08-13-2018, 12:49 AM
Well, it seems like the stock thermal paste was of bad quality. I found plenty of posts on Tom's hardware where people talked about several manufactures doing this. Plus, there was way too much dried up paste on the heat sink and chips when I first took a look. Apart from that, I guess I did a sloppy replacement job by using an excessive amount of cheap paste.
Cleaned it all up today and used some CoolerMaster paste in what seems to be the accepted/recommended quantity according to several videos. The idle temps have been 43-48 on eco mode and 50-63 on high performance mode with some browsing and general tasks. CPU temps while playing GTA SA are 63-69 and occasionally go up to 73-75. Another old game like SA runs anywhere between 67-77. I can also make these temperatures drop by 3-4 degrees by slightly undervolting the CPU using Intel XTU without any noticeable performance loss. GPU temperature hasn't exceeded 65.
I'll post an update when I try a high end game. Thanks for all the suggestions so far!
Cleaned it all up today and used some CoolerMaster paste in what seems to be the accepted/recommended quantity according to several videos. The idle temps have been 43-48 on eco mode and 50-63 on high performance mode with some browsing and general tasks. CPU temps while playing GTA SA are 63-69 and occasionally go up to 73-75. Another old game like SA runs anywhere between 67-77. I can also make these temperatures drop by 3-4 degrees by slightly undervolting the CPU using Intel XTU without any noticeable performance loss. GPU temperature hasn't exceeded 65.
I'll post an update when I try a high end game. Thanks for all the suggestions so far!