Should I replace thermal paste on my 2500K?

S

sleepybp

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 5, 2014
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So my I5-2500K is now over 5 years old and I think the temps are creeping up. Was curious if you guys think its worth it for me to re-apply thermal paste. It was only applied once during install 5.5 years ago....Have you guys noticed increasing cpu temps after a few years?

CPU temp is up to 71C max on prime95 test, and thats at only 3.8GHZ. I'm thinking of overclocking more to 4.2ghz when I get my new gtx 1060 so may need to cool it down more.
 
What cooler do you have? Might be worth it if you can get a cheap upgrade for that.
 
its a xigmatek gaia SD1283 , its kind of massive and supposed to be nearly equivalent to hyper 212 evo I believe
 
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yes, it's time to re-apply the TIM, I tend to re-apply the TIM in a yearly basis in all of my machines.. the cooler is nothing great, not close to what an Hyper 212 Evo can offer, but isn't bad either.. if you are OC'ing (which you should :p because this is [H]) and you want to keep money down Scythe Kotetsu is in my opinion the best cooler noise/cooling performance/money that actually exist in the market is a amazing compact piece able to compete with giant behemoths..
 
I would change the thermal paste. 5 years is a long time, for any paste. I would only trust something like Arctic Silver Ceramique, to go that long. As it is meant to be a semi-permanent paste.

Some of the other, higher performing pastes, can dry up more quickly. Within a couple of years. Similarly, stock pastes which come pre-applied to some heatsinks, can also dry up sooner. But that's not always the case, as some brands use quality stuff, such as Shin Etsu paste. YMMV.

and when was the last time you cleaned the dust off the heatsink?

Also, it is summer time. Temps are going to creep up on you!
 
Same thing here mate. 2500k and its been at least 5 years since I had the cooler off. I'm using the same cooler as you as well.

I just got a new case and moved all my stuff over. Its a windowed case so I picked up a few new fans too. Temps dropped about 10 degrees but I think I can do better. You probably did your 2500k rig about the same time as me. That original fan is probably close to EOL. I just ordered a static pressure fan. Its a beast but going to push pull on the cooler.

Going to use this as the push fan
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001JKNMBE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and this as the pull fan
Corsair Air Series AF120 LED 120mm Quiet Edition High Airflow Fan Single Pack - Blue (CO-9050015-BLED)-Newegg.com

Going to add a 2nd Scythe on the front of the case. Line it up with the CPU and use another Corsair down low in the front. Up top I have two of the Corsair's pulling air out as an exhaust and a Phanteks 140mm in the rear of the case as an exhaust. I'm hoping with changing the TIM as well as adding two high RPM Static Pressure fans along with 5 HAF I'm all set for the summer.

I have my 2500k at 4.4 ghz and got up around 80-85 in Prime before the recent changes. Once I change the TIM and fans I'll let the curing go and see what I get in a few weeks then stress test again. Hoping to see much better results.
 
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jaxstraww said:
Same thing here mate. 2500k and its been at least 5 years since I had the cooler off. I'm using the same cooler as you as well.

I just got a new case and moved all my stuff over. Its a windowed case so I picked up a few new fans too. Temps dropped about 10 degrees but I think I can do better. You probably did your 2500k rig about the same time as me. That original fan is probably close to EOL. I just ordered a static pressure fan. Its a beast but going to push pull on the cooler.

Going to use this as the push fan
Amazon.com: Scythe DFS123812H-3000 Ultra Kaze 120mm x 38mm Case Fan - 3000RPM: Computers & Accessories

and this as the pull fan
Corsair Air Series AF120 LED 120mm Quiet Edition High Airflow Fan Single Pack - Blue (CO-9050015-BLED)-Newegg.com

Going to add a 2nd Scythe on the front of the case. Line it up with the CPU and use another Corsair down low in the front. Up top I have two of the Corsair's pulling air out as an exhaust and a Phanteks 140mm in the rear of the case as an exhaust. I'm hoping with changing the TIM as well as adding two high RPM Static Pressure fans along with 5 HAF I'm all set for the summer.

I have my 2500k at 4.4 ghz and got up around 80-85 in Prime before the recent changes. Once I change the TIM and fans I'll let the curing go and see what I get in a few weeks then stress test again. Hoping to see much better results.
Click to expand...
Good, modern thermal grease does not require a curing time. Gelid GC Extreme. Shin etsu g751. Noctua. etc.

burn mode for a couple of minutes, to get it to spread out and equalize. that's it.
 
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Jax thats funny we have the same cpu and cooler after all these years... what is your vcore under load @4.5? Mine is now at 4.2ghz with 1.304 vcore under load
I'm surprised you moved all your components to a new case and didnt wait for Zen or new cpu first, but I guess like you said some of our fans may be EOL soon now anyway.
I read somewhere that arctic silver "ceramique" type of thermal paste is designed to last "forever" as opposed to some other versions/brands. I will research this more, and if it is true would prefer to use that in the future build bc I HATE messing with cpu heatsink mounts and paste.... every other part of the build is fun but that for me ;)
 
Just got it all moved over. After so many years I had an itch and with the upgrade path a bit off with all the new stuff coming moving into a new case made sense. My temps with folding were just to high.

