Do CPUs just go bad and overheat?

[PhonakV30]

Phenom II X4 925 ( 2800Mhz) , with stock cooler : 40.4C
ambient Temp : 19 or less ( It's winter)

 

[ShintaiDK]

8 year old AMD 965 II - started overheating, I figured it's way past the thermal paste going bad and re-applied that. But - it just overheated again on an MMO, which is when it was doing it before.

It's still very dusty in the case, so I could look at that.

But could it be just the CPU has gone bad?

The solder under the IHS is likely cracked and that's why. Time for a new CPU.

 

[Craig234]

The solder under the IHS is likely cracked and that's why. Time for a new CPU.

Maybe the paste went bad and that caused it to overheat, and the overheating caused further damage so fixing the past didn't fix that.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Guys, look at that picture.

Look at it.

That thing probably has a sweater-vest made of human hair and skin cells in place of a heatsink.

Odds are also good the CPU fan isn't actually working any more, either because it died 3 years ago, or it's clogged with dust.

Take that crap outside, disassemble it, blow it off, dust it off, chisel it off, whatever. Get the crap out of there, wipe down the inside of the case, clean out the heatsink(s), and rebuild it. Don't even consider any other troubleshooting until that is done.

 

[mikeymikec]

I assume he did that already.

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

As said before by another poster, Phenom II CPUs do not use thermal paste as TIM underneath the IHS. They are soldered.

Most likely a failed fan and too much dust.

 

[Concillian]

8 year old AMD 965 II - started overheating, I figured it's way past the thermal paste going bad and re-applied that. But - it just overheated again on an MMO, which is when it was doing it before.

It's still very dusty in the case, so I could look at that.

But could it be just the CPU has gone bad?

Had a friend lose a sandy bridge low power i5 last year due to overheating. It was a retail custom built system in a fanless ITX case. Don't know how long it had been riding throttle temp, but it eventually started causing issues. It couldn't be re-booted warm. You'd have to turn it off, let it cool for 10-15 minutes, and then boot it.

Now that CPUs are not being replaced so quickly due to technical obsolescence, we need to be more cognizant of preventative maintenance.

 

[Ranulf]

I've found battery powered leaf blowers work pretty well for cleaning out dusty/dirty cases.

 

[Craig234]

Had a friend lose a sandy bridge low power i5 last year due to overheating. It was a retail custom built system in a fanless ITX case. Don't know how long it had been riding throttle temp, but it eventually started causing issues. It couldn't be re-booted warm. You'd have to turn it off, let it cool for 10-15 minutes, and then boot it.

Now that CPUs are not being replaced so quickly due to technical obsolescence, we need to be more cognizant of preventative maintenance.

Not sure what 'not replaced, technical obsolescence' is referring to. Seems like I could still buy another of these 8 year old CPUs.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Seems like I could still buy another of these 8 year old CPUs.

It's time to buy a Thuban!

 

[Concillian]

Not sure what 'not replaced, technical obsolescence' is referring to. Seems like I could still buy another of these 8 year old CPUs.

It means that in the past, an 8 year old CPU could not even be considered to power a modern computer, so we didn't have to be as concerned about things like thermal paste drying out and dust buildup and such. because after x years, the CPU would be completely obsolete due to advancement of technology.
I mean, consider an Athlon XP 2500+.... 8 years later gets us to the first i3/i5/i7 CPUs. That CPU is 100% obsolete compared to an i3 530. As you say, for many uses an 8 year old CPU is still adequate. It'll run a modern windows OS and perform normal daily tasks fine, where I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be the case for an AXP 2500+ in 2012 running Windows 8.