 

[mr_anthrope]

Have you made sure that the fan(s) are spinning at a high speed and it hasn't got any dust in the bearings? Sometimes slow fans can cause the CPU to heat up. Also, have you made sure to clean off ALL of the old thermal paste before adding new stuff?

- Sam

The Hyper 212X is a good cooler, still get that

The fan was a bit dusty, but nothing abnormal. Also yes, I have cleaned out every little bit of paste from the CPU and heatsink.

Also, was wondering if I've placed my fan the right way.

Currently the heatsink is right next to the exhaust fan the blows air out, so positioning is

Heatsink -> Heatsink Fan -> Exhaust fan

Is that right?

 

[nukemaster]

It may be better to have

Fan(motor on heatsink side) -> Heatsink -> Exhaust(motor on case side)
Air flow -> -> ->

If you had a fan pulling from the same location as another they would fight.

Example. I did not have an image like your fan setup, but my air flow starts at the right and leaves at the left(fan is exhaust).

All airflow is like this
case<- heatsink<- heatsink <-

 

[mr_anthrope]

Hey guys!

My Hyper 212X arrived today, and the issue is solved

Had to take out on of my case fans to accommodate that monster, but system's actually running cooler than it ever has. Idling at 20 C, and hasn't gone over 47 on Prime95!

Thanks for the help guys. Hope this post proves useful for others later on

Cheers!

 

[nukemaster]

Well you have suffered from a very rare issue, but at least it is solved.