My CPU reaches around 98°C under heavy load, while temperatures are much lower during normal use. The system was assembled in November 2016 with the stock cooler and its pre-applied thermal paste. I have some spare paste left from building a newer PC, but I'm unsure whether repasting is worth the risk of removing the heatsink—especially since I've heard of CPUs being pulled out of the socket when the paste has hardened. Should I repaste it, or leave it alone?
2 Answers
Repasting may help, especially since the original paste has been in place since 2016, but the stock cooler may still be the main limitation. If you don’t want to spend money on this older system, cleaning the cooler and applying the spare paste is a sensible low-cost step. Just make sure the cooler is mounted evenly afterward.
Yes, temperatures near 98°C under load are high enough that repasting is reasonable. You don’t need to remove the CPU from its socket; just remove the cooler. Warm the system up first, shut it down, then gently twist the heatsink instead of pulling straight up so the CPU is less likely to stick to it.
That’s what I was worried about—I meant accidentally pulling the CPU out with the heatsink, not bending pins while removing the chip separately.
I’ve already moved heavier workloads to a newer PC, so I’d rather avoid buying another cooler for this one. I’ll probably try the spare paste first.