Do I need to re-seat my heatsink/fan

[Sunrise089]

Hello all, I've got the rig that's in my sig, everything at stock speeds.

I'm confident my heatsink is seated properly. HOWEVER I initially installed my HSF facing a certain direction, and later changed my mind. I removed the HSF and reinstalled it without adding more thermal paste. Is that unacceptable, or will removing the HSF and then placing it right back on not cause any degradation in effectiveness? If not, why the high temps?

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[Markfw]

Whenever in doubt, remove, clean old paste, reapply new paste. Sounds hot to me.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Whenever in doubt, remove, clean old paste, reapply new paste. Sounds hot to me.

Definitely, if you are unsure redo the mount.

 

[Billb2]

Put the CPU under a load (Orthos, OCCT, etc) and gently push sideways on the HSF and see if the temps change.

To check for the correct amount of TIM to use, put the amount you think is correct on the HSF and then press it onto a glass plate and look at how it spreads. As thin as possible with full coverage is what you want.

 

[Sunrise089]

Originally posted by: Billb2
Put the CPU under a load (Orthos, OCCT, etc) and gently push sideways on the HSF and see if the temps change.

To check for the correct amount of TIM to use, put the amount you think is correct on the HSF and then press it onto a glass plate and look at how it spreads. As thin as possible with full coverage is what you want.

I'll try this. I assume this is some sort of test to see if the paste is applied unevenly though, since I remain confident the heatsink itself is properly mounted. I'm merely concerned (and appreciate your advice on) about lowered thermal paste performance due to unmounting and remounting the HSF w/o changing the paste.

 

[psihog]

I think one reason you should clean them each time you remove the heatsink is air bubbles could get caught between the hs/cpu, even if you just applied the AS5 two minutes ago. that's why a lot of ppl don't apply thin layer of paste on CPU anymore. they use one drop or line and let the heatsink spread it.

 

[walk2k]

Idle seems a little high but load is about right.
Mine is E8400 but at stock = 41c / 57c
(Retail box HSF)

Of course I also re-seated the HSF once during install but...

 

[Machine350]

Those temps aren't bad. However, I agree with everyone here that you should redo the mount. It won't hurt anything and may drop your temps a few degrees.

 

[nyker96]

Which program you using to measure temp? on my E7200 the realtemp is 5C too low, speedfan 5C too high. In any case, I recommend reseat with some good thermal paste. I have once taken out a cpu without reapply new paste, turns out thermally is 5C below optimal, considering your temp, you not in any danger zone so even if you don't reseat you can still scape by.

 

[andrei3333]

just make sure the 4 clips are all in fully

 

[Sunrise089]

Originally posted by: andrei3333
just make sure the 4 clips are all in fully

They are. But since the above posts have clarified my thermal paste questions I will apply new paste and report results tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[j0j081]

Originally posted by: walk2k
Idle seems a little high but load is about right.
Mine is E8400 but at stock = 41c / 57c
(Retail box HSF)

Of course I also re-seated the HSF once during install but...

that sounds a little high to me as well. I though the e8400s run much cooler than the e6xxxs.

 

[OCChronic]

Your temps are definitely not anything to worry about. I hve the E8400 too and my idle temps are similiar and my full-laod temps are in the low 70's and it's 24HR Prime95 stable. =)

Don't forget that every case has different airflow characteristics. If you have a MATX case, MATX cases are notorious hot rods that pump up the temps at least 5-10c compared to a mid/full size tower because everything that generates heat is closer together. Your idle temps may be caused by other components heating the air inside the case and might not be a thermal paste issue. Proper airflow may be hampered by bad fan placement or lack of fans to move the air across the CPU hsf and out the back.

Excessive Vcore voltage is another cause of higher than optimal temps. If you have BIOS settings set to AUTO and/or your mainboard is a cheap model, like a lower end ECS or BIOSTAR, then it could be running the voltage rich to ensure a stable running chip. The voltage regulators on cheaper boards have big drops in voltage under laod and will have higher idle temps while the load temp is normal because the Vcore is rich under idle but normal under load.

I really don't think it's a heat paste issue and am curious if re-applying the paste will help. Let us know how it works out.