My CPU is melting! (well it nearly did)

I was having some issues with my computer last week where it would just restart for no apparent reason. I suspected that there were some temperature issues but I needed to be sure before I started ripping the case apart.

 

A quick run of 3DMark 11 and watching the temperatures inside SpeedFan I quickly worked out why my computer was shutting down. The CPU temperatures were through the roof, SpeedFan listed one of the cores as reaching a maximum of 94degC during the test!

 

Needless to say I shut it down as quickly as possible and gave it a quick cool down before rushing out to buy myself a new CPU cooler before my i7 melted. Lucky for the motherboard protecting the chip I guess. It's forgiven for shutting down and losing me a bunch of code.

 

I settled on the Artic Freezer 13, pictured below. It's nothing super special but heaps better than the Intel stock cooler that I was running.



I originally built this computer at the start of 2010 and it has been super reliable, when I opened the case I found the CPU cooler buried under dust and when I pulled the stock Intel cooler off, I found that the thermal paste had been reduced to thermal dust. Needless to say I don't think it was working too well anymore after 3 years.

The Artic Freezer 13 absolutely dwarfs the stock Intel cooler, it was a bit squeezy installing it amongst all my other components but I managed unscathed.

With the new cooler in place I've since re-run the 3DMark 11 test and I'm delighted to say that temperatures peaked at only a little over 50degC, so I'm chalking that one up to a win and who knows maybe I might dabble in some overclocking now.