Cooling Randomly High temps with Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2

[Ollie1807]

Hi everyone - bit of a weird one here and was just wondering if anyone with a similar setup had experienced it.

Basically, I have an i5 760, first gen and the CPU cooler is Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU. Since i got it it's been great, temps have been around 45-50 max with overclocking as well, I used arctic silver thermal paste. My case is a Coolermaster dominator 690.

For some reason though today, temps have been hitting around 70-80 and that's at idle - I have literally changed nothing about the setup, only thing on my PC that has changed is I installed steam last night and GTA IV which I have yet to play. To stop the PC overheating i've underclocked it for now.

I've been using the cooler for around 3 months no issues - It appears to be making proper contact and on inspection the fan is working fine too - before I actually take it off does anyone think it could be the thermal paste, a potential knock to the PC or just the thing failing?

Any advice etc appreciated, cheers.

[Deders]

What are you using to measure the temps? Can you be sure there is no CPU activity? Also what is your motherboard?

[cookie! nom nom]

45-50 at lode? that can't be right..... have you ran prime 95 with core temp running? if so what was the temp? i don't believe it was 50 if i remember right safe temp was 70 (needs checking on goog)

[Ollie1807]

Cheers guys been using Coretemp and also tried Realtemp, these high temperatures are at idle they seem to hit much higher at load. Eg at 0% they will be around mid 40s to 50s now, and load they go up to 60/70, although I know none of this is normal as they used to idle around 30-35ish. My motherboard is gigabyte P55-USB3

[cookie! nom nom]

is you cpu overcloked? also is turbo on? as that jump the volts up. 70c is nothing to worry about if you dont plan to overclock

[Deders]

Has the heatsink become unattached or loose?

[Ollie1807]

Nope it's all still on there and attached as per normal - Think I will have to whack it off and maybe reapply the paste etc if it comes down to it, just something I'd rather not have to do as it usually results in mess/me swearing a lot. Cheers guys, just wondering does anyone know what the max temp an I5 can operate at normally is?

'cookie! nom nom' I notice you said 70c is fine, I thought anything over about 60 was worth worrying about but fair enough

[Deders]

AMD chips will shut down if you go much above 60, Intel's are supposedly ok until 99c but personally I wouldn't want it hitting much above 80c

[thehippoz]

I have the same cooler, but lapped =]

you might have trapped air under the sink.. try a retim but put a dot of tim in the middle of the chip- then mount it strait down

[cookie! nom nom]

hi what what i seen and remember 80C is getting a little hot for safety

[Ollie1807]

Cheers guys, will have a look tonight I reckon it could well be air getting trapped or something that seems like the most logical reason, just wish I knew how it happened!

[cookie! nom nom]

yer but as said its unlikely too have been at 50c at lode

[thehippoz]

sometimes kissing the top of the sink before you mount it strait down works.. then you don't slap it strait down