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Im running an athlon 64 3400+, using a 120mm cpu fan, and 4 80mm case fans. Normally idles around 38c for my cpu temp. The past 2-3 day though it has been idling around 50-55c. Often it will jump upto about 70c underload. Anyone any clues what can be the cause??
I've checked the fans, all are working fine, and the fan speeds are still upto spec.
Either there's dust in the heatsink fins or poor thermal contact between the CPU and the heatsink.
If your case has a filter at the front where those fans blow in, it could be clogged too. If thats the case I would expect you would see a big difference running with the case door open than closed. Wiggle your heatsink and fan lightly with the unit off to see if maybe one of the hold downs came loose. As Virtualbody said, depending on the type of thermal compound used (its supposed to stay pliable), it might need replacing. fan speed can also play a factor. When a fan goes, it doesn't always just die, it could slow down and speed back up and since were talking high speeds here, you wouldn't necessarily see it.
if you moved the computer at all, it could be that the heatsink has come a little lose from the motherboard. You should open up your case, clean out all the dust, make sure fans work, take the heatsink off and apply QUALITY thermal paste, no white crap unless its Ceramique, and reseat the heatsink on the CPU. You will see a dramatic drop in temps.