So, I added the new 3,000 rpm fans. I removed the Xig fan and put in the Scythe and also put in one of the Corsairs for push pull. The other Scythe is in the front of the case.

I had one core always hotter than the rest. All my reading this happens allot. But when I pulled the HS off I did see some gaps with the old paste. Using rubbing alcohol and a coffee filter cleaned everything up pretty easily.

My GPU has dropped about 5 degrees too just by improving the amount of air I'm moving in the case.

I'm at 4.4 ghz and using the stress test in CPU Z the high was 1.381 if I'm reading it right. It gets as low as 1.256. I'm a full 13-15 degrees lower on the CPU since I changed the paste and added the fans.

Word of advice. Keep those anti vibration mounts from the Xig fan. I bought some off of Amazon and they blow ass. Would not keep the Scythe fan attached. To heavy. They seem to work for the much lighter Corsair. I called Xig USA and the phone number is no good. The re-seller you call is no longer affiliated with Xig and was no help in ordering new rubber mounts.

I'd like to run Prime but unsure if that is good with just adding the new paste. Keeping this thing under 80 with Prime would be nice.
 
aww poor jax, I was just cleaning my case/coolers today and unmounted that fan from the xigmatek as well. I was thinking, wow these look like they could break real easy after 5 years of drying out. Luckily mine are still ok, will likely last barely long enough till my upgrade early next year. Sorry I can't help you with those parts though. You should email xigmatek direct for support
 
I just logged in to ask almost the exact same question (I have a i5-2500k as well). This is my first liquid cooled build and I just noticed my temps were really high. It is the summer and my room can get very hot (75-80F) but I wouldn't think it would account for the temps I"m getting. I am sitting at 40-45 idle and after about 30 sec of prime95 i'm in the mid 80s. I'm using a Asetek 570LX with CoolerMaster Thermal Fusion 400. Would reapplying thermal paste really drop my load temps by 20 degrees?

EDIT: Hit submit early on accident. CPU is running at 4.2GHz.
 
that sounds too hot, my xigmatek air cooler is maintaining 76c max during prime95 @4.2ghz and 1.304 vcore max under load.
What is your vcore under load? Either your vcore is high or maybe the thermal paste needs good re-applying
 
jmhkBJK.png


Also, I found the old thermal paste from the initial install...I'm assuming that stuff doesn't expire?
 
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Your cpu core voltage looks great, much lower than mine. Your idle cpu temps and motherboard temps are high. How many case fans do you have?
 
Two front 120mm (or 140, can't remember), side panel 240mm, top panel 240mm, rear 120mm. All stock.

Edit: ordered some thermal paste and it should come Tuesday. Put my rift on Craigslist so I can put that money towards some blinds for my room. It gets hot as balls in there.
 
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Are all your fans pushing air in the case?The rear is probably blowing out. If not already done try flipping the top fans so they pull the hot air out of the case.

40 degree swing is allot I think especially with that many fans and also being on water.

Ten minutes into Prime and I haven't hit 80 yet.
 
I honestly dont know the layout, I will check tonight or tomorrow. I did recheck my temps this morning (when the house wasn't at 78-80 degrees and hotter in my room), and my idle temps were 33-38 and 30 sec under load 73-78.

Edit:
1 x 230mm top fan (exhaust), 1 x 230mm side fan (intake), 2x 140mm front fan (intake), providing exceptional air flow to cool the HDD, 1 x 120mm rear fan (exhaust)
 
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CPUID2.png

So after reviewing my screenshot I noticed my vcore was way too high. At some point I my bios must have been reset and I only went back and adjusted the multiplier and left the vcore as auto. Adjusted the vcore to .020 and reran the test and got much better results. Those max temps were seen at 15 minutes in Prime95. The test generally hovered right around 75C. I admittedly had this PC built (and OC'd) for me during the 2012 Verizon strike and is my first step overclocked PC. If anyone could chime in on the idle temps and temps under load it would be greatly appreciated. Or a sticky/guide I can read through. I'm afraid to go digging through google and learn incorrect information because someone thinks he knows what he is doing (like me right here with my vcore set to auto) and posts an article on the subject.
 
