I bought a prebuilt PC in 2021 from a company in the UK, but I can't locate my order documents. Here's what I remember about the specs:
- **Case:** Kolink KLM-003
- **CPU:** AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- **Motherboard:** ASUS TUF Gaming B550M-PLUS
- **RAM:** HyperX Predator 16GB (2x 8GB) 3200MHz DDR4
- **GPU:** NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
- **Power Supply:** Aerocool Integrator 700W 80 PLUS Bronze or Silver (not sure)
For cooling, I have 1 intake fan on the side, 1 exhaust fan in the back (be quiet silent wings 3), and a CPU fan (max speed 2213 RPM). Recently, I noticed my CPU temperatures rising to 90°C during moderate to heavy use, so I had a friend help me replace the thermal paste. However, we found that the installation sticker was still on the heatsink.
We cleaned the inside of the case, removed the sticker, wiped down the old thermal paste with 99% isopropyl alcohol, and applied new paste. Unfortunately, the CPU is still running hot—around 80°C to 85°C while idle and 85°C to 90°C under load, even with the fans on max.
Now I'm worried: Did having that sticker on the heatsink for so long damage the CPU? Is there any way to diagnose why it's still overheating? If the CPU is faulty, would I just need to replace it, or could it have affected the motherboard too? Also, since it's been years since I purchased it, do I have any recourse? I'd love to know how to check the status of my PC parts. Thanks!
2 Answers
It's possible that years of high temperatures could have damaged either your CPU or motherboard, but diagnosing that can be tricky without proper testing. If your friend has a similar AM4 motherboard, you could test your CPU in that to see if it works fine. If not, there are software tools like HWMonitor or Core Temp that can help you monitor temps and assess performance. These can give you some insight into whether the CPU or motherboard is at fault.
If you can't test on another motherboard, running some diagnostics would help. Look into using stress testing software like Prime95 or AIDA64—it'll push your CPU and let you monitor temps closely. Also, check your BIOS settings; sometimes, enabling or tweaking fan profiles can help keep your CPU cooler. As for the sticker, it's unlikely that alone messed things up, but the excessive heat could lead to hardware failure.
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