I'm having difficulty getting it to not stay auto. I can set the manual offset, save, then reboot and it still does auto. I'll try to do some more research tonight. There must be a setting him not hitting in my bios to keep the manually set vcore.
 
schlitzbull said:
I'm having difficulty getting it to not stay auto. I can set the manual offset, save, then reboot and it still does auto. I'll try to do some more research tonight. There must be a setting him not hitting in my bios to keep the manually set vcore.
Click to expand...

that's firstly because that application isn't reading voltages correctly. everything is absolutely wrong with the readings, 12v = 8.8 with peaks at 7.4? it shouldn't even POST the machine, -5V? that isn't even used anymore since years ago it shouldn't be used in your machine and is reported at 6.09V, also both +5 and +3.3 are way below of what they should be, battery voltage at 1.64V?..

so, with all of this, I would highly recommend the use of another application for take temps and voltage readings, you may use Aida64 which in the free trial will work with everything needed oh well.. just to be sure if you know how and have a multi-meter read the voltages manually.

Start there and redo everything..

The i5 2500K overcloking should be actually extremely easy and shouldn't require to mess with lot of settings in BIOS.. set manual CPU voltage at 1.300V and see how much high you can reach with the multiplier.. start at 44 if everything stable then go to 45, if everything stable go to 46.. then after this and find what's the highest multiplier stable at that voltage we can start to toy with the offset voltage and LLC settings... 1.3v should be good for anywhere near 4.5 and 4.7 depending on how lucky is the chip in the silicon lottery..

Be sure to set ALL cores to synchronized at the same multiplier (typical mistake honestly). or better yet.. post some pictures of your whole BIOS. (after reset) so we can see how is at stock and tell you what to change to find optimal results
 
Thanks for your help. I will take captures when I get home from work. My voltage settings are very similar to this capture.

http://cdn.overclock.net/8/84/500x1000px-LL-84bfb553_5agarajy.jpeg

However, my CPU vCore will not allow me to add a manual value. Also, in the picture, I'm assuming the 1.355V is showing the default setting? In my bios it shows 0.00V and when I manually add a value in and press enter it reverts back to auto. I am able to do the +/- 0.0x increments though.

Thanks again, i'm excited to get a solid grasp on this.
 
I think you have a BIOS problem there, did you check if you have a BIOS update?.. it shouldn't say 0.00V because that mean the CPU is running at 0.00V in BIOS, that voltage in the picture (1.355) is the voltage that is actually applied to the CPU, generally there isn't any C state enabled(power saving features) and some boards apply the Vdroop calibration method (MSI as one of the worst examples to utilize this method) so the voltage in BIOS may show higher than what actually could be under load.. also some boards depending on the model apply voltage is through VID request instead of a fully manual or offset voltages, so, sometimes it require to see what's the CPU VID at the moment of the load test and then make adjustment from there.

Use CPU-Z for an accurate CPU voltage readings, for now ignore the VID but remember those old non-UEFI BIOS require to utilize +/- on the keyboard to add/subtract instead of the numeric keypad to add a direct manual number, when most people talk about a manual voltage meant it's fixed non-variable.
 
I am running the newest BIOS however that was from 2006. The mobo was originally a non UEFI and then updated to UEFI IIRC. The numeric keypad works and I use the page up/dn to add/subtract. Another odd item I've seen (not sure if related or not) is my CPU speed shows at 5.4Ghz in Windows (even after clean installs). Would it be worth trying to reflash the BIOS? If it is a cosmetic issue it doesn't bother me.
 
CPU-Z shows it running at 4.2GHz. It was just weird Windows showed it as something different let alone a ridiculous number. I am assuming my CMOS is still ok since it will save the CPU multiplier and the RAM overclock speed. Real Temp GT is new to me, I'll pick that up when I get home. Only 2 1/2 more hours to go.
 
Got the CPU and heatsink cleaned and reapplied thermal paste. Only had one small wtf moment when I booted up and my CPU was at 60C idle. It is important to plug the CPU fan plug in. I am now sitting in the 30-36 range "idle" in Windows per Real Temp GT. That was fun although a bit nerve racking since it was my first time.
 
I found this article
Trouble Overclocking my i5-2500k on a Gigabyte Z68A-D3H-B3 running F4 BIOS

This guy seems to be having the same difficulty I am. I just can't find the vcore setting to manually set a voltage.

Edit:
So after another several hours wasted...apparently things like setting the vcore and LLC were removed in the UEFI. So if I want access to these items I have to roll back. So frustrating. I updated my BIOS to begin with because of issues recognizing an OCZ Vector SSD. So now i'm afraid to rollback as my OS is on a samsung 840 pro. :rage:
 
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Yea saw that tonight and tried it. Just brings up the menu and the only extra option is a flash utility. Good looking out though, thanks.
 
Thanks everyone for the input. It looks like I'm stuck with the auto OC for now. I did manage to find a way to keep the voltages at default (1.2V) without increasing. I'll check and see if I can run 4ghz. I'm going to put the computer in Craigslist after I sell my oculus and build a new machine. Thanks again!
 
I found the solution to my issue. CPUID, HWMonitor, AIDA64 all show my core voltage wrong. The CPUID inside AIDA64 did show the voltage correct. DVID worked as it should. It just appeared that it wasn't since the other programs did not show the correct voltage. Now running 4.5GHz at 1.31V. Hopefully this will save someone else some trouble.
 
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